text: You're not travelling with this angelic fuck no matter how polite he's being. Besides the fact that you're not here to make friends and have a job to do, you just don't trust him. After all this IS supposed to be a prison. Who knows what the hell he did to get kicked out of the heavens in the first place.
  
  "I'll find her myself. The closer I get, the better I can sense her. It isn't like this place is brimming to the top with infernal aura." You say.
  "Ah, you infernals always so distrusting. Very well, feel free to explore." Engan replies and then teleports away.
  
  Feeling a little less annoyed now, you make your way towards the town.
  
  When you get to the outskirts of the town, you notice it's pretty quiet. You aren't seeing anyone even walking (or flying for that matter) around.
  
  You get further in the town and that's when you start seeing small groups of celestials. Or you're guessing they are at any rate, they aren't nearly as "impressive" looking as Engan. No shimmering silver skin here, just a bit of sickening sparkling and those feathery white wings. Other than that, they might as well be humans.
  
  Doesn't take long for you to gain a lot of attention. Some of them start whispering and pointing at you. A couple of them wave and smile, but none of them are really approaching you though.
  
  So much for celestial hospitality, though just well since you'd rather not have to talk with them and since you probably can't kill them either, you don't see much point in any type of interaction.
  
  What you don't quite understand about this town as you travel through it, is the whole purpose of it. If this is supposed to be a prison for naughty angels, shouldn't it just be a barren wasteland of gray? Also this place is again very "mortal" in appearance. Why would they need blacksmith shops, taverns and such? In fact do celestials even drink? You suppose the bad ones do, but then shouldn't they NOT be doing that as part of the rehabilitation?
  
  This of course then leads to the question of whose idea was it to make this place anyhow. Despite what Engan said about being disconnected from their heavenly realm, you're still convinced this is a pretty shitty form of punishment. You could think of MUCH worse and more fitting punishments for this lot.
  
  In any case, you still aren't sensing Sinthinia like you thought you would. You can sense an infernal presence faint enough to know she is here, but you can't tell if you're actually getting any closer to her. You begin to get angry and the ongoing celestial aura in this place is still enough to give you discomfort in your armor.
  
  Eventually you realize you might need some assistance and enter the tavern you saw to ask questions.
  
  It's pretty empty. You see a few angels sitting at a table and a barkeeper polishing glasses. The angels at the table look like they're playing a game of some sort, but you don't actually see any of them drinking though.
  
  While the barkeep continues to not look up or even acknowledge your entrance, the group of angels at the table actually waves you over to take a seat with them.
  
  Since the last thing you want to do is hang around a group of these sparkling fuckers, the barkeep it is.
  
  You approach the barkeep who still hasn't even looked up. He's REALLY focused on polishing his glasses. You notice he's muttering to himself though.
  
  "Must get clean. Can't have a spot...." The barkeep says.
  "Hey you." You say.
  "Must get clean..."
  "HEY!" you say raising your voice.
  
  He finally looks up at you and doesn't even seem surprised that you're not another angel.
  
  "Huh? Oh. Did you need a drink?" he asks.
  "No, I need to know where the succubus is in this town." You say.
  "There's one here? Didn't realize. I don't leave this place very much though. Not many infernals come here anyway. Not really a place for them. Not really a place for anyone really. In fact I think you should go."
  "I'm not leaving until I get what I came here for."
  "Well if you don't leave, you may get more than you bargained for."
  
  At this point the angel stops polishing the glass and slams it hard on the bar top. Hard enough in fact that he shatters it.
  
  "Oh no. I'll have to clean that up too." He says calmly looking at the glass.
  
  "Hey, demon girl. You might want to get away from barkeep there. He's not quite right in the head, talks a lot of nonsense. Even we've given up on what he's trying to say most of the time. Best to just leave him to cleaning and pouring drinks if you really want one. My name's Posilodja. Come sit over here with us you infernal beauty." One of the angels at the table calls over to you and pats the seat of a chair near him.
  
  Infernal beauty? Is this celestial actually trying to flirt with you? You've had mortals do a much better job in that area.
  
  You might be amused if you weren't so revolted by the thought.
  
  "I'm good standing over here, but since you're so friendly, any of you bird winged fucks want to tell me where the succubus bitch is?"
  
  "Oh her? She's around somewhere. Wish she was in my lap right now though, so I can put some goodness in her."
  
  This crude sexual joke is followed by all of the angels at the table laughing loudly and another making some additional joke. You roll your eyes.
  
  "Oh wow, did we actually offend you by our little jokes? An infernal? Thought you lot were supposed to have skin almost thicker than my holy instrument!" Posilodja says.
  "The only offensive thing around here, is your severe lack of imagination if you believe that. Your wit is about the same level as a mortal in these matters. What would an angel know about carnal pleasures anyway?"
  "Oh you'd be surprised infernal. Many celestials have...fallen due to engaging with mortals you know."
  "And? That doesn't exactly impress me. Shit, the bitch I'm looking for was an expert at fucking mortals for thousands of years. Just because you got love sick over some priestess and fucked her because she liked sparkling cock doesn't make you an expert."
  "Well, I could show you. We ALL could."
  
  At this moment the lead angel gets up followed by the other three also standing up. You instinctively grab your sword even though you know violence is prevented here.
  
  "With your permission of course..." Posilodja says with a smile and looking at his fellows for validation, which of course they give him by snickering.
  
  "You wish sparkle boy. Now you going to continue to waste my time or are you going to tell me where the succubus is?" you say.
  "Fine. I'll tell you, but you'll have to play a game with us first." Posilodja replies.
  "Yeah, I don't have time for fucking games."
  "Well then I don't have time to tell you the information you want to know. I'm betting our beloved mayor already offered and you turned him down. You're not going to get many others here that are going to be willing to help find her and I guarantee, you are not going to find her unless someone leads you to her."
  "Why are you lot protecting her? I mean she's an infernal, I would think you'd want her out of here. Is she fucking all of you degenerates in this town?"
  "If only. I'm not sure if the mayor told you, but she does have a certain kind of asylum here thanks to some agreement he has with another infernal that's passed through here a few times. Now granted we aren't going to stop you from taking her, but we aren't going to make it easy without something in return at least. Fortunately for you, I only want to play a game with you, we all do."
  "A game huh? What is it?"
  "A simple card game. I can explain the rules and we can even play a few practice hands until you get the hang of it."
  "So what's in it for you?"
  "Nothing, other than we've been playing the game with the same people for...well a very long time. It would break up the monotony to play with someone different, especially an infernal as...interesting as yourself."
  
  Maybe because you've never experienced this before by celestials, but you REALLY feel uneasy around this bunch. They're all looking you up and down with desire in their eyes. You're even covered up from head to toe in armor and about the only skin they can see is some of your face. You've had that experience from mortals and infernals before but you expect it from them and even then, you don't get them doing it much anymore.
  
  You'd probably feel less uneasy if you knew you could just chop their heads off, but since that isn't an option about the best thing you could do is just ignore them and leave.
  
  > Leave
  If you didn't trust one angel willing to help you, there's no reason you're going to trust a group of them who are obviously here for failing whatever celibacy rules they're supposed to follow.
  
  "I'll find her myself." You say and turn to walk away.
  "Very well, we'll be still be here if you change your mind. If you don't well at least we get to watch you walk out the door." Posilodja says causing more snickering from his friends.
  
  You can't take their tiresome innuendo anymore and you end up picking up a nearby chair and throwing it at them. One of them immediately ducks out of the way, while the rest do nothing but laugh as it bounces off some invisible barrier causing no harm other than the chair that breaks into pieces.
  
  "What the hell are you ducking for ya idiot? She can't hurt us remember?" one of them says to the other on the floor.
  "I dunno, instinct I guess." He replies.
  "The infernal is hot tempered along with having that hot armored bod! Watch out fellas!" Posilodja laughs.
  
  While you scowl in anger, you notice the barkeep quickly go over to the remnants of the chair and clean it up. You can't do anything else here other than take away their source of amusement by leaving so you do so.
  
  You walk away from the tavern trying to cool down and you don't have much luck in doing so since you're still pissed about not being able to find Sinthinia. You ask a few other angels (Well more like demand), but other than some overly pleasantness that seems forced, you don't get the answers you seek.
  
  Lacking any other ideas, you decide to start just entering houses and buildings. The problem is this doesn't work. You can enter the public buildings just fine, but whenever you attempt to enter a house, an invisible force stops you even when the door is open.
  
  "What the fuck, I'm not a fucking vampire!" you say the first time you encounter this situation.
  
  Attempting to bash down the doors or windows doesn't work either and the only thing that you do succeed in doing is getting a few angels asking you nicely to leave their homes alone and what is troubling you.
  
  "YOU! ALL OF YOU SPARKLING FUCKS ARE TROUBLING ME! I WISH I COULD KILL YOU ALL SLOWLY AND PAINFULLY!" you shout.
  "Funny enough, they probably wish that too." You hear a voice say behind you.
  
  You turn around and see a gaunt looking man with long hair, he looks somewhat raggedy and you even catch a whiff of body odor coming off of him, though the fact he isn't sparkling makes him immediately more tolerable.
  
  "You're a human, not an angel." You say.
  "No shit. Then again neither are most of the inhabitants of this town. Or at least not really anymore. My name is Arash" The man says.
  "What're you doing here? You a prisoner here?"
  "Aren't we all? Though in my case, I'm here by accident. Had a magic ring that allowed me to travel to different planes, though it wasn't exactly the most reliable as I soon found out. Ran out of power and got stranded here. Been stuck here ever since and it sucks a lot. I should have died from a lack of food and water a long time ago, but this place is just keeping me alive. I suppose it COULD be worse, I could have ended up from where you're from."
  "The mayor said the angels usually assist you in heading back home."
  "Pfft. They can't assist in doing shit and the mayor is the biggest fucking liar here. The few other mortals that have had the misfortune of stumbling in here to my knowledge have never left and non-mortals don't do much better."
  "Wait, so all I've seen so far is angels, where are the non-angels then?"
  "Probably locked away in an area known as the Cells. That's where they tend to go."
  
  So far this human seems to be the most "tolerable" person you've encountered here. Though given what he's telling you this does raise some questions.
  
  "Okay, so how exactly are they shoving non-celestials in cells? Isn't that an act of violence, to take people where they don't want to be?" you ask.
  "Of course it is. Hence why they just trick people into them. That helpful act usually comes with a price and before they know it, the trusting fools are locked away here. And before you ask, I never trusted them to begin with, let alone accepted their help hence why I'm walking around in town and not in some cell. They don't really like it, but not much they can directly do." The man says.
  "So did you see a couple of infernals arrive here before I did?"
  "Yeah, I figured that's why you were here. Saw Big Red and some other female demon though she got taken away pretty quickly. She was screaming saying how much pain she was in from the burning. Guessing some angels helped her too and she's probably in the cells."
  "Damn, wait you know of Big Red?"
  "I'd ask if they were friends of yours, but I know you infernals don't tend to have any. Not to mention I know enough of Big Red to know he's definitely nobody's friend. He tried to offer me a deal once to get out of here and I thought 'd be better off asking the fallen celestials for help with what he'd probably do with my body and soul."
  "I've heard he's been here before."
  "He's been here several times. He and the mayor of this town got some sort of arrangement. I'm guessing it might have something to do with the cells, but I don't really know. Probably had the agreement longer than I've been here that's for certain."
  "Is there anyway to get into the cells? I need to find that burned succubus bitch you mentioned."
  "You can't get in there without help from the celestials, and you don't want their help. If this is some sort of attempt at revenge for whatever reason, trust me whatever she did to you, she's paying for it now."
  "How do you know?"
  "Well...because I may have managed to get into the place once and let's just say I didn't like what I saw. If I could sleep in this dreary prison, I think I'd have nightmares about the place. Even without being able to sleep I still see mental images of shit. The sights, the sounds, the SMELLS...it's not good."
  "I'm an infernal, whatever so called horrors you saw I'm sure pale in comparison to what I've seen back home."
  "Perhaps you're right. However, something about the place just felt really wrong. I mean...I dunno I can't explain it. I threw up shortly after stepping foot into the place and then after seeing a few things, I ran out as soon as I could. I think the mayor knows I've been in there, but has never said anything."
  "So if you've been able to get in there, you can get me in there."
  "Have you listened to a word I've said? The place is horrible and I'll never go back it! As I said, if the succubus you're hunting is in there, then you don't need to get revenge or whatever, she's paying for shit she's done to you and then some, trust me. Honestly if you've got a way to get out of this place then I'd say just chalk this up as a win and head back to your home."
  
  At this point you're inclined to take the human's advice because you've about had it with this place. And if what he's saying is remotely true, then you suppose Sinthinia isn't going to be bothering you anytime soon.
  
  Of course, you don't like loose ends either and your desire to see this through and make Sinthinia pay personally hasn't diminished.
  
  > go home
  As much as you're loathed to admit, something about this place IS unsettling. There is a sense of wrongness that even without the human's warnings that has you slightly more uneasy about all this than you've ever felt in the infernal realm.
  
  If you had at least some sort of back up or even more knowledge of this place, you might be inclined to take more risk, but ultimately you decide that you gave it a shot and it might be better to err on the side of caution.
  
  Still, you hate just leaving Sinthinia unpunished, but hopefully the human is right and she's already suffering a fate worse than death (and then death too).
  
  You take your leave of the human without saying another word and start to make your way out of the town. A few groups of celestials watch you, but nobody else approaches to talk.
  
  Eventually you reach the tree and as you're about to open the portal with your beacon stone, you hear a voice, several of them in fact.
  
  "Leaving so soon? You should stay here with us. You think you have a destiny there? Stay and discover what true destiny is."
  
  Other voices say something similar, all with the urging of wanting you to stay. Part of this is odd since you've felt mildly unwanted since you came here, but then again nothing about this place has felt very natural. You shake off the minor pull to stick around and open the portal to enter it.
  
  As soon as you arrive, you immediately feel a difference in your comfort level. This might be hell, but there really is no place like home.
  
  You also notice that Zeljenir isn't at her post like she should be, in fact nobody is in the room at all. Good thing you didn't need any help immediately.
  
  You soon bump into some underlings that were unaware that you were back and mention they think they saw Zeljenir with Captain Spolnapad earlier.
  
  You shake your head and demand to know where they were seen heading. You're already in a bad mood from your recent trip. You haven't been gone long and subordinates are losing their damn minds disobeying direct commands.
  
  Doesn't take long to find Spol and Zel going at it in some room...with a crowd watching. When the crowd sees you, most of them quickly scatter or at least get out of your way.
  
  Spol turns his head just in time to see your blade coming down on it, causing blood to splatter on your armor, on the floor and on Zel's back.
  
  "How the fuck did you do that, you're still inside...oh shit!" Zel says turning her head and realizing the wetness on her back was a release precious fluids of a whole different kind.
  
  Zel immediately rolls and scoots away before Spol's body slumps lifelessly to the floor. She says nothing and just looks up at you with wide-eyed fear. At this point everyone else has run out the room.
  
  "You both had ONE job..."
  "I..."
  "SILENCE! I don't want to hear excuses! I can see a more direct method of getting you to obey is going to be necessary."
  "M..mercy my General!"
  "Mercy? This is the infernal realm my dear, have you forgotten that? Apparently you need to be reminded of several important things and unfortunately for you, you are still useful to me, so death will be denied...but oh you will wish for it everyday..."
  
  The Future...
  
  "General, we're at a stand still with the abominations. We can't attack without weakening our position. We need reinforcements from the Fortress of Torment."
  
  Attack, counterattack, reinforce, repeat. That's all you've been doing for the past few years. You're sick of this quagmire and even more pissed that if things keep going this way, the abominations are probably going to slowly make progress through attrition eventually.
  
  Ever since you left that place, you knew that you'd have to deal with it again someday.
  
  That was never more apparent when Sinthinia showed up again to lead an attack on your territory. She wasn't dead, but she certainly wasn't an infernal anymore, let alone a succubus. She was some sort of transformed eldritch puppet spreading corruption to the land.
  
  You might have been prepared to the point of paranoia, but that first lightning strike still caught you off guard and Sin's continued relentless attacks on your territory certainly took its toll and still continues to.
  
  Many times, you've wished you had been strong enough to stay in that accursed place if only to finish her off. You've had the chance several times to correct that mistake, but it's only resulted in more stand offs. Every time she gets away or cheats death is an insult.
  
  The only positive is what territory you've managed to hold on to is firmly defended and disciplined. First thing you did when you came back was completely restructure and purge certain elements that you felt weren't pulling their weight. Fear and respect are nice, but such things are still fleeting in a place like this.
  
  Your main way to correct this problem didn't necessarily involve death (though there was a lot of that) but the improved method of completely removing free will.
  
  Zeljinir was one of the few instrumental subordinates in coming up with a mass correcting technique involving infernal technology. Though of course you had to correct Zel's own shortcomings yourself, but after you did, her focus was always on her work.
  
  Now, you have some of the most obedient minions in the infernal realm. Those that haven't been corrected, at least fear enough of becoming so.
  
  Of course the downside of all this is most of your minions aren't the most creative. You sometimes wish this wasn't the case as even you know that the lowliest of soldiers benefit from thinking on their own for survival at times.
  
  Even Zel, who hasn't had her mind completely stripped of independent thought, isn't as creative as she probably could be. Every once in awhile there is a spark of imagination, but as it stands, most of her inventions focus on mundane practicality.
  
  Hopefully that's enough to at least help hold back the tide of chaos that continues assault your doorstep. You have enough problems with exterior strife, no need to have your attention divided to potential interior strife as well. There has to be some beacon of order in all this chaos.
  
  And a "beacon of order" is exactly what your territory has become since it isn't like you're the only target. The entire infernal realm is under attack by these unnatural horrors.
  
  Portions of it have begun to warp into something completely different. Something more akin to the invaders' liking. Even native infernals are starting to transform if they aren't killed outright.
  
  The unseen (and almost mythical) so called "Lords of Hell" are supposed to be setting things in motion to repel this invasion, but you aren't holding your breath on that. You're on your own as usual.
  
  You nod at your subordinate's words.
  
  "Very well, pull our forces back and shore up our defenses and immediately send word to the Fortress for reinforcements." You order.
  
  With your orders acknowledged and to be carried out, you return to your own ideas on how to try to gain an advantage to break this stalemate.
  
  Your own goals of uniting the infernal realm under your command have been put on hold in favor of patience to endure this extended hindrance.
  
  But then you've always been good at that at least.