Hello and welcome to tonight’s episode of How to Eat Your Neighbors.
1: First off, this is going to be a potentially dangerous scene. It is possible that not all of your characters will make it out, though I certainly hope they do. It’s also possible that someone might get one good shot off and kill the antagonist in one round, so we’ll just have to see what happens.
2: I know how frustrating it can be to lose a character because you didn’t fully understand the rules, so I am 100% here for any casting or combat questions you guys might have.
3: If any of the content in this scene makes you uncomfortable, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
4: The more organized and efficient we can be, the smoother this scene will run. On that note, once we establish a posting order please stick to it, and try to make posts and (especially) combat declares and dice rolls within a reasonable time frame.
5: There are actually a couple of different ways this scene can go down, so don’t necessarily go into it thinking you absolutely have to accomplish things one way. Do what your characters would do, and we’ll take it from there.
6: We're going to roll all of our prep dice before we start posting, then I will try to tie up everything in my intro post and get us started at the house.
7: Good luck, and have fun!
Alexander[Sensing spirits. Coincidental, TN4. Near the node, so down to TN3. Want two successes to last the scene.]
Dice: 1 d10 TN3 (9) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Lucy[awareness: are there other mages about other than the devouring one?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 9, 9) ( success x 2 )
Elijah[Because Mind 1 shielding is awesome]
Dice: 1 d10 TN4 (8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Elijah[Aaaaand extending]
Dice: 1 d10 TN5 (3) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Elijah[Aaaaand keeping on extending]
Dice: 1 d10 TN5 (3) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Lucy[Mind 1: Shield]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (4, 6) ( success x 2 )
HungerFor some, the day started early. Sera and Ian and Jae-shin met up with Alex and Elijah at the chantry. Maybe the apprentices showed up later, as the sun was starting to sink low in the sky and that sense of liminal electricity hung foreboding in the air. Or maybe they came by earlier to help were they could. To talk. To figure out some semblance of a plan. The other three worked their rituals as the hours passed. Sera was able to provide an advantage in the form of time - speeding up each of them incrementally until the world around them seemed to pass more slowly. Ian quietly took Elijah and Sera aside in order to better shield them from physical threats. The other mages prepared how they could.
And Lucy? What of the Dreamspeaker? She wasn't there with the rest at the Chantry. Instead she left early for the woods around the house. She packed her tools and she found a place to work, and then she called out to the spirits of the dead; of those who'd been murdered by the woman they meant to confront. Souls trapped in the memory of what was done to them.
Now was the time. If they were ever to gain some semblance of justice. Of closure. They must take it for themselves. And so she focused on the threads of fate and prophecy and justice, and she called out. Perhaps she danced, or sang, or prayed. Whatever her methods, she called, and her voice echoed across the landscape of the penumbra. It was an exhausting ritual, and perhaps she feared that it might prove fruitless. She could not compel the spirits to come. All she could do was hope that the message found its way where it needed to go.
And then, finally, they were there. Not just one, but two, three, five... eight. All eight. Jeremy she recognized. The others were less known, but they bore the faces of those who'd gone missing over the summer. And then, one by one, they pushed their way through the gauntlet and materialized on the other side. Their forms were weak and noncorporeal, but they were there. And they were ready to fight.
Back at the Chantry, the others left in their cars and drove quietly to their destination. Ian drove with Jae-shin, while Sera took her van, leaving Dan to wait in the driver's seat. Perhaps Alex and Elijah traveled together, or perhaps they went with Sera or Jae-shin. Either way, they all got there. The vehicles were parked a safe ways down the road. Close enough that they could run to them if need be, but far enough that they'd be out of sight. When the group finally arrived at the property, they'd find a large red house in the middle of a wide grassy field, bordered by pine forest and protected by a tall, wrought iron fence. Ian and Jae-shin scaled the fence, helping Sera over the top, and if the others needed it they'd offer a hand down to help them too.
On the outside, the place looked deceptively calm, with no signs of violence or destruction or any kind of recent activity. Once past the fence, however... it was another story. Something felt different. Like they'd just passed through some kind of barrier. And looking at the house would reveal... an entirely different picture from the one they'd viewed from the road.
Patches of grass were torn up in the yard. Dark patches marked the spots where the grass had been burnt to ash, while others looked more like stains (like blood.) It was difficult to tell exact details in the dark. Sections of the house were charred. Even at a distance the smell of burnt wood was noticeable.
ElijahElijah was not an athletic creature. He knew this, wasn't embarrassed about this, the fact that his physical activities tended to lend themselves to more carnal ends was not exactly helping him at that juncture, save to have the occasional thought stay present and consistent in his mind. THere were things to do. There were things to do and people to see and something that they needed to stop.
He should have told Kalen what he was doing. He should have told Kalen a lot of things, but telling Kalen his thought process wasn't exactly high on his To Do list. Elijah took in the general feel of the place, a little cold now that he wasn't shoved up against someone who was a little slice of magical winter. He was too busy thinking of things he wanted to tell Jenn, things he'd wished he'd told her. He could see all sorts of things, except for what was in front of him. Funny how that works.
"Jesus," he muttered, looking at the house. He took a second to look at the people he was with, "so... what are we doing? Are we having, like, a metaphysical intervention? Do we read letters about why cannibalism is bad?"
Oh yeah, he wasn't nervous at all.
AlexanderAlexander had been early to the Chantry, but had been pretty quiet the whole time he’d been there. He knew what was coming, to some degree what they were expecting to happen. Maybe the plan itself needed to be firmed up, but in the end it all came down to one thing: The pack and their leader needed to be stopped. And that’s why he was here. Because of that sense of duty that had put him in the line of fire before and, all going well, would do again. There’s not much to be said.
He spends his time doing what he can to help the others before preparing his gear. The body armour is checked. The pistol taken apart, stripped, cleaned and reassembled. They’re all familiar motions – he keeps his gear well maintained – so perhaps it’s more out of something to occupy his hands and his mind until they were ready to go. He rides with Sera and Dan, leaving the blue bike tucked away in the Chantry’s garage.
They arrive at the house and Alexander offers to boost up anyone who might need a hand before climbing up and over the fence himself. Best hope they don’t need to get away in a hurry, right? Elijah asks what they’re going to do. Makes a joke about dropping off pamphlets. Tries to hide his nerves.
“We do what needs to be done.” The tone is almost normal, but there are tells in his body language for those who know him. He’s nervous too. But he’s had more practice in similar, if more mundane, situations, so is better at hiding it. He unholsters his Glock, checks the clip and the round in the chamber – one of the clips that Kalen had worked his particular brand of magic on earlier - then clicks off the safety.
The others are watching the house, so he looks around where they’re not watching. They don't know how many people are inside, and it's best their little group doesn't get snuck up on.
LucyWhat of Lucy the Dreamspeaker? Her day started earlier, with a soak in the impossible heat of the Node's hot spring to replenish what she could of her strength, her power. One of these days she'll have to ask around if there isn't some other place, some other Node where she can pray to her divine Avatar for strength, some place that doesn't make her feel like she's melting from the inside out. For today, though, Lucy did what needed to be done, dressed, gathered her things, and began her journey on foot to the cloaked area from her visions. It was no easy thing. She carried her large-ish yet plain mirror she used to draw out Sally Starling, and her lantern, and her bag full of other things over her shoulder.
The ritual was long, and arduous, and tasking. Lucy prayed to the dusk handmaiden, the being to whom she is merely a conduit, an oracle, a device. She readied herself and she prepared herself. She lit her lamp and lowered the Gauntlet through her mirror that her voice would carry more easily. The air around her grew gelid, frosted, too cold for such a pleasant autumn day. And in the end all she can do is hope that her voice is heard. Lucy's duty is to guide the dead, not to command. She eases their passage to the other side, doesn't compel them. She wonders if these are things she should do, feels her cheek burn where Dusk touched her so many years ago. Knows there is more to be done, but later. Later.
It seems an eternity before they arrive. While she waits, she lights her incense and bolsters her mind against intrusion. Lucy doesn't recognize most of them, but she knows them. Brian and Melissa and Kevin. Nathan, Denise. Kate and Sean. Jeremy.
She greets them as one would expect the guardian of the dead to greet them. Tired, weary, but straight and strong, chin lifted.
"I promised you justice," she says, then turns away to look over the land. The house is not easily in view, but she knows that it's there. Lifting a long and graceful and too-pale arm she points. "It's there." Looking at the gathered dead, she asks, "Will you take it with your own hands? Will you find your peace? Come." She takes a step back. "I'll help you all that I can."
And she, their Speaker, guides, and she leads, leaving behind the larger mirror. She won't be needing it for what needs to be done next.
As she nears she feels others. Most she doesn't recognize, but two are very familiar. One is cold, frozen, almost like her but not quite. The other is the tumult. The others...strangers, but those two are enough. Lucy's chin lifts, and she picks up speed, until she is running long-limbed and long-gaited to the house.
HungerLucy led her charge to the house, and when she arrived at the edges of the property and sensed the presence of the other mages, she began to run. The ghosts followed, their forms shifting and fluid as smoke. As they moved through the trees, they disappeared and reappeared, blending with the shadows. And then, when they arrived at the fence, they stopped. Ian and Jae-shin looked back at them, and the expression on Ian's face snapped with surprise. The Akashic nodded to the spirits, and to Lucy, as though he understood already what it was they'd come there to do. Jae-shin offered a hand to help Lucy over the fence, should she need it.
Behind him, Sera gave a quiet curse when she saw the state of the property. It was obvious that something had gone down there recently. But what? And who was left standing at the end?
Alexander wasn't able to sense any immediate spiritual activity nearby. At least, not in the yard or the house up ahead. Sera had previously mentioned that the building was Awakened, but now? There was nothing. It felt cold and dormant to his senses. Jae-shin confirmed it.
"I don't sense any spiritual residue in the house."
Sera spoke next. "There are two people inside. Both are injured, and tired. One's still strong though - it must be her? I cannot sense her mind. The other, though. A young man. He's scared to death, exhausted, and in pain." She looked around before continuing. "The worshipers attacked Zoe's coven out here. Maybe they didn't survive the attack. There were three cars, do you see them? Maybe the survivors are looking for another victim. For her rites. I think I can find them both inside."
Ian shook his head. "I don't see any. I can sense the two in the house, too." He glanced at Jae-shin. "Can you tell if there are any corpses nearby?"
Jae-shin closed his eyes and breathed in a couple of deep, measured breaths. Meditating quietly. Whatever he found, it made his expression darken. He looked at Ian. There was a beat of ominous silence.
"There are many. In the basement of the house. Some of them are in pieces."
"How many?"
"Eleven. Twelve."
"...Fuck." Ian's curse was low and whispered.
"There are cars in the garage," Jae-shin answered for Sera.
Ian looked as though he was about to say something, but then he went suddenly still, poised and alert like an animal, his eyes fixed forward on the trees behind the house.
"Something's out there."
When it appeared, it happened very suddenly. People always talk about how bears can move more quickly than you'd think, but when you're actually confronted with it, it's all the more terrifying. The creature (it was a grizzly - and a big one) broke through the trees at a galloping run, making a beeline straight for their group. As it approached, it opened its mouth and roared.
It was not a normal bear. Normal bears did not have spikes of sharp bone sticking out from their hide. They did not have skin sagging from their face like a corpse. And when they roared, their jaws did not unhinge like a snake to reveal a second set of teeth. But all of these things happened. All of these things were there.
"It's possessed!" Jae-shin uttered a quick warning as he drew his sword. "Corrupted."
Wrong. Ravenous and hungry.
Ian pulled his sword. Ahead of them in the house, someone began to scream. The sound was muted and distant, but barely audible. That boy... something was happening to him.
"Fuck." Sera swore again. "She's coming down the steps and there's a boy in the basement who is in danger. If you can get around the bear, then you need to go. Bullets will hurt her Alexander. She's not immune."
ElijahUnder the sight of a normal grizzly bear, Elijah would have tried to play dead and hope that everything he saw on TV worked.
this, however, was not a normal bear. This was not a creature that wasn't really real anymore. This wasn't like anything he had ever seen. Eyes widened, stomach turned and he took his time to hold the handgun and familiarize himself with the fact that he was going to go in and do something that he'd only done in a friend's back yard (keep your hand steady, keep your eyes focused. Breathe and be ready for recoil. Don't look away.) And there comes a moment when people can be afraid, when fear can paralyze you and make you think that it's all over.
But action was better than nothing. He cocked his head towards the house and made his way to the door.
"C'mon, let's go," he wasn't fearless by any means. He was fool hearty, yes, but at that moment his heart was pounding and his breathing was steady and Elijah was very, very aware of how fallible his body was. About how he had to act, and act quickly. Bears and nerves be damned, they had to move.
AlexanderTwo people inside – one of them hurt, scared. Most likely another victim, although the pack hadn’t shown any hesitation on turning on one of their own before. Either way, they need help.
Alexander turns to Ian, then to where Ian is looking, when he says Something’s out there. He sees the bear and get’s a feeling of something riding it when Jae-shin gives his warning. He turns and starts to bring his gun up, taking aim at the creature – whatever it had been twisted and turned into – and...
Fuck. He holds the shot, looking to Sera when she curses but still holding the pistol in position. “Ah, fuck!”. He decides. Sera seems to be happy to handle the bear and is outright telling him to go. So the gun comes down and he runs, dashing off at the same time as Elijah. And hoping like hell that the others staying to take care of the bear are a good enough distraction for them to be able to get past.
LucyOn the outside of the fence Lucy stops because she has to stop. She does not have the ability to slide through solid objects like some Marvel heroine. But she stops up short when she sees the people with Elijah and Alexander. One is unknown, one vaguely familiar, but the third...
Lucy, eyes wide, opens her mouth and immediately snaps it shut. There is no time to ask Ian? No time to wonder at him being here, at him having that otherworldy resonance. She climbs nimbly over the fence, drops lightly on the other side, and trots to catch up.
"Hey," she says, perhaps slowly to their senses as she claps her hand on Elijah's shoulder. She gives it a gentle if not reassuring squeeze before letting go, and she does not interrupt.
There are bodies. Lucy looks to the spirits gathered with her, gauging emotions, reactions. Is it one or more of them? It doesn't matter. If the previous owners of those bones still lurked nearby they would need to wait until later. Lucy is weary, does not presently make a very good vessel for her Avatar's strength, does not have time to try to draw them over to aid in taking their own justice.
And then there is that bear. Lucy, with only a simple boxcutter (and her antique silver scissors, but those she will not use for violence) somewhere inside her bag, is no good against bears. Unless one counts potential toothaches from trying to eat nearly-frozen flesh, of course.
And anyway, their target, the target of the ghosts with her, is within. And there is Elijah, making for the door, and Alexander. Lucy spares only a glance for Ian, a glance that holds the barest hint of wonder, the slightest curve at the corner of her wide mouth. Then she's shaking her head and running after the others.
"She's inside," she says for her charges. "She's near. Almost, you're almost there."
HungerIt was a split-second decision. That was all the time they really had to make it. Ian and Jae-shin and Sera were at the front. Two of them had drawn swords. One of them was a Disciple. And Ian knew that some of their group were not equipped to deal with something like this. That if that bear got its jaws around Elijah or Lucy they would likely not survive.
Victoria had to know that they were there. She'd probably known all along.
"Come on!" Ian roared, running both toward the bear and away from the group. Meaning to intercept it. To grab its focus. Jae-shin moved with him as though they'd been fighting together for years. Completely in sync. Sera kept further back, preparing an effect to take down the creature from a distance. And while this went on, the others took their chance.
Elijah and Alexander ran for the front door, with Lucy just behind. She was guiding the spirits that had come with them. Leading them on to... what? Hopefully some kind of justice for the horrors that were wrought upon them.
When the mages reached the door, the found it locked. It would, of course, have been too easy if it hadn't. But the spirits? Physical barriers meant little to them, and one by one they passed through the walls into the house, leaving the living beings behind.
Elijah[please don't miss the door. Dex+firearms? Called shot +2?]
Dice: 3 d10 TN8 (4, 5, 7) ( fail )
Alexander[Bigger bang. Dex+Firearm. +2 diff]
Dice: 6 d10 TN8 (3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
ElijahHe really isn't a martial creature.
He really, really isn't a martial creature. And call it nerves or call it whatever, but one should probably call it what it was and there was a nice bullet sized notch in the door, but nothing else. He winced.
AlexanderElijah’s shot goes astray, leaving a hole in the body of the door. Alexander takes aim and tries, shredding the lock and opening the way forward. He steps forward, gun raised and watchful for threats. There’s no question now that the woman behind all of this knows that they’re there. So he does what he can to protect the other two.
LucyElijah pulls out a gun and Lucy quickly steps back, clapping her hands over her ears. She's about to lower them when she sees - ah, no, the door only has a fresh notch in it. Alexander takes aim and Lucy watches, brow furrowed. His gun looks like it'll be louder than the other, maybe. The ghosts have left, have gone in to find the one who orchestrated their deaths, there isn't much that she can do on her own. But she isn't about to stay outside with the terrifying bears. Perhaps she can provide moral support?
She waits for the other two to go through first, then makes her way after, pausing just inside the door to step to the side and look around. The woman outside said "she" was coming downstairs. And that there was someone with her, someone wounded and scared. If nothing else, maybe Lucy could get the one hurt out of harm's way.
HungerWhen Alex opened the door, the mages found themselves looking into a dark foyer. All of the lights in the house were off, and no one was there to greet them when they entered. If Victoria was there, she was keeping quiet. Her resonance lingered though. That sense of devouring hunger. It was so very, very strong.
Outside, there were sounds of combat. Of a roaring, huffing beast. And then a sudden surge of crackling, visceral energy followed by a bright flash.
Another scream issued from somewhere on the floor below. It was louder now, easier to distinguish. Up ahead, at the end of the hallway, there were stairs leading both up and down.
Elijahthere was a feeling of devouring hunger. A feeling that couldn't quite be sated that nawed on his consciopusness and he was running on autopilot. IT wasn't a thought of heroism, but rather, a memory of what he was supposed to be doing. A thought that he kmnew he was here for a purpose and he had to move and time was not on his side, so naturally, what Elijah did was steel himself and haul ass down to where the sound of the screaming panic terror pain fuck that sound. He followed down the stairs.
He coudl make smart decisions later. He needed to make quick decisions now.
AlexanderThat feeling, so very strong but all around them. All around, so useless for trying to narrow down where Victoria might be. There’s a fleeting thought that it would be something good to know, but he’s focussed. Concentrated. He stalks down the hallway swiftly but warily, gun outstretched. He reaches the stairs, sweeping the pistol up and then down, ready to fire.
This was always as close as he’d gotten to meditation before Kalen had spent time with him, that clearing of the mind from conscious thought. Instinct steps in. And Alexander steps down, towards the screaming.
LucyLucy feels that ravenous, gnawing hunger trying to worm its way into the pit of her stomach. It makes her shiver in a way that cold never will again. There is a thought, a single pondering moment where she wonders where to start looking. She should bear witness to what she's brought with her, after all. She should stand guard, cold and quiet sentinel of the dead.
But a scream from below tears its way through her, raking fingernails down her spine and causing her heart to jump. Then she is jumping, dashing forward, hot (hah) on Elijah's heels. If she can help she must. If it is not someone's time to die then she must do what she can to ensure they aren't taken too soon.
Like Elijah, there is no thought, only action. Only a need to get. to. them.
[let's go percept+alert, though]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
HungerThe house was dark, but some ambient moonlight shone in through the windows. Enough that they could see where they were going - at least, until they began to descend the staircase. The steps were made from hardwood, and they creaked slightly beneath Elijah's weight. He was joined by Lucy and Alexander, the latter with his gun drawn and held at the ready.
As the three of them walked down those steps, the light around them grew darker. Until the door ahead of them was only a faint outline in the blackness. This door was heavier even than the first: a solid metal panel with a sturdy deadbolt. The front door had been locked. Would this one be as well?
Whoever chose to open the door, they would find it unlocked. Maybe that was a stroke of luck. Maybe it wasn't.
The first thing that hit them was the smell. Blood. The air in the basement was thick with it. Like they were walking into a slaughterhouse. But the room ahead was pitch black, and the young man? He'd stopped screaming. Now there was only this stark, ominous silence. And that resonance, growing ever stronger. She was here. Victoria. The Devourer. Jormungandr.
Waiting. For them? Likely.
ElijahThere was a smell.
His avatar wasn't screaming at him, he didn't hear dozens of voices telling him what to do. He didn't have anything except silence and a clear head. He reached for his back pocket, taking out his cell phone with the cracked screen and fiddling with it for a moment to get it to the flashlight function. He didn't want to see what was down there. He didn't want to know, but he had to know. he couldn't experience just the good, he needed to see the worst in humanity. She was here, the devourer. The serpent which devoured the world. Elijah inhaled slowly, remembering that calming breath.
"Victoria?" he asks, and his voice is a forced calm, "this is... why? Why all of this."
It just came out. He didn't mean to ask, but he had to ask.
"This isn't okay."
Like anyone would listen to reason.
AlexanderCertain things come with time. Experience is one of them. The experience of blood. Fresh, dried, pooled, splattered. The iron-tinged smell of it as you wash it away. The experience isn’t an unfamiliar one, although perhaps its intensity is more than Alexander had been exposed to before. Perhaps it was a blessing that, for the moment, they weren’t able to see anything. The smell was a warning of what was to come.
Alexander’s mind still flows clear, quiet. Focussed. Some of the Mages had found out what happens when they sneak up on him. This? This is why.
Elijah slows up, the sound of something being slipped out of a pocket. Alexander moves away. The gun stays raised, his back brushing the wall – its presence reassuring that nothing could come at him from behind. He listens, trying to place the other occupants of the room. The man had stopped screaming, but why? Because he couldn’t scream anymore? Alexander stays quiet, all the better to stay unnoticed.
[Sneaksneaksneak - dex/sealth]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )
LucyThe stairway gets darker and darker, and Lucy pauses, presses against the side of the passage to allow Alexander to pass. They have guns and, she assumes, a decided lack of night vision. She lets them get ahead of her and it's only after she's assumped a place at the rear that she recalls her lantern, hastily stashed into her bag before she climbed the fence. She retrieves it now, which is easy. Finding her lighter takes more time. She's well behind the other two, is just putting her fingers around the cold metal case when the smell hits her. It turns her stomach. Lucy is no stranger to the smell of death. The chill of the grave has seeped through her skin to the marrow of her bones, and she does not always locate the departed without discovering their remains.
But this. This is just so wrong.
By the time Lucy's found her lighter, Elijah's already calling out, the light from his cell phone shining out. Lucy's light is no longer needed, but perhaps she can use it for a different purpose. She opens the door of her lantern, flicks her lighter to life and touches the flame to the wick. Soon enough, light and shadow are dancing on the walls around her and flickering over Alexander's back. As she drops the lighter back into her bag, she thinks it might be best not to go in empty handed. She finds the cold lump of her box cutter - it's too dark to see but it's white with a swan carved and stained black in the handle - shifts it to the pocket of her pants.
She does not follow the others the rest of the way down the stairs. Instead she prays, and she begs a boon of the dusk handmaiden.
Dusk handmaiden, I beg you to lend my voice strength...
[Hey yo ghosts, what you want is down here: Call Spirit, Spirit 2, diff 5-1 (specialty focus) -1 (natural channel), extending once and praying that's enough!]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (5, 7) ( success x 2 )
HungerElijah flicked on the flashlight app in his phone, pointing it forward into the room. The cool beam of white light cast an eerie glow in the room, contrasted against stark shadows and pools of murky, indistinct darkness. Jae-shin had said that there were corpses down here, but if so, only one was actually visible. That one was the body of a woman in her thirties, stretched out naked across a long metal table in the center of the room. Her chest split open, with only a gaping hole where the heart should have been. It looked as though some kind of marks had been painted on her body. Elijah and Alexander might recognize them as Enochian sigils, if Kalen had ever shown them such things.
Elijah wanted to know why. It was likely that whatever answer Victoria gave him would do nothing to make the scene before them more palatable.
The rest of the room was currently empty, apart from a set of strong metal cages that lay against the far wall, a collection of edged weapons hanging on a rack to the left, and a heavy door leading off to the right. The floor was dark and slick, polished concrete with grates installed for drainage. There were splattered red stains on the floor and on the walls.
And standing behind that table with the dead woman were two people who were very much alive. One: a young man with medium-dark skin and a soft, faintly beating note of Radiant resonance, barely noticeable amid the thick fog of Victoria's devouring hunger. He was sitting on his knees with his hands behind his back, stock-still with the blade of a small axe pressed against his throat. When Elijah's light came on, he let out a couple of quick, rough, panicked breaths, but did not attempt to speak or scream.
And the person holding that weapon? If any of those present had seen the photo that Kalen had passed along, they'd recognize Victoria's face. She looked different here. Her hair was longer, and hung loose and messy around her face. Her skin looked pallid, with dark shadows beneath her eyes. But that same piercing, hungry look was still there in her eyes. In another reality, if they'd met her under different circumstances, she would have seemed beautiful. And she was beautiful. But in a sharp, cold, brutal fashion. Beautiful the way that a monster could be beautiful.
Her lips were red. There was blood on them.
Above them on the stairs, Lucy lit her lantern, and a warmer, softer glow joined that of Elijah's cell phone. She prayed, calling the spirits back to her, and gradually they appeared at the top of the stairs, but there they hesitated. As though afraid. As though trapped in memory. This time they did not cry out though. This time they did not fall to pieces. Jeremy was stronger here than he had been in the park. Stronger, perhaps, for the presence of the others. But he was still afraid.
Elijah wanted to know why.
"Because I can," Victoria said. "Because I want to."
Alexander stepped around the beam of Elijah's light, moving quietly into the room, but Victoria's eyes tracked to him almost immediately.
"Come any closer, and I'll kill him."
Elijah[Awarepathy?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 6, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
Hunger[Victoria's Manip+Subterfuge]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 5, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 2
Elijah"This is destroying you," he tells her, insists and pleads as though he knows this. As though his understanding what this did to her soul would somehow make things different. he didn't understand. he didn't understand how intoxicatng power was. he didn't understand what it felt like to become powerful. To be stronger, faster. To have a never ending hunger ripping at his insides.
"If you don't stop now, there might not be any coming back from it. Right now, it... things are bad, but you can turn back from this. You can walk away, too."
he couldn't see anything, could read anything, perhaps because of her solid poker face or perhaps... perhaps.
"What do I need to do to make sure everyone walks out of this place alive?"
AlexanderVictoria speaks and Alexander swings around, bringing the pistol to bear on the woman. He heeds her warning, though, and stops moving across the room.
There might have been thoughts. Thoughts of the people – the known people – who had gone missing since June. Brian. Kate. Jeremy. Melissa. Kevin. Nathan. Denise. Sean. He knew their names. He knew what had happened to them now. Them, and the others who hadn’t been reported missing. The others who might never be found. Dead, alone, forgotten.
Thoughts of what had been done to them. Dragged here alive, hurting, in fear for their lives. Tied to that table while Victoria painted them and prepared them and... ripped their hearts out while they were still alive? Would she have had enough humanity left to kill them first?
Thoughts of what Victoria could go on to do. Starting a new pack. Killing more people. Getting stronger and stronger until... She had already fed – the blood on her lips.
Others had seen him unsure and questioning, struggling to deal with what he is and what he should be. Delilah had asked before whether his resonance was anything to do with his personality. He’d said no but, at that time, he hadn’t been floating on instinct. All those thoughts put to one side, his core cold. Frozen. They knew what she was and what she had done.
The frozen heart of the comet is in his voice when he replies. “Ok.” He pulls the trigger.
Lucy"Here," says Lucy, drawing the spirits of the dead to her like moths to, well to a flame. "She's here."
And then they are here, too. Jeremy and the others. Lucy turns to look up at them, chin lifted, green eyes colorless in the semi-darkness. She holds her lantern aloft, and holds out her hand to them, beckoning.
"Come," she says, voice gentle. She could lie if she wanted to take such a route to compel them. But Lucy is an honest girl, for all that she could lie. She doesn't tell them that Victoria can't hurt them now, that the worst is over. What she says, voice kept low just for them, is,
"It's up to you now. My friends are downstairs, and they can try to hurt her, and maybe they will hurt her. But the debt will still be there. If she has any people left they can and will look for them, and the cycle of violence will just keep going.
"But you can end it. I've found your justice, and it's there," she says, raising her lantern to shine down the stairs. "You can repay her for everything she's taken from you. Your dog," she says, looking to Jeremy. "Your lives. Your futures.
"You just have to go down those stairs. Do in death what you couldn't in life. Set yourselves free."
[manip (persuasive?)+leadership]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Lucy[awareness!]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Alexander[Awareness]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )
Elijah[Per+awareness]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 2
HungerIf there's anything worthy of notice here, Alexander doesn't pick up on it. He can sense Victoria's resonance (it would be all-but impossible not to) and the young man's radiant energy. But beyond that? If there are any effects in play here, they're too skillfully cast to be obvious to his senses.
Lucy[+7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )
Hunger[Victoria Init +9]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )
Alexander+6
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )
Hunger[Paul Init +6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )
Hunger[The Ghosts are all going to get the same init - they move as ONE +6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
Hunger[Ian Init +7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
Hunger[Jae-shin +6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )
Hunger[Mystery +7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )
Hunger[Elijah's Init is, uh, I think +5?]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )
HungerAnd the Order is!
Elijah - 14
Mystery NPC - 13
Jae-shin - 12
Alexander - 11
Victoria - 10
Ian - 10
Ghosts - 9
Lucy - 8
Paul - 7
Hunger[Paul is going to sit there and try not to get his throat slit. Will default to evasion if an opportunity occurs]
Lucy[countering victoria's Time effect, hoping for the best!]
Hunger[Ghosts will close distance to Victoria this turn]
Hunger[Ian:
1: Close distance to top of stairs
2: Close remaining distance to Victoria]
Hunger[Victoria:
1: Dodge!
2: Disarm Alexander with throwing axe]
Alexander[1: Shoot Victoria
2. Dodge Victoria]
Hunger[Jae-shin does the same thing Ian does]
Hunger[Mystery NPC breaks in through a window]
Elijah(try countermagic for time?)
Elijah[Countermagic?]
Dice: 1 d10 TN8 (1) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Hunger[Victoria's Dodge: Dex 5 + Ath 3]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Alexander[Bang! Dex+Firearms]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Hunger[Alex shoots! And the bullet sloooows and hits the floor in front of Victoria]
Alexander[Dodge? Dex/Ath]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 7, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )
Hunger[Victoria throws her axe with intent to disarm. Dex+Ath +1 diff]
Dice: 8 d10 TN7 (1, 1, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )
Hunger[aaand she misses]
Hunger[(it's ok, she has another one)]
Lucy[counter-Time!]
Dice: 2 d10 TN8 (10, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Hunger[Victoria's Time effect fizzles!]
Hunger[Paul jumps up and starts to run away from Victoria. His hands are still bound behind his back.]
Hunger[Damage Tally:
Everyone: Full Health!
Order in case anyone needs a reminder:
Elijah - 14
Mystery NPC - 13
Jae-shin - 12
Alexander - 11
Victoria - 10
Ian - 10
Ghosts - 9
Lucy - 8
Paul - 7
Hunger[Paul is going to try to cut the zip-tie off his hands with one of those weapons on rack by the wall]
Lucy[Let the fighters do the fighting. Lucy gets her box cutter and stands guard on the stairs. (splitting if necessary)]
Hunger[Ghosts attack Victoria]
Hunger[Ian:
1: Katana Victoria
2: Ditto]
Hunger[Victoria: Rip the Man-Body on Alexander]
Alexander[1. Shoot Victoria.
2. Shoot Victoria]
Hunger[Jae-shin: Counter that Forces Shield]
Hunger[Mystery NPC turns out to be a young Awakened woman of Korean descent. She does NOT have that Ravenous resonance, but instead feels Spectral and Swift. She is going to close distance to the stairs and hope that Lucy lets her past.]
Elijah[Let's try counter magic for that Rip the Man Body Effect]
Elijah[arete?]
Dice: 1 d10 TN8 (7) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
HungerZoe (to Lucy): "I'm here to help. Please."
Hunger[Jae-shin's countermagic]
Dice: 2 d10 TN8 (4, 8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Hunger[Victoria's shield is now at level 1]
Alexander[Bang? Dex/Firearms]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Alexander[Damage +1
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Hunger[Victoria takes 4L]
Hunger[Make that 4A]
Alexander[Bang the second]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 4, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )
Alexander[Damage the second]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 4, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )
Hunger[Victoria is at 6A]
Hunger[Victoria casts her effect. Life 3, vulgar, diff 7 -1 (focus/blood) -1 (practiced) -1 (resonance)]
Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (5, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 4 )
Hunger[That is 4 -1 (from Elijah) so Alex takes 4L damage]
Hunger[Ian Dex+Melee]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1
Hunger[Damage 5+2]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 7, 7, 7, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 6 )
Lucy[awarepathy: I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU THINK YOU IS]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )
LucyLucy gives a small nod and stands aside before sliding down the wall to sit on the stairs, too mentally exhausted for words.
HungerWould things have been different if they'd come earlier? If they'd been the ones to attack first instead of the Hermetics? All those remnants of violence outside... and Jae-shin had said that there were bodies in the basement (probably behind that door.) What exactly had happened here the night before?
Whatever the events, Victoria had survived, but even an Adept could be vulnerable when fighting alone against a large group. And she was tired. Tired and weakened from her efforts the night before. Alexander chose to call her bluff. It was a risk. Miss, and Victoria might very well kill her hostage. And he did not miss, but the bullet somehow refused to reach its target, its forward momentum slowed by a kinetic barrier. But instead of cutting the boy's throat, she chose instead to think pragmatically, and hurled her throwing axe across the room. It was a good throw, and likely would have disarmed Alexander if he hadn't moved, but Alexander's instincts were wired tight. He dodged swiftly out of the way, and the weapon lodged itself in the wall behind him.
Meanwhile, Lucy and Elijah did what they could to tear down the Adept's defenses, and Victoria's hyper-swift movement slowed to a more normal speed. Upstairs, they were re-joined by Ian and Jae-shin, with Sera limping after them. The two men ran through the house and sped past Lucy down the stairs just as the sound of a breaking window announced the presence of an as-yet unknown party.
And what of those spirits? The ghosts of Victoria's victims. They looked down at the room where each of them had been sacrificed. This was the place, Lucy had said. This was the time for them to gain justice. And so? They vanished. But only for a moment. When they reappeared, they surrounded Victoria, watching her with cold, spectral, accusing eyes. Victoria looked at them and snarled a curse in some ancient tongue. Venomous and threatening. But they weren't the most immediate threat, so she focused her Will on Alexander, whose gun contained bullets that might easily rip her pattern to shreds.
She chanted something under her breath - a litany of archaic, powerful words. And she licked the blood on her lips. Then Alexander fired. Once. Twice. And his bullets shattered bones and muscle and sent her blood spraying onto the walls.
But he didn't kill her. Not quite. And when she released her effect, it tore into his pattern and flayed open a couple of searing wounds in his back and chest.
There was an opportunity, and Ian took it. His katana swung in high, brutal arc and separated Victoria's head from her body. The sound it made when it hit the floor was wet and heavy and hard. Her lifeless body followed a moment after, seeping blood in a thick pool around Ian's feet. He was breathing hard. His face and his sword were dripping with Victoria's blood.
She was dead.
But no. Not gone. Where her body fell, another spirit began to rise up, hissing and clawing her way back to the mortal realm as though she could hold herself there by force. That was when the ghosts did what they'd come there to do. Acting as one, they flew forward and attacked, tearing into her Will and her spirit one piece at a time. She fought back hard, and once or twice one of the ghosts flickered as though it might break apart, but somehow their spirits held on to reality. And gradually, Victoria's presence got weaker and weaker. Until finally Jeremy reached his hand into her chest and crushed her heart. And her light... went out.
"Paul?"
That was the girl on the stairs. She moved past Lucy, giving her a nod of thanks, and descended into the basement. When she saw Victoria's body lying on the floor, she gave a hiccuping little gasp, but her attention shifted almost immediately to the young man in the corner, who'd just finished freeing himself from his ties. They looked at each other with shock and relief, and the girl gave a sudden, hysterical sob. Then they rushed to throw their arms around each other.
"I thought you were dead," the girl whispered over and over. "I thought you were dead..."
Elijah[Stamina: don't puke]
Dice: 2 d10 TN8 (6, 8) ( success x 1 )
ElijahHe's never seen someone die before.
He's never seen someone die, never seen someone decapitated never felt blood everywhere or been so close that he felt like he could taste it and there were ghosts and there was that feeling in the air and oh god oh god oh god this isn't happening. His knees felt like they were going to give out and his stomach turned and Elijah was certain that he was going to revisit his lunch only to be made aware that he hasn't eaten today. Didn't want to eat today, wasn't going to want anything after this.
"We need to bury people," it's all he can think. All that comes to mind, all he can get out. He sounds exhausted and wired.
"We need to bury people and give them their last rites and.. and... yeah..."
He breathed. Breathed deep and tried to keep his head together but he couldn't stop looking at her body and how it didn't have a head and there wasn't a fucking head. And how he wasn't sure if she was going to laeve a wraith or if she was going to move on and he needed to know, he needed to know what was going to happen and he needed to know if her soul was clean and he didn't know and he didn't know if things would be okay-
But things weren't okay yet.
mnemosyne(Sera will drop her active effects so as not to incur casting penalties. Life 3: Healing Alexander. Difficulty: 7. -1 (focus) -1 (taking time). )
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (4, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )
mnemosyne(Okay. Drop the -1 for focus. Actually difficulty of that roll was 6.)
Extending. Difficulty: 6 + 1 (extending). -1 (her last quint).
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
mnemosyneExtending. Difficulty 7 this time.
Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (2, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
mnemosyne(Check that: that last roll was for Paul the NPC.)
Alexander[WP, because we are so holding our shit together?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
mnemosyneAnd Extending for Paul, dif 7.
Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 9) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
mnemosyneParadox.
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
mnemosyneSoak.
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
LucyThere is commotion downstairs. Every shot fired, every grunt, every scrape of a sole on the concrete floor sets Lucy's pulse jumping. It kills her that she can't join her friends, but it's better that she remain where she is. She is a guardian, a sentinel. She is the watcher on the wall (the handmaiden who guards the gateway into the Underworld). She is not a fighter, but perhaps in the small space of the stairway she can at least keep anyone else from going down to join the fray. She would give her life protecting the others that way.
Ian and the others come first, then while she desperately calls upon the power of her Avatar to tear down Victoria's magic. Then the stranger. She says she's there to help and Lucy believes her, stands aside and lets her go and turns her face upward until-
silence falls not long after. Closing her eyes she presses her back to the wall and slides to sit on one of the steps.
She should go, she knows that she should go. She should bear witness to what she's brought to this place, to the justice she led the dead to. She should check on her friends, see who might be injured, see who might need a hug-
Her eyes snap open then. Despite the dull throb of an exhausted headache, Lucy pushes herself up the wall and fairly tumbles down the stairs. In the doorway she pauses, sees the blood, the bodies. Her lips part but no sound comes out. Then she looks at Elijah and her feet are shuffling forward before her gait steadies. One of her hands wraps around his. The other comes to rest against the side of his neck, thumb pressed against the bone of his jaw, her touch cold, her skin leeching the warmth from his. Still, she pulls, tugging him closer, close enough to put an arm around his shoulders and hold him tight.
"I'm here," she whispers. "I'm here."
AlexanderIt all starts so quickly. Victoria is threatening them, threatening the man with an axe to his throat. Don’t come close, she says, or he dies. Wasn’t he dead anyway if they didn’t do anything? Dead, with Victoria gaining who knows what from his death. It was a gamble, taking the shot. It was a gamble that it would surprise her before she could do anything to harm the guy. A gamble that she would go down before any of them got hurt. A gamble that almost paid off.
If he was asked to describe the details of the fight later, he’d be pressed to remember. He remembers shooting, three time was it? And he remembers the pain – oh, hell, the pain! – when Victoria tried to tear him apart. And that final moment when Ian ended it, once again, by decapitating her.
That ice that formed around his core, which made him so certain that what he was doing was the right thing to do, start to fade away again. Doubts start to creep through the cracks, but he pulls that shield closer, tighter, for a little while longer. Long enough to see the spirits of the victims tear what remained of Victoria apart. Long enough to see Zoe and Paul reunited. Long enough. Just a little while longer.
He nods when Elijah says people need to be buried. They do need an ending, the living as well as the dead. He’d offer more, but there’s not much left to offer right now. He carefully, deliberately, puts the safety back on his pistol and holsters the weapon.
mnemosyneSerafíne is at the top of the stairs and she can taste the magic in the air, feel it harsh in the back of her throat, feel the way the world wants to snap back against the effect that Victoria works to blast Alexander, feel the strange and strangely glorious mingling of resonance in desperate countermagick to the Adept's effects. She does not rush into the fray, the way Ian and Jae-Shin do. There's very little will left in her body and she already sports the beginnings of a mild concussion, the raccoon eyes, the stiff neck.
When it is over - and it is over with surprising quickness - she does shuffle down the stairs, a careful hand on the bannister, searching out Alexander, whose wounds she can see, and Paul, whose injuries she felt from afar. She reaches first for Alexander, both arms opening as she wants to pull him close and she's smiling at him and there is a sheen to her eyes and her pupils are too-large, even in the darkened basement and she is trying to urge him to calm, to call to his spirit and his body to heal and heal itself, to transcend his skin and transmute his injuries and remind his body of what it means to be whole -
but he stiffens and she reads that resistance, the need to brace himself and there's a moment between where she is already working through her focus and finding her skin electric with and by and for magic, except, except, except, an abrupt cessation, a change that feels strictured and artificial and she's exhausted but she pulls herself back into her body and leaves it by other means. This takes longer. She wants to tell him to be still but the world is absolutely changed around her and she has given herself over to this instense hallucination wear she sews all the wounds in his body closed with this thread of living sinew she pulls from herself: mind and will and body.
No one else sees anything, really. They just feel her magic in the air, and see her, perhaps, moving her hands, reacting to things that no one else can see.
--
The same thing happens with Paul, though perhaps she does not even try to touch him. She could taste his fear and his pain and his exhaustion. So.
--
Afterwards, Sera climbs a few steps and sinks down to wait while they work out what must be done. She cannot really keep her eyes open and kinda dozes and cannot walk fast right now but is perfectly compliant, minutes or hours later, when someone thinks to reach for her elbow and help her up and tell her it is time to go.
HungerIt was a horrible skill to have: the ability to decapitate someone. If someone had asked Ian as a child if he'd thought it was something he'd need to learn, he'd probably have been horrified by the question. And up until the other night he hadn't been involved in any of this. He hadn't seen or spoken with the ghosts of the departed. He hadn't run into anyone whose resonance itched with ravenous hunger. He'd heard the messages on Ginger, so it hadn't exactly been a surprise when Elijah had called to ask for help. And for whatever it was worth, he understood the threat enough to know that this wasn't the kind of thing one said no to. Not when he was capable of helping.
It shouldn't have been him, though. Shouldn't have been him that killed her. But he was there, and she was standing front of him, and even with two bullets in her she could have killed any one them. She did try to kill Alexander, and given another few seconds she very might have succeeded.
He should have let Alexander shoot her again. Later, he will think about this. Later he will think about the fact that he didn't hesitate to murder someone - not a monster, not a walking corpse, not a body infested with a corrupted spirit. An actual fucking human being. He will think about it, and he will wish he'd let the cop finish her off. But right then? All he could do was stare at the body on the floor and the blood dripping off of his sword, reliving the images of those ghosts ripping her soul apart. There was a slight tremor in his hand. Jae-shin noticed, and the Akashic put his hand on the blunt side of Ian's weapon and pushed it gently down. As though to remind him that the fight was over. Ian glanced at him and wiped some of the blood from his face.
"We should check that room."
Jae-shin nodded, and the two walked over to check the door that led into the other part of the basement.
And what of those ghosts? Did they disappear once they'd exacted their revenge?
Not exactly. But they didn't stay in the basement. Instead they turned and looked at Lucy, and each of them gave her a slow nod before flickering out of sight. They stayed close though.
Sera worked her healing will on Alex and Paul, and gradually their wounds mended. She paid a price for her sacrifice, as was often the case with healers, but given time, she too would heal. They had all survived the encounter. That alone was something to be thankful for. Zoe looked at Sera with a grateful expression and thanked her again for everything she'd done. Zoe, who was supposed to have been in San Diego, but who had turned around and flown back only a few days later. Because she couldn't let it go. She couldn't walk away without seeing what happened. Even if it killed her.
And now she was reunited with her friend. Her brother. Her cabal-mate. Someone she'd thought long gone. The two of them held each other while Sera healed his wounds, silent and so very grateful to be together.
The others comforted each other the best they could. But when Zoe and Paul saw the bodies in the meat locker (saw the frozen faces of their brothers and sisters) their grief and their tears returned. There were other bodies there as well. The woman on the table in the other room. And more... likely the Hermetics who'd attacked the day before. Some of them were cut into pieces. Some of the pieces were missing.
Ian and Jae-shin helped with whatever clean up needed to be done. Locating Alexander's bullets. Making sure that none of them left behind any remnants of their presence there. It took a long time to clean up Victoria's body and wash the blood down the drains. Someone would have to dispose of her corpse, and Jae-shin, who drove a flatbed truck and had likely burned more than a few bodies in his life, volunteered to take her with him.
By the time they left the house, the sun was rising. And the ghosts of Jeremy Tran and the other victims were standing in the grass, watching the light grow steadily brighter on the horizon. As the sun came up, their bodies seemed to glow, and Jeremy hummed something soft and quiet. The same song he'd been humming to himself on the night when Lucy and Elijah had met him. Then, as the sun rose higher, they vanished.
It felt like an ending. Or a new beginning.
