@Vibrato
It seemed that this awfull curse on her would never be lifted… Every time she got close to lifting her curse, Jones had to add a new mark to her, extending the curse and forcing her to do his bidding for a while longer… Now she had a mission to end the life or what remained of the life of some sort of succubus/incubus overlord…? It was bound to be another lovely adventure. She strapped her weaponry to her back and went on her way. Not sure how to get into the 'second circle of lust' it was going to be quite awkward asking around as well. Not sure where to head to she just wandered pretty much, it was not like Davy Jones ever put a time limit on a mark anyway. Eventually she caught on to a rumor of the gods having forsaken the mortals that they needed to resort to the reaper and that a plane has opened up that mortals had to go to to prove themselves. Oddly while being a pirate, Kat did believe in gods, or at least in the devil as she has stood face to face with him and was currently serving him. Of course now she knew where to go, it would be foolish to call it coincidence that she would recieve this mark during this chaos. She cursed under her breath as she travelled the roads to get to her destination.

Everything in Adeluna had gone to hell in a hand-basket, quite literally. Even though his permanent residence was miles up north, he was here to ensure it didn't continue to spread any further. His reasons were not entirely unselfish, he wanted the streets as well as the waters free from blood. If this kept up, Adeluna would turn into another Vilpamolan and nobody wanted that. The chaos in the port city had cut off any incoming and outgoing ships from the site, and in the long run that would lead to economic stagnation. He had managed to avoid the madness, but the alternative wasn't any less difficult. It was a surprise that even the goddess of life had retreated. Surely if the rumors were true, the Reaper was involved. But to be fair, regardless if the whole mess was the Harbinger's fault or not–she at least gave an option to find a way to end it. She was not wholly negligent.

He had made it through Purgatory, with much effort. He was not without reverence for the gods, but he was not as devout as some. The next circle, the Second Circle of Lust was a gaudy and unseemly red. Everything here was lurid and disgusting. Red in particular was not his favorite color. He had no pity for the souls tortured here, as they were getting what they deserved. Maybe if they didn't want to end up here, they should have practiced more restraint and self-control. The more irritating thing was the gale-force winds that whipped the area. The next obstacle came in the form of the other half of this circle's denizens. He strode past the tortured in quick steps, keeping his focus forward on the entrance to the third circle. Then, a woman indecently dressed attempted to make advances on him. He was incredibly upset by her harassment, but what truly set him off was the color of her hair. 

As she crooned in his ear, that sickly sweet tone and golden tresses lit a fire in his heart–of anger. When she tried to wrap her arms around him, he retaliated by freezing her solid. The succubus revealed her true form just as the ice glazed over her eyes, and they flickered their last lights before the body of his sitar shattered her into pieces. "…Licentious tart. Don't you dare try to act familiar with me." Gerard hissed under his breath at the frozen chunks of the she-fiend. He had no patience for fools. 

Of course, the sound of an ice statue shattering got the attention of other heroes trying to get through this hellpit. Kat heard the sound of frozen succubi shattering and decided to investigate after freeing the one she had captured and was intending to take home with her. "You're free to go now, but dont let me catch you again because next time i am keeping you…" She says before turning around and heading to the source of the noise. She didnt do anything to hide herself. She carried a giant crossbow that notably didnt hold regular bolts but something that leaned more to a bullet. The projectiles were made out of solid metal rather than a mixture of wood and a metal tip. The crossbow itself too was ornate and peculiar, it had multiple metal strings and a glowing area across the length of the crossbow. She had pretty features and a bandana covering her head, gorgeous eyes and a seemingly hispanic skin. She looked at the ice parts on the ground and then back at him. "Not fond of succubi i assume?"

Gerard was about to give another swing at the new arrival when he saw her weapon and attire. Unless the succubi were taking a more subtle approach, this woman wasn't one of them. Her weapon looked like something the dwarves of Baltil and mages of Iria would've put together, and looked rather unwieldy for its power. She also looked like one of those buccaneers from Vilpamolan. Sure she was comely in appearance, but he wasn't in the mood to admire aesthetics. In response to the woman's question, he retorted. "I have no patience for fools–especially the nettlesome ones." And to him the succubi with their nauseating attempts to incur lust fell in that category. When a man displayed a lack of interest, they should learn to take that at face value; not as a signal saying he was playing hard to get. He had given her a fair warning. Her disregard for it was her own fault.

Putting his sitar away, he swept away the remaining bits from the floor around him before crossing his arms. His gaze was scrutinizing, nonverbally demanding what business the pirate woman had with him. For all he knew she could just be another trick of the mind deployed by the Second Circle's influence. He had seen what the Circles could do to one's mentality; he wasn't going to let himself get caught off guard like that again.

She playfully grinned when he heard his explanation. Kat has always enjoyed the people she met back before her ship was sunk and she came back with a horrible curse over her. While she looked like a simple pirate to anyone that wasnt a seasoned criminal she was actually much more than that. A while back she was considered to be the pirate queen by many, she was looking to get this status back of course as she hasnt given it up willingly, it was just that dying has knocked her off her throne and the curse she had over her didnt exactly allow her to work on getting it back. She had to work to be able to get to work on getting it back actually… She was tired of Davy Jones double corssing her as well. Perhaps the reaper could help her but just to be sure she needed to take down whatever high rank demon the evil deity has tasked her to kill. And Gerard could help her with both these objectives… "Understandable… Do you happen to know if they are dangerous if i drag one out of this hellpit? Im thinking of incorporating one into my crew."

She looked at Gerard and noticed that he wasnt quite sure about her presence, understandable in a circle of hell where trickery was the main obstacle. "You think im a distraction from your journey dont you…?" She asked with an unamused look on her face. "Worry not about it, i need to get to the center of this hellpit too. Perhaps this reaper can assist me in a matter other than ending the assault on a city i want to rob."

Her cheeky smile made him scowl. In response to the pirate woman's question he asked: "Is water wet? Of course they're dangerous, though the degree of which they pose a threat is subjective to personal interpretation. If you want to take one hostage for your own personal interests, be my guest. They're not mine anyway." And if she did, then that was one less licentious tart who would bother him. Her response to his unasked question regarding her motives and identity gave Gerard more insight as to what kind of person she was. So she wanted to meet the Reaper for solely personal reasons, nothing else. There was also mention on robbery, which meant he should expect pirates to harass Adeluna City in the near future. Wonderful. Another place that would face the scourge of bilge-rats. As if Vilpamolan and Itjivut weren't breeding grounds for them already. The world wasn't in a dire need of more pirates, and he was certain there wouldn't be a shortage any time soon.

"Fair enough. I can tell things will only go downhill from here. The Nine Circles of Infernos didn't get their name by being easy to traverse. Then again this is the Infernos we're talking about–nothing is supposed to be easy." He remarked bitterly. So far he hadn't seen any signs of this Circle's guardian, which distressed him greatly. Entering the Third Circle from the Second shouldn't be so simple. The First Circle had that ghostly girl which was several levels of disturbing. He wasn't eager to find out who or what was in charge of this one. Gerard bet it would be some kind of obscenity which he would be quite happy to have lived his entire life without knowing. 

She chuckled hearing Gerard's response. "Meh, might not do it. The money i have the put in chains would outweigh anything i could get out of it. Besides, im not dragging a struggling succubus through more circles. Do you know what the boss, ruler or whatever of this place looks like? Davy Jones wants me to kill him or her and it would get me one step closer to being free again." She said in a surprisingly open manner. It was odd that she hinted at bearing a curse this openly to Gerard. Perhaps it served as a passive warning for him to not try anything or perhaps she just liked being honest, her motives would remain a mystery for now as a swarm of bat like creatures flocked up out of a building and headed for the two. "Well, unless you can deal prolonged area damage i suggest we run, i dont have enough bullets for that"

"No, I don't. But I can hazard a guess it's the one that looks worse than everything else in here." Not that he wanted to know either. So she wanted to kill the guardian of the area. That was perfectly fine with him, and for once he had no complaints. She then mentioned how she was cursed and something about 'Davy Jones', which from inference must be a high-ranking necromancer or sorcerer who probably also was a pirate. Then he heard it. The awful buzzing of a thousand flapping wings from on high. Bats. Why did it have to be bats? Now if they were a group of ten or more he'd skewer them without a second thought, but that was a frighteningly large swarm. 

"…Running it is. I'm not dealing with that many vermin with wings. The only way to take that out effectively is a large explosion, or a few." Gerard was making strides to the opposite direction of the incoming swarm of bats out of hell. A blizzard wouldn't be effective enough. If they were to attack they had to take them all out in one fell swoop, and leave no survivors. Unfortunately that would be extremely draining, and if he could get out by avoiding confrontation as much as possible–then why not? The flapping was becoming louder as they advanced upon the two, and ever few minutes he would throw a glance over his shoulder. Then, one of the periodic squalls in the area sent them flying to the side, knocking them off course. Gerard wasn't ready to celebrate yet, that very wind could just as likely send the bats right into them too.

"running it is" "HAHAH, So this is what elven blood is good for? Outrunning a hive of bats?" She was laughing out quite loude wich was perhaps a bit creepy. Of course she didnt think this was actualy funny, this was just a bad habit she had to laugh in the face of danger, it was a little quirk she had gotten over the years of being cursed and finding herself in scenarios like this quite often. This really wasnt the first time she was chased down by a swarm of angered bats… There was a tower in front of the two and a large one at that. It looked sketchy but it also didnt have any holes for the bats to enter into making it an excellent hideout for the bat storm. "Over there! It's our only chance!"

Gerard had decided in the span of a  few minutes that he hated bats. The nasty little flying buggers were the mammalian counterpart to mosquitoes. While the pirate woman laughed off their current situation, the bard was looking straight ahead with a scowl of displeasure pasted onto his face. Oh yes, this was very funny. As if a black cloud of flapping, biting creatures was something to laugh about. As they continued to keep ahead of the oncoming swarm he witnessed some of the condemned souls in the circle being blown into the bats with screams of bloody murder following. He didn't envy their positions at all. When one of the tower ruins appeared before them, the woman suggested they take shelter inside. He had no objections, however he did let her enter first–in case it was rigged with a plethora of nasty surprises. He wouldn't put it past the Infernos to mix and match its methods of torture or to raise false hopes only to crush them like a walnut between a nutcracker's jaws.

After the pirate entered, he followed suit when there was a distinct lack of screaming. Ducking inside he scanned the interior of the tower for any hidden 'surprises' while the hellish bat storm swarmed their hideout. The beating of a thousand leathery wings was maddening, and in response he took out his violin setting his bow to the strings. "Good god, they're still at it out there. But now they've been so gracious as to congregate on a single location, it would be foolish not to wipe them all out. You might want to cover your ears for this one unless you fancy losing your hearing." For all of their foulness, bats had one great glaring weakness: their hearing. And Gerard had just the thing for that. Turning to face where they had come in, he scraped the bow across the strings at the right angle and let out a sound that could pierce eardrums if you weren't behind him. The sound of several small things falling to the ground like raindrops replaced the incessant flapping, and the noises subsided. Satisfied with his work, he returned his instrument to its case.