During lulls in the conversation when she did not need to interpret between Master and the Head Slave, Eubexa opened Master's recently purchased book and began to read. The runes were hard to remember at first, but they came back to her quickly. It was still a lot of work. That was why she was reading in advance, so that she wasn't stumbling over the words when reading aloud to Master later on. It was crucial to always do competent work when Master was looking.

  She read each sentence more than once, before moving on to the next. Their lives might depend on the information in this book, after all.

  ° ? ? ? °

  ON FIGHTING DEMONS

  A manual by Sir Karl of Briarwood as told to Terrence Scribe, wherein is discussed

  The Nature of Demons,

  Defense Against Demons,

  Hunting Demons, and

  Defeating Demons.

  If you are reading this book, there has either been a demon outbreak, or you are studying to prepare to fight one someday. So, I will give you the practical instructions on fighting them. If you want theory, go ask a Mage. I fought in the war against Thazagor in the 28th year of the Kingdom of Baria. I will recount what I have seen with my own eyes, what works and what doesn't.

  Part the First: What are Demons?

  Demons are intelligent monsters made entirely of magic, born deep underground. They are able to travel through solid rock at a jogging speed, and through air or water about half as quickly. Very few ever reach the surface of the world, because the Dwarves stop them. When one eludes the Dwarves and comes to the surface, it becomes an enormous problem for the humans or elves nearby.

  Like a ghost, a demon has the ability to possess a human or elf, and take control of their body, knowledge and abilities. The host becomes a prisoner within their own soul, unable to stop the demon from saying or doing what it likes. Dwarves are immune to possession; perhaps one in three elves can reject a demon; and humans have no such innate protection.

  A demon without a host is relatively frail as monsters go. They have no physical body to harm, but are weak against magic. Enchanted weapons can hurt them. Powerful enough magic of any sort will kill them. Half a dozen ordinary spells will suffice, if targeting the demon accurately and fired off rapidly enough.

  Demons in possession of hosts are much tougher. You are fighting the host and all of its abilities, as well as extra powers that vary with the demon. Assume that any demon possessing a host is a strong Mage, regardless of the magical ability of the host.

  The greatest danger of a demon, however, is its ability to copy itself. A demon can possess any number of people. To infect a new person merely requires physical contact between the demon host and the target for several heartbeats—exactly how long depends on the strength of the soul. The only thing that has prevented demons from conquering the world is that copies cannot make more copies. They also have fewer powers than the original demon.

  A new copy needs time to completely take over a new host—anywhere from no time at all up to a couple of weeks. During that time, the host may be unaware that a demon copy is infesting them, and may show changes in behavior due to the demon's growing influence over the host. The same presumably applies to possession by the original demon itself, but that is rarely if ever observed, obviously.

  Copies are independent, like twins. They are not all one demonic soul. They do not share knowledge except by meeting and talking, so you can interrogate a captured demon copy without alerting the rest of the horde.

  The goal of each demon is different, but it is generally tied to a powerful emotion or act: humans have encountered demons focused on hate, fear, killing, lust, greed and more. The sign of infection is the host becoming obsessed with feeding the emotion or performing the act. When a whole town becomes obsessed with gambling, for example, that is probably the focus of the demon infesting them.

  Demons have individual names, just like people. They also have personalities built around their focus. You can engage a demon in conversation, if you need to stall for time. Some are very vain, so asking their name and what they want might get them talking for quite a while.

  Demons can be either killed or banished. Killing them requires enough magic to disrupt them completely. Banishment is a method of driving the demon deep into the ground, below the level of the Dwarves. It does not destroy the demon, but it puts it back where it belongs, and the Dwarves take it from there.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  There have been several demon kingdoms throughout history. Driving out a demon that is well-established requires a long and bloody war. It is best not to let the demon get started in the first place.

  Part the Second: Defense Against Demons

  Defense must come before searching or attacking. If you are not well-defended, then finding a demon may be the last thing your own free soul ever does. Likewise, attack is foolhardy without sufficient defense. Otherwise, you will end up a tool of the demon and make things that much worse.

  There is Defense of a Person, and Defense of an Area. Both are essential in a demon hunt.

  Defense of a Person

  As said earlier, dwarves are immune to possession. The scholars can argue about why—a god's protection, a spirit Affinity, or the dwarves' own answer, which is that over the centuries, every dwarf who could be possessed died and had no heirs. The important thing is that dwarves are the only ones who you can be certain are not possessed. In a demon war, trust no one else.

  Some elves have immunity, and the majority do not. There is no easy way to tell which are immune, so it is best to treat them as warily as humans. For humans fighting demons, this is unlikely to be relevant anyway.

  Humans are not at all immune to possession. Some magic users can defend themselves, but it is chancy. The reliable method is to use Amulets of Protection from Demons.

  Like any amulet, it must be bound to the person in some way, at least loosely. The most common way is to put it on a necklace. A bracelet will work, but in combat the amulet could get damaged, so it is best to put it in as protected a place as possible.

  The amulet must be filled with magic to work. Each time it fends off an attempt at possession, it drains a bit. It's impossible to tell how many times a demon has tried to possess someone, so it is important to have the levels checked frequently and keep the amulets filled. Sometimes, the first indicator of demons nearby is a noticeable drain on one or more amulets.

  If an amulet is placed on a person who is already possessed, it has no effect. If it is placed on a person who is infected but not yet fully possessed, it will halt the process but not reverse it. If the amulet is later removed, the infection will progress again until the person has been fully possessed. Amulets are essential for any force attempting to hunt a demon, but they are not enough by themselves, due to the weaknesses just mentioned.

  Always, always wear Amulets of Protection from Demons, and make certain that they are filled regularly. One entire company was lost because its Devout was corrupted, and drained the amulets instead of refilling them. Get Devouts and Mages to check each other's work. Trust no one.

  To tell for certain whether or not someone is possessed, there are spells. In principle, a single Devout could cast, but generally two or three is preferred, so that they can check each other and ensure that the spell is being cast correctly. Check everything; trust no one. That is how you survive a demon hunt.

  In addition to spells, there exist a few Wands of Demon Detection. These are rare and expensive, since they are difficult to produce. If you are lucky enough to have one, use it nigh-constantly, and make sure the user is checking themselves as well.

  A few other magical items not intended for demon hunting can be used creatively, but you need to have a clever Mage, and someone to double-check that they aren't fooling themselves with a pretty theory.

  Defense of an Area

  Mages or devouts can create warding formations to keep demons from entering a room or a building. It takes at least four spell casters to set one up quickly, though a single Mage can do it given enough time to work. With a formation in place, demons and their copies should be barred from crossing any threshold, window, or other opening.

  Once a building is protected, you must also place guards to prevent anyone from tampering with the formation and breaking it. That is usually four sets of runes. These can be written, or carved in wood or stone. Many temples have warding formations built into them. It is rare to see the runes, because they are often locked away, sealed within walls, or buried under supplies—anything to make it harder to destroy them.

  Even a warded area must be checked from time to time. Trust no one. Verify that the magic is sound and holding. Be warned, there was once a warding formation set up for a room that already had a possessed person inside. That demon was not harmed, and could leave freely. Once outside, they could not return, however.

  One benefit of a warded area is that those in the earliest stages of possession may be purged of the demon by entering. Take note of anyone who struggles to cross a threshold before succeeding, and find out where they have been.

  With enough effort, an entire town or city can be warded against demons. Such a large formation requires many Mages to construct, and will erode over time. This is why cities generally do not have formations permanently installed—their maintenance is too expensive, and there is too much else for spell casters to do.

  Also, because a city is so large, there is always the risk of a possessed already being in the city. If it is the demon itself, they would be able to spread their influence without hindrance. It is basically impossible to get every single person to exit and reenter the city once the wards are up. Thus, at the first sign of a demon outbreak within a hundred leagues, protecting a town with a formation should be the first priority, to complete the protection before any of the demon copies have time to arrive. Since this is too expensive in manpower, towns often settle for setting up thresholds at the town gates and any other easy points of entry.

  This is why knowing the host of the demon, and where they are, is so vital.

  Part the Third: Hunting Demons...

  ° ? ? ? °

  Eubexa closed the book wearily, taking care not to drop it. Reading in Western was even more exhausting than she had expected, and it was far from pleasant material to begin with.

  No wonder Master was trying to get as many amulets as possible. Given that there were only six of us that the Guard knew about, it is luck of the spirits that Master managed to get hold of eight of them. He'll have to get more somehow. Hopefully, they aren't hard to make, and there should be lots of them lying around somewhere, given that entire armies had to be equipped with them when fighting a demon horde. We have Diavla to fill them, though I don't envy her the labor.

  Eubexa lay back and closed her eyes. I'll have to read more later. There's a lot we need to know.