Topic: Cleaning House (Read 250999 times)

killa_robot · « **Reply #300 on:** October 21, 2016, 11:06:02 am »

Naturally, Emend reaches down and retrieves the deed. It was the reason he split up from the others after all. He then ponders over what to do about the doll girl and the bear. Something told him that fighting the girl wasn't a wise decision right now. Something also told him he shouldn't make a big scene about leaving.

With that in mind, Emend simply pockets the deed and heads towards the stairs. He'll likely have to make himself invisible soon, but for now he should be fine.

LadyZerka · « **Reply #301 on:** October 21, 2016, 12:13:47 pm »

UsdiYona sees the man leaving. Hey! You can't leave me here alone with this thing!

She tries to wriggle free of Doll's grasp, so she can go run after the boneheaded dolt.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #302 on:** October 21, 2016, 12:51:59 pm »

To her utter dismay, the bear cub tries to bolt out of Doll's arms.

"NO! BAD BEAR!" she scolds, her face tightening with anger, as her grip suddenly becomes inhumanly strong.

In the false child's vice-like grip, UsdiYona can feel all the air being crushed out of her lungs - as her ribcage threatens to crack under the pressure!

Twisting enough to get her rear feet against Doll's chest, the bear cub pushes itself away with all its might - abruptly popping free, out over Doll's arms.

Hitting the floor, UsdiYona scurries after the Awakened man as fast as she can.

"BEARY!" the fabricated girl cries, chasing after the fleeing critter.

UsdiYona bolts out of the attic laboratory and down the wooden stairs - crashing into the back of Emend's legs in her flight - sending them both flying through the red velvet rope and into a heap at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" the black silhouette of a doorman yells, bending down to retrieve the velvet rope and corresponding brass stands.

After setting them back up across the stairs, the black shade 'dusts' itself off, and then nods at Emend and the Saint (who just happens to be standing at the bottom of the stairs).

"Have a nice evening gentlemen," it says (having not answered Saint's last question), then flattens itself back into the shadows to disappear completely.

Upstairs, the terrible shrieks of a very angry little girl can be heard, even above the blaring security alarm - "MY PRESENT! COME BACK BEARY! COME BACK!!!"

For whatever reason, the girl does not come into view - perhaps trapped in Mama Kark's ward somehow, and unable to leave the laboratory.

Looking, the Saint sees that it was a small black bear cub, with a rusty iron color pad-locked around its neck, that knocked Emend down the stairs.

Drakilian · « **Reply #303 on:** October 21, 2016, 03:07:05 pm »

"Uhh"

Saint is about to ask Emend what the hell's happening when he hears the angry scream from upstairs - he then proceeds to visibly wince.

"Do we need to run?"

Shutting the hidden door closed, Saint then - assuming the bear is nothing more than a simple bear - tries to establish control over the thing, intending to alter it soon so that it can fight off the guards on their way out.

killa_robot · « **Reply #304 on:** October 21, 2016, 03:28:19 pm »

Emend stands up and brushes himself off. He then looks at where the stairs were, then back to Saint.

"No, we should be fine, but we'll have to deal with a very angry doll girl when we move in," he replies, looking back at the stairs once again.

"I have the deed. Where is everyone else? Is Jack dead? Should I be concerned about this annoying alarm?" He then looks down at the bear. "And it seems we're going to be having a new pet as well. Meet Mr.Snugglefluff."

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #305 on:** October 21, 2016, 03:58:46 pm »

The Saint's magic fails to latch onto the bear cub. Perhaps it is another one of Mama Kark's spirits?

LadyZerka · « **Reply #306 on:** October 21, 2016, 04:02:58 pm »

The bear cub snorts at the name 'Mr. Snugglefluff' and walks over to start scratching letters into the wall. They spell out the word 'UsdiYona'.

Drakilian · « **Reply #307 on:** October 21, 2016, 04:11:54 pm »

"Well... After I blacked out, I woke up here in the library severely wounded. Sarapheen, Beats and Robor went off to kill Jack and I haven't seen them since. I've reactivated my spatial map effect so I can see anywhere in the castle that isn't warded. Jack is not visible, nor are our fellow disciples. It's been long enough that i'm worried something might have gone wrong.

I doubt we're going to get out of here without a fight as long as those cameras are still up. They're still searching the castle for us, but the search has passed this room.

We should escape soon, if Sarapheen was still able to create a portal to us I expect she would have done it by now, and we need to leave before the second shift and the police arrive."

Then, Saint frowns

"Hmm, Mr.Snugglepuff isn't responding to my magic, he might not be what he seems. Is he friendly? What is that he's carved into the wall there?"

killa_robot · « **Reply #308 on:** October 21, 2016, 05:38:30 pm »

"After he blacked out? A lot must have happened while I was upstairs," Emend thinks to himself.

"He should be friendly. Kark had the him locked in a cage, and he was meant to be a present for the doll, so at the very least it doesn't seem like he was on their side. I couldn't find the key to the collar on him, so I'd assume Kark has it on her. Since the collar is magic, we should find out more about Mr.Snugglefluff once we unlock it," he replies.

"Not sure what's on the wall. Maybe it's his real name. Anyway, I could get rid of the electricity, but they probably have a backup generator somewhere. You think your spatial map could guide us out without getting caught?"

Drakilian · « **Reply #309 on:** October 21, 2016, 05:48:34 pm »

"Yeah, we can try... Emend, do you have any idea what happened while I was unconscious? The last thing I remember was seeing what Kark did do those children... When I woke up I had her bloody cleaver in my hands and my swarm... Well, my swarm was out of my range, attacking an unconscious man in one of the bedrooms. Everything hurt so much. Was I ambushed by one of her spirits? Did something jump out from those boxes and attack me?"

killa_robot · « **Reply #310 on:** October 21, 2016, 06:35:48 pm »

Emend gives Saint a confused look.

"After we saw the... bodies, you asked for the cleaver. Then Sarapheen created a portal to the attic, at which point you ran ahead of us and down the stairs. I'm not sure what happened to you after that."

Drakilian · « **Reply #311 on:** October 21, 2016, 08:05:30 pm »

"..."

Saint clears his throat.

"Right. Well then."

The thought suddenly strikes Saint - did the cameras see him?
Oh, Faith...

The leader.. The leader had to have some pad that would allow him access to the cameras or something. The man in the bedroom.

"We'll have to make a slight detour. I want to erase any footage they might have of events here, keep what we can discreet."

Saint tries to hide the guilt in his voice but anyone listening can tell it's there.

killa_robot · « **Reply #312 on:** October 21, 2016, 11:50:39 pm »

Emend gives Saint yet another confused look, but nods along anyway.

"I would have hoped everyone was already trying to keep this discreet, but if you have no memory of what happened, and we don't know where the others are, it's better to be safe than sorry," he replies, agreeing to the plan.

"Lead the way."

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #313 on:** October 22, 2016, 12:33:46 am »

With his mage sight going, Emend abruptly notices something odd about something the Saint is carrying.

It's the glossy black horn flask, from the vault, still glistening with streaks of fresh blood.

There appears to be some form of space resonance associated with it.

killa_robot · « **Reply #314 on:** October 22, 2016, 08:36:25 am »

"Wait a minute. Saint, where did you get the flask you have on you?" Emend asks, pointing to the flask.

"I sense space magic coming from it"

Drakilian · « **Reply #315 on:** October 22, 2016, 11:20:31 am »

Saint looks at the flask, confused for a second.

"I... It was in Kark's room, covered in blood."

*flashback*

Quote

Blood seeps through a white bandage wrap on her left arm and she appeared to be without footwear - her bare feet gnarled, and hard enough in the sole, not to be bothered by the briars, stinging nettles, or poison ivy.

"Space magic? I think this was how she was creating the portals despite your interference! It must only work with her blood, do you think you could use it anyway?"

killa_robot · « **Reply #316 on:** October 22, 2016, 11:38:28 am »

"Of course," Emend replies, taking the flask from Saint. "Though I won't know what it does until activating it."

With that in mind, Emend attempts to activate the the enchanted item, and have it create a portal to the location where Sarapheen portaled everyone from before they entered the high oaks property.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #317 on:** October 22, 2016, 12:28:52 pm »

Using prime, Emend is able to activate the enchanted item - feeling it draw mana from him, as the drops of blood within begin swirling around in the cup with the ephemeral magic of Emend's spell.

Reading the process with supernal vision, Emend sees that a miniature portal (to the Washington National Cathedral) has opened in the horn flask's mouth - much too small to do anything more than look through or poke a finger into.

Then the idea occurs to emend, to try 'splashing' the portal out - which he does, creating a full-sized red swirling vortex in the air.

The portal appears functional now, but won't last long - and has a weird anchor to the library. Without wasting too much time trying to analyze everything, Emend guesses that the flask cannot be brought through its own portal and that when Emend travels through, he will acquire a Sympathetic connection of some kind to it.

Of course there will be more time to analyze the exact nature of the magic once on the other side of the portal...

killa_robot · « **Reply #318 on:** October 22, 2016, 12:57:37 pm »

"We had better hurry," Emend says, waiting for Saint and the bear to pass through the portal before following himself.

If he can, he'll also attempt to hide the flask in the room. Perhaps on the other side of the secret door.

LadyZerka · « **Reply #319 on:** October 22, 2016, 01:00:15 pm »

The bear cub meanwhile points to its name, then to itself. Then draws a smiley face on the wall next to the name and runs through the portal.

Drakilian · « **Reply #320 on:** October 22, 2016, 04:21:50 pm »

Saint hurries on through the portal.

Oh I do hope there is no one waiting on the other side. A naked priest caught with a bear cub in a cathedral, won't that make the news...

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #321 on:** October 23, 2016, 03:07:09 pm »

Emend is able to hide the demon-horn flask on the first step of the wooden stairs, behind the secret door in the library. After closing the door, he heads through the crimson portal, to join Saint and the bear cub on the other side.

The three of them arrive in the meeting room, under the Washington National Cathedral - that they have been using to study and coordinate with Sarapheen.

The portal they come in through closes rather quickly - except to Emend's supernal vision. He sees that its resonance is still there - but not fixed in space. It appears to be 'following' him around - as if waiting for another trigger to open it back up again.

LadyZerka · « **Reply #322 on:** October 23, 2016, 03:14:14 pm »

UsdiYona goes over to the whiteboard and climbs up on a chair. She takes a dry erase marker, bites off the cap and uses it in her mouth to draw a picture.

It shows a stick figure with a third leg and a stick figure with a loopy double-u at its chest. The bear cub points at the 'dick man' then to Saint and Emend, then points to the 'boob girl' and finally back to herself.

She then draws a picture of her locked collar in a circle with a slash through it.

killa_robot · « **Reply #323 on:** October 23, 2016, 03:30:39 pm »

Emend looks at the whiteboard, then to Saint.

"Well, we made it out, though I'm not sure where the others are. Since the castle was in a panic when we left, we should probably wait a bit before bringing up that we rightfully own it. I'll see you in a few days. Hopefully the others show up in that time," he says. Emend then looks at UsiYona.

"... You're a girl, aren't you?"

Drakilian · « **Reply #324 on:** October 23, 2016, 03:43:56 pm »

"Err, yes, it would appear she is. Sorry about that."

Saint commandeers a priest's vestments from the place and then calls out to Emend - "I'll be back shortly, I just have to go out... be seen. Try to examine her collar? Maybe we can get it off while we wait for the others to get back."

Saint is about to leave the church when he stops with a start, remembering something rather crucial. Running back to Emend, he hands the avenging disciple the thirsty cleaver.

"Oh, and we still have no idea what this does, you should probably take a look at it as well."

LadyZerka · « **Reply #325 on:** October 24, 2016, 09:58:50 am »

UsdiYona smiles and points to her collar with a grunt.

killa_robot · « **Reply #326 on:** October 24, 2016, 10:37:00 am »

With time to spare now, Emend attempts to identify the purpose of the collar and the cleaver, also giving a quick look around the room for anything that could break the collar off.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #327 on:** October 24, 2016, 11:18:32 am »

Mama Kark's cleaver presents a disturbing find. It was used by Mama Kark to dismember her victims (mostly children). Apparently, the blade has absorbed the horror that it was a party to - and developed a thirst for innocent blood. This gives it 9's for any attacks made with the blade - and 8's when specifically used against children.

The blade also needs to taste the blood of children (1 Lethal Damage or more) at least once a week, or its owner will lose a non-recoverable point of temp Willpower per week, until the blade has been stated. Should the owner's Temp Willpower drop to zero during this time, the Thirsty Blade automatically gains full possession of the owner and forces him to slay the nearest living child with the blade, regardless of consequences (or witnesses).

The curse itself is similar to the Fate (5) Geas spell, when determining the requirements for severing 'ownership' of the blade.

Yeah...

Probably a good idea to mention this all to the Saint - as he's the proud new owner of the Thirsty Blade (and has a little kid in his care).

The rusty iron collar on the bear cub meanwhile, is a simple ward and ban - preventing anything locked in the collar from using magic. The padlock itself is not part of the enchantment, so removing it won't destroy the potentially handy collar from being used later if needed.

Looking around, Emend finds a pair of bolt cutters in a maintenance closet not too far from the meeting room, and takes them back to free UsdiYona.

As Emend snips off the padlock, it occurs to him that he could easily use his telekinesis to pick open any lock, if only he had the space arcanum necessary, to 'look into' the lock itself as he did so.

killa_robot · « **Reply #328 on:** October 24, 2016, 11:49:00 am »

Assuming he can, Emend will remove the collar from the bear.

Drakilian · « **Reply #329 on:** October 24, 2016, 06:20:08 pm »

Saint will go out to use an ATM, talk to his colleagues, make his presence at the cathedral well-known. Then he will go to his apartment and hug and kiss Faith, and ask her about her day. After this he will take a shower, dress back up into his priest clothing and call for a babysitter to look after Faith while he "goes out for drinks with some friends". He will leave the apartment but wait outside, keeping a spatial map active so that he knows when the police are nearby, so that he can walk out to be "caught" without them making any sort of fuss that would bother Faith. He will use a body control spell in advance of being captured and keep it active with the intention of using it to keep himself totally calm and to pass any polygraph tests he might be given.

LadyZerka · « **Reply #330 on:** October 25, 2016, 09:31:46 am »

Quote from: killa_robot on October 24, 2016, 11:49:00 am

Assuming he can, Emend will remove the collar from the bear.

When the collar is taken off, the bear cub stands up into a 12 year old Cherokee girl, with long braded black hair, in native dress of white suede with tan fringe and a beaded headband.

"Thank you for saving me!" she says, hugging Emend. Then frowns, and smacks him on the chest - "Hey! You left me with that doll thing! She tried to crush me like a grape!"

She then brightens - "Speaking of grapes, I'm starving! Do you have any people food? Mama Kark promised me some, but tricked me into that stupid collar instead."

killa_robot · « **Reply #331 on:** October 25, 2016, 10:47:31 am »

Emend takes a moment to process that the bear just turned into a little girl before responding.

"... I probably would have come back to rescue you," He responds in an u confident manner.

"But more importantly yes, let's go get something to eat," Emend states, trying to ignore the fact that food was enough to trick this little girl into a collar. He'll change back into his normal clothes, then the two of them will head out to get some "people food".

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #332 on:** October 25, 2016, 02:59:54 pm »

While the Saint is out creating his false alibi, Emend takes UsdiYona across town, to a family restaurant. He is amazed at how ravenous the kid is, and watches her pack away enough food to feed, well... a bear. Other patrons are curious about her attire (though Halloween is only two weeks away, so they just sort of write that off) and find it quite entertaining to see how much she enjoys her food - relishing each taste like a junky getting her first fix in a long long time.

Emend get's quite a few "that's a beautiful costume" and "don't you ever feed that kid haha," comments.

Following the meal, the two of them walk around the park a bit, the girl extremely curious about everything she sees in the city. She clearly hasn't been in one before (or even rode in a car prior to today).

In fact, talking to her doesn't help resolve the mystery about her much, as she only remembers back about "six moons" and that she was in the forest, when she met Mama Kark, who promised her a basket of "people food"- if she could prove her ability to change into a baby bear.

When she changed shape, Mama Kark trapped her like that with the collar, and threw her into the cage.

UsdiYona is not sure what Mama Kark wanted with her, but she did mention stealing a part of her soul to grant Doll the ability to grow up like normal kids.

Apparently, Mama Kark was in the process of setting up the soul-trapping spell, with the large diamond over the cage, when she sensed a free spirit nearby and left - telling Doll through the door that she would be right back and have a present for her when she returned.

Apparently, the most distressful thing about the whole ordeal to UsdiYona was not getting the food she had been promised.

Not sure what to do with her, Emend then took the girl back to the Washington National Cathedral to see what the Saint would suggest - and if Sarapheen, Robor, and Beats had shown up yet.

At first, the meeting room was empty when they returned, but after sitting down to wait a few moments, Beats and Robor abruptly popped into the room out of thin air - looking a little worse for wear.

"Hello," UsdiYona said to them with a smile and a wave.

---

Continued from 'The Hell Are We?'

killa_robot · « **Reply #333 on:** October 25, 2016, 03:34:24 pm »

"What happened to the two of you? Where's Sarapheen? Did you get the job done?" Emend asks.

Drakilian · « **Reply #334 on:** October 25, 2016, 03:42:32 pm »

Under the impression that it will still take a while for the police to get to his apartment (or that they might come to his workplace first), Saint heads back to the cathedral to have a final word with his fellow disciples. At the very least he could warn them before mysteriously vanishing for two days.

On arriving, he warmly greets Robor and Beats both, rushing to their sides.

"What happened? Are you two okay, do you need healing? Where's Sarapheen?"

Then, eyes widening at Robor's wounds, "Lord almighty, Beats, lay down. You must be dizzy from the blood loss."

He begins a prayer of healing over Beats' body then, spending some of his little remaining mana in an attempt to help heal his wounded comrade.

Forge · « **Reply #335 on:** October 25, 2016, 03:58:07 pm »

Beats sits down "I'm Beats." He announces "Farking paradox switched us." He then helpfully adds "Sera messed up and threw us into the spirit place, then exploded."

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #336 on:** October 25, 2016, 05:15:54 pm »

As Beats talks, the Saint uses his Balm of Flesh rote on Robor (in Beats' body) - damn, they need to fix that quick.

A substantial amount of the damage is healed - the bullet passage closing up nicely - and leaving only a tender feeling and possibly cracked rib, left to mend on its own.

As Saint does this, he is once again reminded, by potent levels of pain stabbing around in his own chest, that he is still seriously injured himself.

Drakilian · « **Reply #337 on:** October 25, 2016, 07:04:37 pm »

After healing Robor, Saint grimaces and sits back down, clutching at his chest.

Through gritted teeth, he says "Ah, yes, sorry. I forgot about it, what with all the... everything. Sarapheen will come back right? She said she was immortal..."

Saint's pain cannot hide the worry in his voice.

Agh! It feels like something is broken deep inside. I stopped before because of the risk of backlash but maybe enough time has passed...?

With that, Saint mumbles a few words of power and recasts his self-healing spell. He did not want to be of weak constitution when the time to give himself over to the police came. He especially did not want to be visibly in pain from an injury.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #338 on:** October 25, 2016, 07:46:41 pm »

In the quiet calming strength of the cathedral, the Saint utters words of power and wills the twisted scarring across his chest to untangle itself and knit back together in a smoother more natural looking fashion.

When he's finished, three quarters of the scar tissue has disappeared, leaving him feeling much better - at least compared to how he was feeling a minute ago. There's still a nagging pain that lets him know he's going to have to tend to the wound just a little more to completely rid himself of it.

Steeling himself, he casts the spell a second time, half expecting paradox to punish him for his efforts - but the wound heals, and he is finally left whole.

LadyZerka · « **Reply #339 on:** October 25, 2016, 08:06:44 pm »

"I'm UsdiYona (a girl)" she makes sure to point out to Robor and Beats, giving Saint and Emend a sidelong glance, "Who's Sarapheen?"

Drakilian · « **Reply #340 on:** October 25, 2016, 08:10:25 pm »

Tired, Saint slumps back against a wall.

"Today has not been a good day."

He looks up at Emend, "any good news from you, Emend? What did we recover from Kark? Where's the bear?"

Then, seemingly for the first time, Saint noticed UsdiYona. Eyes widening, he asks - "Oh my. Hello, who are you?"

Quote from: LadyZerka on October 25, 2016, 08:06:44 pm

"I'm UsdiYona (a girl)" she makes sure to point out to Robor and Beats, giving Saint and Emend a sidelong glance, "Who's Sarapheen?"

Saint opens his mouth to reply, and then closes it again.

Weren't you a bear?

"I'm sorry Usi - do you mind if I call you that? UsdiYona is a bit unwieldy. We were, uh, rushed."

Not Aman · « **Reply #341 on:** October 25, 2016, 08:35:09 pm »

Quote from: Forge on October 25, 2016, 03:58:07 pm

Beats sits down "I'm Beats." He announces "Farking paradox switched us." He then helpfully adds "Sera messed up and threw us into the spirit place, then exploded."

"I need this fixed." Robor says.

LadyZerka · « **Reply #342 on:** October 25, 2016, 08:46:22 pm »

Quote from: Drakilian on October 25, 2016, 08:10:25 pm

"I'm sorry Usi - do you mind if I call you that? UsdiYona is a bit unwieldy. We were, uh, rushed."

"Yeah, that's OK. It's better than 'Mr. Snagglepoof' or whatever that was you were calling me..."

Quote from: Not Aman on October 25, 2016, 08:35:09 pm

"I need this fixed." Robor says.

"What needs fixed?" UsdiYona asks curiosly.

Forge · « **Reply #343 on:** October 25, 2016, 08:50:34 pm »

Beats stares at the girl for a second before shrugging "So this someones kid?" Turning to her "Ya dressed up or that what ya normally wear?"

He then leans back and nods to Robors comment "For sure man, no offense but ya also need to work out more."

LadyZerka · « **Reply #344 on:** October 25, 2016, 09:02:37 pm »

Quote from: Forge on October 25, 2016, 08:50:34 pm

Beats stares at the girl for a second before shrugging "So this someones kid?" Turning to her "Ya dressed up or that what ya normally wear?"

"Oh, is this better?" she answers, changing her outfit to match the Saint's black priests garb, "Or this?" she adds, adopting Emend's corporate attire, "Or what?" she finishes, with a copy of Beat's Kevlar vest and arm tattoos.

Having made her point, she changes back to her native dress. "I like this one better."

Forge · « **Reply #345 on:** October 25, 2016, 10:11:18 pm »

Beats looks confused and a little surprised then grins at her, he had learned too much and seen too much today to be overly scared "I like tha tats better, ya'd fit right in with my boys!"

LadyZerka · « **Reply #346 on:** October 26, 2016, 06:38:51 am »

"I can't really do 'boy'," UsdiYona replies, "Just 'girl'."

"Clothing and things are easy, but 'human' is not."

killa_robot · « **Reply #347 on:** October 26, 2016, 07:31:14 am »

"Sarapheen... exploded?" Emend asks, a mix of concern and confusion in his voice. She did mention before that she is immortal, so she should be okay. Still, exploding couldn't have been a pleasent experience...

Emend then explains to everyone about the collar, UsdiYona, and the cleaver. He then asks again to confirm Jack is dead.

Drakilian · « **Reply #348 on:** October 26, 2016, 12:19:40 pm »

Saint's face goes white at the news about the cleaver.

"...does anyone know how long until Sarapheen reincorporates?", he asks weakly, at the moment completely ignoring UsdiYona.

Not Aman · « **Reply #349 on:** October 27, 2016, 08:09:12 pm »

"Maybe our mentors know?" Robor suggests.

"They might know how to remove this body swap as well."

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Author Topic: Cleaning House (Read 250999 times)