Hunting 101 -Class 14 (Wednesday, period 7)
When the students entered, they found the Danger Shop blank and empty save for John who was waiting for them.
"Today's subject is demons," John began. "Demons are probably the most dangerous thing a hunter can face. Not that all the other things we've covered in this class won't get you just as dead if they have a chance, but with most of them, death's where it ends. With demons, you can lose not only your life, but your soul.
"The good news is that generally they can't physically manifest unless they've extremely powerful. The bad news is that they get around this by possessing people." John hit a button on the remote he held and there appeared behind him a hologram of a man in an office. Something that looked like black smoke came in through the vent and went into the man's mouth. When the man raised his head again, his eyes were smoky black.
John hit a button on the remote and the image froze. "They say eyes are the window to the soul and that is where a demon will reveal itself -- with most low level demons, this is what you get, completely black. More powerful demons will often have yellow or red eyes.
"Of course, they are perfectly capable of appearing completely normal under most circumstances -- that's part of what makes them so dangerous. Often you won't know they're there until they spring whatever it is they're planning on doing. But there are ways to make a demon show itself.
"They will of course, set off an EMF meter. Holy water will burn and smoke when it comes in contact with most possessed. And they will flinch at the name of God. In Latin. Which is 'Christo'." John smiled slightly. "A working knowledge of Latin is very useful when dealing with demons."
"Once you find the demon, you have to take care of it. Generally, with demons, this means exorcism, which sends them back to Hell." John gave a wolfish smile. "Now they're not going to just hold still and let you yank them out of their victim, so you'll need to confine them somehow. In a pinch you can try and use physical restraints although those are always iffy given demons' strength and often telekenisis. But there are other things that work to confine a demon.
"Salt's probably the simplest and easiest to use. Good to use in situations where you don't have much preparation time. But if you do have time to set up beforehand, your best bet is to use something like this." John hit the remote again and a room with a low ceiling appeared, with a ritualistic circle with runes drawn on the ceiling. "This is out of the Key of Solomon -- an excellent reference that has many different sigils and seals that will trap a demon -- or keep one out.
"And then comes the actual exorcism." John hit the remote again and the possessed man from earlier appeared tied to a chair underneath the symbol, and a hologram John read out a Latin exorcism. As it was read, the man twitched in pain, his eyes went black, the chair he was tied to moved around the circle violently -- but never broke out of it. And then finally, he threw his head back and screamed out the black smoke which disappated against the ceiling.
John hit the remote again and the scene faded. "So that's the quick demon primer." He hit a button and they were suddenly standing in the middle of a library. "Your final exam is going to consist of finding, trapping and exorcising a demon. You can spend the rest of this class, looking through the exorcism rituals and protective runes and sigils in preparation for that. And if you have any specific questions about demons or anything else we've covered, this would be the time to ask."
[ooc: Wait for OCD's are up]
"Today's subject is demons," John began. "Demons are probably the most dangerous thing a hunter can face. Not that all the other things we've covered in this class won't get you just as dead if they have a chance, but with most of them, death's where it ends. With demons, you can lose not only your life, but your soul.
"The good news is that generally they can't physically manifest unless they've extremely powerful. The bad news is that they get around this by possessing people." John hit a button on the remote he held and there appeared behind him a hologram of a man in an office. Something that looked like black smoke came in through the vent and went into the man's mouth. When the man raised his head again, his eyes were smoky black.
John hit a button on the remote and the image froze. "They say eyes are the window to the soul and that is where a demon will reveal itself -- with most low level demons, this is what you get, completely black. More powerful demons will often have yellow or red eyes.
"Of course, they are perfectly capable of appearing completely normal under most circumstances -- that's part of what makes them so dangerous. Often you won't know they're there until they spring whatever it is they're planning on doing. But there are ways to make a demon show itself.
"They will of course, set off an EMF meter. Holy water will burn and smoke when it comes in contact with most possessed. And they will flinch at the name of God. In Latin. Which is 'Christo'." John smiled slightly. "A working knowledge of Latin is very useful when dealing with demons."
"Once you find the demon, you have to take care of it. Generally, with demons, this means exorcism, which sends them back to Hell." John gave a wolfish smile. "Now they're not going to just hold still and let you yank them out of their victim, so you'll need to confine them somehow. In a pinch you can try and use physical restraints although those are always iffy given demons' strength and often telekenisis. But there are other things that work to confine a demon.
"Salt's probably the simplest and easiest to use. Good to use in situations where you don't have much preparation time. But if you do have time to set up beforehand, your best bet is to use something like this." John hit the remote again and a room with a low ceiling appeared, with a ritualistic circle with runes drawn on the ceiling. "This is out of the Key of Solomon -- an excellent reference that has many different sigils and seals that will trap a demon -- or keep one out.
"And then comes the actual exorcism." John hit the remote again and the possessed man from earlier appeared tied to a chair underneath the symbol, and a hologram John read out a Latin exorcism. As it was read, the man twitched in pain, his eyes went black, the chair he was tied to moved around the circle violently -- but never broke out of it. And then finally, he threw his head back and screamed out the black smoke which disappated against the ceiling.
John hit the remote again and the scene faded. "So that's the quick demon primer." He hit a button and they were suddenly standing in the middle of a library. "Your final exam is going to consist of finding, trapping and exorcising a demon. You can spend the rest of this class, looking through the exorcism rituals and protective runes and sigils in preparation for that. And if you have any specific questions about demons or anything else we've covered, this would be the time to ask."
[ooc: Wait for OCD's are up]