818/Heckmouth 4: The Revenge of Heck

Heckmouth 4: The Revenge of Heck
Date of Scene:	17 October 2014
Location:	Chicago-667
Synopsis:	Harry Dresden and the Motley Crew end up wrecking a dance hall in the pursuit of He Who Lurks in Shadow
Cast of Characters:	206, 253, Riva Banari, Inga, 569, 570, 585, 586, 591

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Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    The place - Manor Park Chicago, at a large parks pavilion. Not one of the fancier ones in the city, but one of the oldest. Currently in private hands, the old dance hall is under renovation, it would seem, with scaffolding and such up and around the perimeter.
    Bonus: no gangsters this time. Harry has done more research at least. He's also once again standing around outside the place, idly sipping on a bottle of soda as he waits around in a very shady manner for the rest of His Crew.

    Cars drive by the location, with more than a few honking at whoever's double parked a faded blue panel van with flowers painted on the side.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     Against his better judgment, Bitter Medicine has decided to show up with his Investigation suite. Dresden appeared rather ill-at-ease when he showed up last time via jetboots, so today will be an exercise in subtlety. It might not blow up in his face--at the very least, he's got Voidbane and all the techniques of his martial arts style at his disposal. Dipping his toes into the pool of subtlety, he arrives by cab, and when he steps out...

     The Alchemical is wearing a grey hoodie, blue jeans, and a pair of converses. He approaches Dresden--still wearing his damned makeup. And the earrings. Whatever, he might pass for a weird, pasty hipster. "Comrade Dresden. I spent some time observing your people. Hope this is alright." He turns to look at the pavillion, then the van. "You're in violation of local parking ordinances."

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    The construction crew is absent, since it is after 5pm. On a Friday. Hell no, it's the weekend, they are off doing carpenter and mason things.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva approves of no gangsters. This time, she is scuffling around the renovation materials and the scaffolding, puttering around and poking her nose into things she probably shouldn't.

She appears behind Harry with a spackle knife. "Looks clear!" Riva chirps with a big smile, which might be slightly unsettling considering the situation.

She does glance over at Bitter Medicine and tilts her head for a moment. "Not bad, but we're going to have to get you some more clothes." She posits.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Whoever parked the panel van is not inside of it right now. It sits as a testament to bad taste and shitty driving habits.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko Shinobu is here, not looking particularly different from last time. Chicago's not the warmest place this time of year, and a full coat has some conveniences. It didn't matter much last time--but she doesn't see that as a reason to turn more heads, herself.

    Coat, scarf, silver hair. The Puella Magi is present.

    Looks like one formerly conspicuous fellow has opted otherwise, to some extent. Maybe this time will cause fewer people to cautiously flee the scene? It remains to be seen. Not that it really interfered with their work, last time.

    "I think there are laws against low-flying aircraft. Better this way." A sage nod.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is here! He probably carpooled with Aoko, but that's up to her. Today, Psyber has no significant outfit he's wearing out of the ordinary, instead dressed in his usual longcoat, dark slacks and shirt. He has his hands in his pockets as he walks up to Harry, "So this is the second place?" He asks to Harry in a pretty direct tone.

    Bitter Medicine gets a look from him, looking the Alchemical over, "Wow. Not a bad outfit."

Inga has posed:
Inga is standing beside Harry, leaning back against the wall, her staff in her hands. She's made an effort to fit in today, wearing a long skirt and a blue sweater, though she still has a belt full of pouches and various other things around her waist. A witch has to have all her things.

Though with how all this had been going, they should have all just worn ponchos. Will they be visiting poor Butters at the morgue again? Showing up covered in old blood and asking to use the shower?

Inga looks to Harry, holding out a hand. "May I have a sip?" she asks. "And why do those cars keep making that awful sound as they pass?" she asks, grumpy. She hates loud noises!

Bitter Medicine arrives, and Inga raises her hand in greeting. "Hail," she greets, smiling lightly.

Riva then monkeys down behind them and Inga jumps slightly, shaking her head at Riva, though her smile grows. "Ah good, Riva. I have a talisman ready for you," she says, reaching into one of her belt pouches, pulling out a pendant cut from an ash branch, a rune burned into its surface. She dangles it from her fingers and holds it out toward Riva. "I do hope this proved to be more sturdy."

Their 'crew' continues to arrive. Inga nods to Kimiko and Psyber in greeting as well, waiting for Dresden to give them all the mission objective. "Hail Psyber, Kimiko," she greets.

Sona Buvelle (586) has posed:
Why is one Sona Buvelle here? Mostly out of curiousity regarding the man she's hired recently. The strange musician-mage arrives dressed in a silky blue dress rather than her usual robes. She even steps out of cab, clutching a wrapped up bundle in one arm in the shape of her instrument. Then, noting the other arrives, she offers them a small little wave followed by a bow.

After that, it's a bee-line towards Harry. She signs several times in the air,

"Hello Mister Dresden", Her signing reads.

Oh, and there's Inga! The witch-magess gets a more familiar smile and wave.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko gives a nod back. "Inga." They've only met the once, but she'd heard the name even before the witch had introduced herself, come to think of it. Other faces are familiar, now, though Sona is not. Well, she's sure introductions will happen at some point, if--oh, signing. She's either deaf or mute. Hm.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Aoko has in fact carpooled with Psyber.
    Because it's cheaper and faster than taking the bus.

    She is as last time dressed in a plain white t-shirt and some jeans, quite possibly the exact same clothes as last time. Spoiler: she's used magecraft to make them permanently clean and retardedly hard to damage. When you travel light, finding a way around needing tons of spare clothes is a godsend.

    "Yo, yo! Honey girl, got honey this time?" she asks Inga.

    Please give the player a moment to stuff their face with poutine and then they'll be at full scening ability.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
A minute behind Sona's cab, another, cheaper looking cab rolls up and a scruffy looking man climbs out, handing a wad of grimy bills to the driver with a muttered instruction to keep the change.

"Ooh, eighty-seven cents, thanks buddy!" the driver oozes gratitude, and peels out as Bigby Wolf calmly shakes a cigarette out of his ever-present pack of Huff & Puffs, and lights it. The shitty smell of cheap tobacco wafts up around him like a shroud.

Last time he let Dresden drag him into intrigues, he lost his pants and had to bum a spare pair from Psyber. It looks like he's still wearing them a week later. The shirt and tie are new though (well, new to him), and there's a fresh mustard stain on the latter. "Well well," he drawls between drags. "The gang's all here. What've you got for us tonight, Hobo Harry?"

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Harry smiles at all the people showing up, and sighs. Psyber gets a look. "Technically the fourth place. We'd done two before and this... this is getting rough, actually."
    Inga and Riva get the same sort of smile, though a bit more of a look at Riva as she comes out with the spackle knife. The renovations are about half done, and from the outside it looks like they're peeling off a bunch of facade that was put down over the years and restoring the place to an earlier time from when it was built. Ah, the resurgence of Vintage Buildings. "Don't poke at it too hard, Riva, i'm trying not to wreck this one, seriously."
    Bitter gets a smile, and a chuckle, as Harry nods at Kimiko. "Much better, also thanks for looking like a proper thug this time. Very minimalist."
    Harry blinks at Sona and waves a bit, looking surprised. "Oh hey, you got my letter. Folks, this is Sona, she's a combat musician and has experience with Weird Crap... sort of like the rest of us." The introductions for those without Union Access of course.

    And then Harry turns back to the place. "This is the King's Court Pavilion. Old dance hall built over the top of... you guessed it, an 1840's laid foundation. This place has been pretty well left alone though. Was abandoned for a bunch of years and is just now being put back together as a dance place for like weddings and stuff. BUT it's on the list and we're going in. I even got permission from the owners this time. Seemed very interested that someone wanted to do an inspection of the place. Apparently it's been spooky in there and they appreciated a consultation." A blink, and he pokes his nose around and then heads towards the front door. "SO! No need for subterfuge this time?" A hopeful tone there, Harry.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    For those not planning on following Harry, there are quite a number of other interesting objects here.
    The construction guys have left a few of the trucks behind as well as the foreman's trailer which looks like it's been there a while.
    There are the requisite number of fire exits which do not appear to be chained shut this time.
    Scaffolding, as Riva showed, makes roof access available.
    More cars honk at the panel van, and it appears a meter maid is puttering around in her little smart car looking interested in the vehicle.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     Everyone familiar to the Exalt gets a patented hello-grunt--except for Inga. Inga receives a 'hail.' It's good that his clothing has the approval of the others. Perhaps there's merit to what Riva says. He'll look through some clothing stores at a later date for some more inconspicuous attire. "Glad you guys like it," he says.

     "Hail," he says to Sona. "I am Bitter Medicine, Chosen of Autochthon." He manages to make it sound like he's a very bored Disney tour guide. To be fair, he's probably given the formal greeting hundreds of times.

     The meter maid, dutiful and vigilant, receives a nod of respect. His attention then turns to Dresden. "What a shame. I packed for subterfuge." He rolls his neck, the joints popping loudly. With that he approaches the dance hall and tries the front door.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
"You're about to be towed," Bigby remarks casually behind the cigarette as he gives th emeter maid a glance. "Or is that someone else's shitty parking job? Who the hell else would be /here/ on a Friday night?"

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko is going to stay with the main group, which she assumes means going straight in. Easiest for her to stay on top of things that way.

    "Kimiko Shinobu," is her offered introduction to Sona, who she's assuming not to be deaf since Harry didn't sign back. She could probably look up the musician in the Union database, but that would require having something like a computer on hand. Her standard connection is a bit less sophisticated, for all its convenience. There are other greetings to give, but let's skip ahead.

    "Are we looking for the same thing as last time?" That question goes to Harry. "Should we prepare to block off the exits, in case it repeats?"

Inga has posed:
Inga nods to Aoko, shaking her head. "Alas, no I have not. I may have a bit of mead...but truly, I always smell this way," she comments. Aoko may notice Riva has a similar scent.

Sona also gets a greeting from Inga, a nod and a small smile not lacking in warmth. "Glad you could join us," she says. Sona shows up well dressed and gorgeous, then Bigby arrives in a cloud of foul smelling smoke and stained clothing he looks like he's been wearing for a week. To seem them both there at the same time...she can't help but grin.

"Oh, we do not have to break in. That's refreshing!" she comments, following close to Harry as he enters, keeping her senses alert. After the last one, Inga is uneasy. There is a terrible creature from the Utgard, and it wants to eat them. That is certain.

It is going to have to get in line.

Inga is also perhaps the only one sad that there are no gangsters--or at least specific ones. She would welcome meeting the valkyrie again.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Inga. Lovely to see you again. Same to everyone else," He says, noting the arrival of other people he recognizes. Kimiko, in particular, gets a nod of his head and a pat on the shoulder. And then his hands are back in his pockets and he's trailing after Harry.

    "I'm Psyber. Union Reserve Colonel and Paranormal Investigator." He introduces to Sona, realizing he has never met her. He doesn't offer his hand, though. Less out of rudeness and more that he doesn't wanna risk accidentally dirtying up someone dressed so nicely.

    "So we're just gonna walk right in and look around? That's pretty convenient. what do you wanna bet it's an ambush or something?" He asks curiously.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva gets equipped with: New defensive gear! Woot! She puts on the pendant with aplomb. "Thank you, Inga!" Riva gives her a hug, "I appreciate it. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be fine. I also found /this/."

Riva pulls out a thick folded plastic tarp from under her coat. "No more nasty blood THIS time!" Riva says, triumphantly. She tucks it back away and then looks over at all the commotion around the van. She thinks, and then frowns. And then thinks again. She points her phone at it and takes a picture, then goes back to studiously ignoring it.

Sona gets a wave as she's introduced. "Hi there, Sona! Nice to meet you! I'm Riva. Your dress is /fantastic/, where did you get it?" She says, leaning around to get different views. She doesn't seem to be dwelling much on the sign language.

There is a request for honey, and Riva thinks for a moment, before reaching into her coat. Gingerly, she removes a road map of Kingsmouth, which appears to be covered in honey. "I was going to toss this out since the Bees got to it, but you can have it if you want." She says as she offers it to Aoko "Mind the aftertaste though." The Honey, if sampled, is perfectly fine, except for the odd aftertaste of... mechanical oil.

Her other hand waves over at Harry, spackle knife gesticulating. "Don't worry about me, you're the one who blew up the last four places. I'm just the help here. At least we don't have to sneak, this time..." He waves to Psyber. "Heya Psyber! Good to have you here too!" Especially since there might be epic smashing required if that black thing makes a reappearance.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    "I dunno, someone who is REALLY enthusiastic about working on friday night?" Aoko offers Bigby, obviously not an answer, more an empty statement until Harry sheds some light, if any there even is to be shed.

    It seems the magus is content enough to follow for now. Maybe nothing has caught her interest yet. "We're not gonna find another horrible bubble full of blood and angry shouting here, are we?"

    Then to Inga, she awws. "Well, you totally should carry honey with you! That way when people comment on it you can say yes, it's because of all this honey I'm carrying, would you like some? and they'll totally leave you alone. Man, I wish I had honey," she muses, glancing towards Riva. Yep, there it is, smell of-- HEY ACTUAL HONEY.

    "Hey, thanks!"

    Slurp. She doesn't seem to mind the aftertaste TOO much, or at least avoids grimacing over it. "Why'd you have a road map covered in honey just lying around anyway?"

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Hary grunts at the people coming with him at the front door. "I don't think it's an ambush. The folks checked out. Nice old couple from Madison, seemed real interested in making sure the place wasn't haunted." A blink. "Unless mom and pop cheesehead wanted me dead. I didn't think they were vamps or anything. Now you've got me more paranoid than usual, Psyber, thanks." THANKS PSYBAMA.

    The front door opens, and it's clear that someone is inside tonight. There's a fire going in the old stone fireplace, and a trio of people are inside standing around a salt circle on the wood flooring. Well. Three witches. That much is obvious because they are dressed exactly the way you'd think a modern witch should dress: gaudy and anachronistic or gothy and moody and tattooed. These three are a mix of that.
    One of them is a redhead in a green University of Chicago hoody and a long blue skirt. A tattoo visible on her neck. It is a pink butterfly.
    The one clockwise from her is a Brunette in what can only be described as 'as gothic as possible' with a metal band t-shirt that is probably the band's name but looks incomprehensible.
    The next one is a brunette in a white shirt and a long floofy white skirt. She is carry an athame and an iPad and seems to be reading latin incantations from the iPad.

    Oh dear.

Sona Buvelle (586) has posed:
The mention of how old the dance hall is has Sona smiling a little wider, /definitely/ looking excited here. 'Weird Crap' gets a silent little giggle of amusement. One that's followed by a silent sigh of relief, as she droops just a bit at the waist. She doesn't /do/ subterfuge. Comes with having an instrument for your magic.

The Alchemical gets a second look, and soon Sona departs Harry's side to look the 'man' over. She signs several times in the air. Then, frowning, she tilts her head. She makes several long strokes in the air with a hand before pointing towards Bitter. Her hand's poised as if holding something. Perhaps a brush?

Kimiko gets a warm smile in return. Psyber gets a raise of both brows, and then a tiny, knowing smile. A deeper bow here. As for Inga?

There's a grin, followed by a sudden hacking cough. Bigby gets a deep, annoyed frown. Her entrance is thoroughly ruined.

Riva gets more attention, though. She raises a single index finger, and hunts in her Etwahl-bundle. Eventually, she comes out with a magazine for an upscale chicago department store. One page is earmarked, and it's offered to Riva.

That done, she follows Harry on in. Taking out a pocket knife, she undoes her instrument's wrappings, and begins to quietly play a slow tune. Oddly, the group might find themselves moving swifter and more lightly. Her instrument floats before her.

Sona glances to the trio, and changes her tune to something a little more cheery. She directs a wave of gentle greetings, trying to tug at their emotions and get them to perhaps be a little more friendly with the group. The others listening might feel that same emotional tug from Sona's magic-music.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     The very picture of subtlety files in after Sona--her signing is lost on him. As far as he can tell, she's either curious about his hair of his makeup. He can give her pointers later. For now, there appears to be a gathering of subversives which need tending to. Completely oblivious to Sona's attempts, his right arm drifts to the collapsed gyroscopic chakram at his hip.

     Ker-snikt. The sound of Voidbane's teeth emerging isn't a friendly one, and it definitely doesn't go with Sona's music. "You will state your names and your business here. Or... there will be trouble."

Inga has posed:
Inga recieves her hug from Riva, laughing lightly. "I am glad you are protected on both fronts then," she replies. At least the clothes she is wearing are highly washable. Indeed, a comment to Sona; "Be careful of your dress, the last few times this has all ended very messily," she comments.

Inga was about to suggest the car was parked because there was someone else here, but that fact soon becomes plain as they walk in on a magic ritual of some kind. Inga raises an eyebrow, wondering if this is going to be trouble. Her hand moves to her knife, ready to cast some quick wards in case things get dicey quickly. At Harry's thinking out loud about people wanting to kill him, Inga frowns severely, grip tightening. She'll let the others do the talking for now--a quick look at Bitter--well, that's one approach.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
Well, since Harry doesn't seem to give a shit about the panel van, Bigby shrugs and... wonders whose it might be. Some hippie witches or something maybe. He gives the vehicle a passing sniff, just in case it's full of explosives or something because god knows he doesn't need THAT kind of trouble tonight. Evil shadow demon things are plenty.

Assuming the van /doesn't/ smell of anything particularly noteworthy, he'll then toss down his cig and grind it out on the sidewalk before following the main group at a leisurely saunter, keeping well back. Mute chick with the dress doesn't seem to like him anyway. Rather than heading in the front door though, he tangents off along the side of the building, heading for one of those cellar doors. The last two evil hole things were in the basement, so it stands to reason he should check the basement first here.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    The Panel Van does in fact smell like these ladies. The van is also getting loded up with citations from a meter maid.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko stands up a little straighter when her shoulder's patted, and nods back to Psyber. Her hello-grunts are likely softer than Bitter's.

    An ambush in an empty dance hall? She can't declare it impossible, and looks again to Harry for his opinion. A more thoughtful nod. Well, she hasn't lived these sixteen-some years by /not/ expecting ambushes in empty buildings owned by nice people.

    She just has time to notice that Sona's instrument is floating before the three witches get her attention. Dagger--likely ceremonial. Reading--computer tablet. Powdered circle on the floor--uncertain composition from this distance. Not going to experiment. Harry didn't have a chance to answer her question about the exits, but under the circumstances, the trio take precedence in her attention.

    "You are not supposed to be here." She says that loudly enough to be heard, and doesn't make it a question. Based on what Harry said of the owners, they would not have invited a band of ritualists.

    "Explain." She starts edging to one side. She doesn't transform, yet, but more because she doesn't want to make any sudden movements than because she doesn't see an immediate need. This is probably going to get messy, but while there's a chance it won't, she's staying safe.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Aoko grins, as the doors open and the salt circle and witches come into view. Oh yeah, she knows all about witches. Well, not all. Not all that much really. She had a friend who was a witch! That's close enough, right?

    "I've got this, don't worry~!"

    She walks forward, towards the trio.

    "Yoooo! I've got honey, want some? Don't mind the tension, c'mon, let's chat! This honey's pretty good. Weird aftertaste, but can't win them all."

    It would seem that when people were not watching, she has transfered the honey into a small bottle. The road map is in her other hand, pristine, as if it had never been covered in honey at all.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Paranoia is just your mind giving you an early warning that everyone you ever knew is going to eventually betray you!" Psyber says to Harry in a tone that suggests he's mostly joking.

    Psyber looks awkward when bowed to by Sona, "Nono, not that kind of formal! Really, just, let's all be casual. I don't wanna be all officious and whatnot," Psyber waves his hands a bit at Sona and then seems happy to have a distraction provided by Riva.

    "RIVA! How've you been? Good to see you again. Meet Aoko, the woman who is currently in a sordid love affair with my wallet," Psyber says jokingly, waving at the redhead who is already managing to mooch honey by eating it off a roadmap.

    He doesn't have too much to say about the three girls, so instead he hangs at the back of the group, his hand going to the small of his back to rest on a pistol tucked into his beltline while they determine the threat level.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva is asked about the secret of Inventory Space. She thinks for a moment. "Well, we can stash stuff back in Agartha and retrieve them from basically anywhere. It's basically Yggdrasill in a Hollow Earth, it goes everywhere." Riva explains. "Sometimes, things seem to get messed with. Or covered in honey." She shrugs. "It's not THAT common."

Sona hands her a magazine, and Riva looks in it. "Ooooh! I like. I'll have to check this place out! Thank you." She smiles pleasantly and hands it back so she can continue using it. The speed up is noticable to Riva, and she hustles along with Sona Power. As she does so, she replies to Psyber. "Well, you know, some ladies appreciate a man who has a lot of money. We all have our needs, right?" She chuckles at the joke.

She enters the dance hall and looks over the witches. Three witches.

Three is /always/ a bad number when dealing with witches. She might not be up on her Occult dots but even she knows that much. "Hi there!" Riva says, waving and smiling brightly. "Sorry to interrupt, we're here to look into some problems in the area. Would any of you happen to know of any unusual occult phenomena in the building?" She asks. May as well lay it out fast.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    White Dress looks up as a bunch of assholes bust into the place, looking alarmed and holding up the iPad to her chest like a shield. "Oh! Ah, wh-No, you guys aren't supposed to be here! We're busy! Go away, we're doing important witch stuff!"

    Green Hoody looks up and pokes White Dress in the shoulder. "I TOLD YOU those old farts would hire more people! They said someone told them the place was haunted!"
    Gothy scoffs and swears. "It's not the cops you guys, it's just a bunch of jerks. We're going to have to start over now."

    White looks back at the others, before holding up the dagger again and smiling hoping to defuse the situation right quick. "Hello! Ah, we're the Dragon's Den Paranormal Society and we... ah, we're gridding and clearing this place? The owners hired us to make sure there weren't any ghosts or prayer bombs or anything else in here? I'm Jen, that's Marla and that's Raven! Uh, please don't kill us, scary people?"

    Dresden swears at the back of the group. "Hells bells, they're pagans."

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    >>CASE THE JOINT
    Bigby will find the side doors slightly scuffed on the side of the building that faces the greenspace of the park. Looks like something was chewing its way into the place. Big rats or something. A sheet of metal has been stapled over the hole while construction continues.
    Smells present: Workmen Dudes, sawdust, drywall, blood, dead rats, honey, beer, salt, hippies, old buildings. Nothing too unexpected at this point.

Sona Buvelle (586) has posed:
Out of all of them, Psyber's reaction gets an all-out, silent laugh. Give Sona a minute. She's too busy clutching at her stomach, and /almost/ making a sound. She'll even reach up and give Psyber a pat on the cheek. Her night has been entertaining already.

And then, the Witchy Trio are explaining things. Sona goes for her instrument, and plays a quiet tune. Little images float up in the air on waves of magic, and similar waves of calming, mystical attempts to soothe the emotions of everyone in the room floods the area.

The images are of a tiny Sona, and the three goths. In the images, Sona's waving happily, and flashing, cutesy letters spelling 'Sona Buvelle' flash over chibi-Sona. Then, the trio get their own chibi's names flashing above their heads. More words pour into being through Sona's illusory magics.

'We're here to investigate, not kill anyone. They're just jumpy.' Flashes the light blue words.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     Ker-snikt. Voidbane's teeth retreat.

     A bunch of jerks. "I can hear you, Hot Topic." The chakram is placed back on his hip, and he takes a mental note of everyone in the room. Yep, no one's maimed or dismembered or dying. With his inventory done, he decides to make the most of his current loadout. Bitter Medicine activates his First Perception Augmentation, boosting the limits of his senses.

     The Alchemical reaches into a pocket--looks like he brought those gloves of his. He approaches the nearest dusty wall and swipes his finger across it, pressing the gloved digit against a ball bearing in his tongue. Chemical Analysis System!

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko relaxes, but only slightly. Now she's paying more attention to the /rest/ of the building. Exits, first--then internal doors. Anything that could be hidden. Any place something could be hidden. She seems to be ignoring the trio now that they're introduced, but that's only because she's certain someone else is going to be watching them carefully. Preferably someone good at talking to people. Someone who isn't her, in other words.

    She wanders off to take a look at the doors apart from the one they came in through, stalking in a fashion that suggests her tension has not actually dropped. Not even Sona's magic can affect that part of her, while she's focused.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
Bigby scents traces from within the building of the same unwashed lady-smell from the van. Well, he reasons, anyone who drives around in a panel van with flowers on it is surely no more than a match for his intrepid colleagues. And so he keeps on with his own investigation.

His nose wrinkles at the smell of blood, but the accompanying eau d' dead rat speaks to the probable source of THAT. Still, an entrance is an entrance, and so he forces the doors open and barges on in, pausing just inside for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the interior. He gives an idle kick to the piece of metal sheeting, listening in case the echoes might indicate that the hole behind it isn't a rat-hole but something more of the yawning cavern leading to eldritch lost cities type.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    "Psht, I'm not here to kill you. Or mess up your stuff! Not unless you're here to harm people anyway. C'mon, c'mon, calm down. Honey! I'm telling you, have some, it's great." Aoko insists, extending the pot of honey forward for the three. She hasn't done anything to it, it's still the same honey.

    She certainly does register Sona's unique communication methods. "Hey, that's pretty cool. I'd love to be able to make glowing magical words in the air without them exploding afterwards." Then to Psyber: "I had a chat with your wallet, we're eloping together and leaving you~. It gets half of your stuff, standard divorce procedure." It is a tease, yes.

    She finally addresses Riva. "Oh, hammerspace. Cool. I don't have that. It'd be handy, but at the same time I like carrying my stuff around when I travel. Kind of a grouding reminder. You want the map back?"

    The magus glances down, lastly, towards the salt circle. A quick examination, to see what it's meant to do, whether or not these three have any real magic stuffed into it, that sort of stuff.

Inga has posed:
Inga slowly looks toward Harry, giving him a disapproving look. What's wrong with pagans!?

Inga takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. Young women of this time, working magic. Alright. She is not going to immediately disrespect them, even if at least one of them should learn to keep her mouth shut. "We were hired to investigate as well. Indeed, we are following a series of problems like this is we believe this place may be connected--If you are not willing to put your lives in danger I suggest you leave this to us as we undoubtedly have more information on this than you do," she says to the one who was polite, before turning her baleful glare upon Goth-chick. The glare is long and unnerving. "You should show a bit more respect--I see that your anger is fueled by your mother's problem with drink, but if you are not more careful with whom you speak to like that you will find yourself in more trouble than you bargained for," she says, glimpsing the girls orlog, pulling a bit of her past to light.

"Now, what will it be?" she asks them.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Jen pokes at her iPad a bit and snorts. "I was telling the Mortons, who are nice people, that the church down the road has been gridding this entire area with prayer weaponry. Those people have no respect for the natural order and it's all God God God and damn Gaia and damn the natural order. What about the spirits that were here before?"
    Marla nods emphatically. "So we're calling on the Dragons and the guides to come and remove all of those awful things and destroy the 'heretical grid' that the church has been laying out to harass us."
    Inga's words get Raven to bristle, as she talks around the circle and right over to the witch with a finger pointing. "You shut the hell up, that's not what's going on here a-How did you know that, fuck you!"

    Okay, so the salt circle looks like it was carefully made, but any of the actual designs inside are bullshit. This thing would contain slugs and maybe a bag of french fries and that's it.

    Jen is busy typing at her iPad, growling. "I'm telling everyone about this. You guys are going to get it, we've got a lot of followers." She takes a picture of the group, and keeps angrily typing at the iPad.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    >>CASE THE JOINT SOME MORE!
    Bigby bust into a door to the back halls of the place. This is a kitchen, and looks like it's had some proper updating and renovations. The facilities are newer than the 60s at least and look like they're designed for making Grandma's Potluck Dinner for catering.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    >>ALSO CASE THE JOINT
    The place has an interesting design at least. Kimiko will feel... metal under the floor. Oldish metal but really quite strong. Spring steel maybe? Feels bouncy. In fact as she stalks around, she can sense the floor give a little, like it's designed to flex.
    Beyond that, the further she goes from the entrance, the more she gets that yawning feeling like the Holistic Center from last week. It's here alright, downstairs.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    >>Create Hallucinations!

    And then Sona's floaty picture things get Raven to stagger backwards and Jen to screech and Marla to fall on her ass. "AH!" Uh, actual magic, it would seem, is not something these three are used to.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
Bigby snorts in disappointment at finding something so mundane as a /kitchen/, but takes a moment to check the fridge before he heads back outside. Maybe the work crew left some beer.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Right, then. Time for Kimiko to look for a way down, if she can find it--preferably without getting out of sight of everyone else, but she's got the radio connection in case she needs to scout ahead.

    She's not going to rush in, though. No sense tangling with something like last time on her own.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Sona, Aoko and Riva all teaming up on him make Psyber flail his hand a bit, "Cut it out! Damn womenfolk always busting my chops," Psyber grumbles. He channels that annoyance into dealing with the three girls. When he spots one with an iPad taking a picture of him, Psyber strides over to her and then grips the iPad she's holding in one hand.

    It's an almost trivial amount of pressure he has to apply with that single hand, barring the girl doing anything spectacular to stop him. With that single hand, he seeks to grip and then crush the iPad to pieces, a feat that's probably not something the girls expected. If he succeeds, he says gruffly, "No pictures," and glares at her hard with red eyes.

    "You girls wanna play occult, that's nice. But the grownups are here for a real mission and unless you want your followers to clip your obit, you'll go. Because the thing we're chasing is old, is deadly, and is definitely not gonna give a shit about your poorly drawn salt circle," He stares at the three hard.

    And then he takes a roll of bills out of his jacket and peels off three bills, "300 bucks. Go buy a new iPad and spend your evening setting it up."

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     The Alchemical sighs. Sometimes... sometimes he wishes he was a protocol weaver, if only to see the looks on these kids faces when he starts slinging real magic. "If your gods have a problem with the followers of another, they should file a complaint to the relevant celestial office. There's no need to take matters into your own hands."

     "I like your style, Colonel."

Sona Buvelle (586) has posed:
Sona looks horrifically amused and satisfied as the kids fall on their rumps. The chibi-Sona does a little bow, and then the Chibi-Occultists trip, tumble, and scurry off stage-left in exaggerated fashion. Sona, as Psyber tosses them money, smiles meaningfully. Another melody, and the trio of kids will find their feet lightened, and perhaps a sudden desire to flee for their lives as she attempts to shove no small amount of fear and apprehension of this building and Psyber into their emotions. Fear and greed can be powerful motivators.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    First MAGIC and then VIOLENCE! Jen's hands tremble a little bit as that hand crushes her iPad, and then sputters at the cash. That's more money than they got coming here, but she's down a mobile device! The lady puffs herself up to her full 5'3" and pokes the man in the chest. "Just you wait! EVERYONE is gonna hear about this! The webring and listserve are full of people tired and sick of you church people oppressing us! That's not how things are sup-
    Marla, however, seems to be the pragmatic one, and is trying to bodily drag Jen away from the half-angel. "S-sorry sir, we'll just get going thank you for the cash this is a very nice day goodbye COME ON JEN!"
    Sona' magic is getting Raven on edge too, as she scoots back from the group, flipping Inga off specifically. And then they're out one of the fire exits.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva waves to Aoko. "No big deal, keep it. I need to get a new one anyway."

Riva gives the peace sign when she gets her picture taken. She returns the favor, taking a picture of them! "Prayer weaponry? Heretical Grid? That's a thing? I mean, I'm totally down with Gaia, but..." she looks over to the Actual Wizard here for confirmation, but then Psyber steps it up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Riva says, jumping forward and waving her hands.

"Come on, man, we're all on the same side here!" She says, looking sternly at Psyber before turning to the trio. "Sorry about that!" She says, holding out a hand to help the nearest one up if they'll take it. "Just, um... Look, we're dealing some some major, /major/ problems here, and it's totally not the God Squad down the street. There is straight up some actual bad stuff going down and we can totally use-"

And they bail. Oh well. Riva shrugs to Psyber. "Welp, that's going to be a thing."

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    CASE THE FRIDGE

    No beer. Leftover pizza. Mmmm. Something familiar about how it smells. Hmmm.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    "Yeah, totally. Fuck Gaia, she's kind of a jerk anyway. And so's her will! Preach, sistah!" Aoko extends a hand up for a high-five. She probably will not get it, because Psyber just chased them off. She'll still pout at her choice of words.

    Aoko puts the honey pot on the ground, crouches down and runs her finger about the salt. Looks like she's displacing it here and there, making actual patterns and symbols. While Psyber is playing Bad Cop, Aoko is arranging the spell circle into... well, it's kind of shitty, actually. She obviously hasn't practiced this much, if at all.

    It does look like a rudimentary circle that conveys the purpose of "this spell has for purpose to soothe and calm spirits, and contain them if it fails".

    Then she puts her hand on the ground. There's a sudden, loud sound in her forearm, like a jet engine starting to spin. Blue light floors the floor and the salt circle, and then the noise stops. Magically, she just did the equivalent of turning "this spell has for purpose to soothe and calm spirits, and contain them if it fails" into "calm spirits, contain if fails". In other words, turn her shoddy worksmanship into something passable that perfectly conveys a diminished but similar meaning.

    And, obviously, she turned it on.

    "HEY, I FIXED IT! I think. It probably won't explode."
    Probably true.
    It's doubtful it can handle a whole lot of spirits though.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
Hmm.

Disappointed by the lack of beer, Bigby nevertheless reaches out to lift the lid off the pizza box. He's smelled a LOT of leftover refrigerator pizza in his time, but something about this one...

Inga has posed:
Inga leans on her staff, watching the three to see what they will do. Alas, her warnings go unheaded-returned with threats even. Inga frowns in disappointment. She examines the circle, the symbols foreign--though that's nothing new. She's encountered many things she does not know, but this circle is devoid of power. As for the rest, Inga raises a brow. "Gaia. I serve Gaia you foolish little girl. I am not more a fan of the Church than you are, I assure you, but you are chattering nonsense. Get out. I have brushe off your disrespect because of your ignorance, but if you disrespect me or my associates again I will make you reget it," she informs them.

Psyber steps in and shows a little brute force. That /should/ suffice.

Tch, and when faced with magic? They fall over themselves. Not that she can blame them their surprise--and she wouldn't if they weren't such ridiculous snots about it.

Then 'Raven' passes her and makes a rude gesture. A heavy sigh. Inga turns toward the girl, command in her voice that goes beyond the natural. "Raven, you who presume to name yourself after the chosen beasts of the Allfather--I curse you," she pronounces, an invisible thrum of a doom being decided, rippling through the air.

Then, a grin. "Find me when you have decided to show respect," she adds.

Inga lets her leave, knowing full well she'll see the girl again.

Inga turns toward Harry. "We should continue to the basement. Get this over with," she suggests, pulling her knife to prepare her wards.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    After they leave, Psyber actually frowns heavily at himself and looks over to Riva, "Sorry, I know that was rough of me. Truth is, I'd rather have them hate me than have them dead," Psyber says in a somewhat somber tone, looking towards the Templar, "They'll tell everyone they know tomorrow about the mean shit I did, but they'll be alive to do it. We have no idea of knowing when or if shit's gonna pop off here." He frowns and then says to her again, "Sorry."

    He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one and smoking it indoors as he looks over to Bitter, chuckling faintly, "Glad to make your approval, Bitter Medicine," He says with a bit of a serious tone before sighing.

    He looks around, "Right then, I agree. Let's head to the basement."

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    PIZZA TIME
    It's only when that box is opened that something trips. There's a little spark of magic and the briefest instant of DANGER before something tries to kill Bigby. It's a sudden snap of energy, that tries to jump across his heart and destabilize his heartbeat. It just tried to give him a heart attack.

    The smell of dried blood and the yawning feeling of Nothing starts to permeate the air around Bigby, as the touch of the Lurker oozes out of the trap. It's here, somewhere, and it has help of Mortal Magic.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    CURSE THE GOTH.
    Raven is immediately feeling that curse as she can be heard outside screaming at a meter maid who's already Booted the van. It starts.

    FIX THE CIRCLE!
    Aoko's efforts have repaired what is a completely shitty circle to something that might catch a dewdrop faerie if there was one around here who was dumb enough to stay with superpowered assholes here.
    INSULT THE PAGANS
    Sometime in the next hour or so any Google Alerts Psyber has set up will catch angry pagans grouching about Rabid X-Tians and shit with a grainy picture of him next to it.

    ALL THE PEOPLE
    The tripping of that trap gets the building to shake slightly, and footsteps can be heard coming up from under the kitchen, hurried, excited footsteps. The yawning feeling expands, and a general malaise starts to set in around the whole pavilion, sucking the energy and enthusiasm out of the place, and replacing it with the feeling of emptiness.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
"What the FUCK!" Bigby's voice suddenly roars from the direction of the kitchen, as he staggers back clutching at his chest as he feels his heart give a sluggish lurch.

But he's a Fable after all, and a damned badass one at that. After a brief disturbance his circulatory system starts working again, and he catches enough breath to let out a warning snarl. "Where are you?" he demands, in a voice that makes Christian Bale sound smooth. He can FEEL... something, all around him, but nothing substantial to bite. Not even pizza!

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     The Alchemical makes for the basement with the others. "What level of collateral have the Cheeseheads deemed acceptable, comrade Dresden?" Even as he walks, he begins practicing mudras and breathing exercises, biologically superfluous though they may be.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko can feel something affecting her emotions. It is unpleasant, in the sense that not understanding what is affecting one's perceptions is unpleasant. She has some experience with vaguely similar things, but--it never gets easier.

    Fortunately, her work ethic is such that she can continue as if purely on autopilot, even under the worst conditions. As long as she doesn't have to think too deeply about it, something sapping her feelings won't affect her behavior too noticeably. It may affect her magic, but that's a separate matter.

    She feels the floor for further vibrations, and rushes in the direction of the action, transforming out of her coat and into her magical girl outfit as she goes. She can already hear Bigby shouting.

Inga has posed:
Inga's eyes widen as the building rumbles and the feeling of Nothing yawms and expands, stretching its claws...

Inga wastes no time slicing into her flesh to get with the wards. A barrier of crimson mist settles over Harry first--"Who needs a ward!?" she asks quickly. Some may have themselves covered and she may not have much time.

Inga moves as quickly as possible toward where Bigby is, trying to prepare herself for the fight that is likely to come.

The transformation of the magical girl gets a perplexed look. Wh-what? Magical costume change!?

Sona Buvelle (586) has posed:
When the floor shakes, there's Horrible Feelings afoot, and there's boot-steps on the grounds? Sona grins visciously. It's music to her magical ears, and she closes her eyes, listening. She begins to play a haunting tune, directing waves of fear, despair, and that same malaise back at the direction of the sounds of approaching (presumably) enemies!

Riva Banari has posed:
And then everything gets funky. Riva stops smiling as she feels the sapping emotional dead zone spread through the area. "Ugh, is it just me, or did it get darker in here?" She mutters as she looks around. "Guuuuuys." She says. "I think we got them out of here just in time..." Her hands start going into her coat for her guns.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
Exalted can do far, far more damage than they can take. Who's to say whether or not the Great Maker designed them that way on purpose? Whatever the mysteries of his existence may be, Bitter Medicine isn't going to turn down aid when he can get it. "Inga, hit me!" He hopes she understands he's not being literal.

The Alchemical flares his anima to its highest level and sets Voidbane to spinning, puffs of steam jetting out of the weapon. He moves to put himself between the danger and his allies, stretching out his senses to find it.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Aww yeah take that circle.
    Just all fixed and stuff.
    She was bored, okay?

    Aaaaaand there's that feeling. Aoko frowns, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "Yeah, yeah, looks like it," she mutters towards Riva, sighing.

    She starts walking calmly towards the kitchen area, probably a few feet behind the others at most. Well, let's go see what horrible thing we're dealing with today.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber, whose player got distracted by some RL shenanigans, is mostly responding to danger exactly how most Hunters would. He has a pistol in his hand, those time loaded with steel-tip rounds after his fight last time, "Everyone on your guard," He looks cautious, "If it's back, it hates steel, iron and silver."

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Harry speaks up from the back of the groups and growls. "I don't think they were... uh, expecting anything like this... Uh, try not to blow it up?"

    THE KITCHEN
    The door to the basement busts open with a fellow, a very excited looking fellow poking his head out just in time to see a large angry man who is not dead from a magical trap looking Not Dead From HIs Magical Trap and immediately slams the door shut again, screaming. "PEOPLE PEOPLE THERE'S People up there fuckin' get o-"
    And then it's muffled again, but the sounds of people moving heavy stuff around downstairs is obvious enough. The Nothing rumbles, and there's a surge of nothing, heavy enough to dull senses and grey out the whole area metaphysically. Fire exits open up on the sides of the building and people can be heard running out. A glimpse of a skinny kid in a black robe looking frantic flashes past the window of the kitchen. Two more try to exit out from other doors to the basement that open up on the dance floor, but they spot the Elites and panic and... one runs back into the basement, with the third rushes for a different exit on the dance floor.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
Oh THERE you are. Bigby's low growl turns into an anticipatory grin as the skinny fuck dashes by the window. He has the presence of mind, at least, to strip out of his clothes this time before his body contorts and bulks out with an onrushing wave of fur, chest barreling, ears and teeth elongating, and hot on the skinny kid's trail a goddamn naked hairy werewolf crashes through the kitchen window, catches himself skidding claws on the damp grass outside, and charges after him on all fours with great, ground-eating bounds.

Of course he's not going to kill him. Much. Just maul him a little and demand to know what the FUCK he thought he was doing.

Inga has posed:
Inga looks back toward Bitter, hefting her staff for a moment, her expression questioning...?

Oh, he means with a ward.

Another slice and the anima charged blood sprays toward Bitter, creating a shimmering barrier around him that will both soak up oncoming damage and provide healing over time as he gets hurt.

Blood, blood, everywhere and somehow it makes you feel better!

Inga sticks by Harry and perhaps Riva while those who are quick and go after the people running. What were they doing here!? Summoning the bloody thing!?

Riva is headed for the basement, Inga on her heels. Inga tosses a quick ward over Riva, trying to get all her wards out before her wound closes.

Sona Buvelle (586) has posed:
When the door to the basement pops open, and one cultist flees back down? Sona plucks her strings, and she's moving faster. Should anyone come along? They too would be caught up in her aura. She's floating by now, only well-controlled magic keeping her dress decent. She ducks her head slightly to avoid bonking herself. Her instrument turns diagonally in order to fit, long as it is.

Seems Sona's no knight, as she then attempts to simply cut the legs out from under the fleeing spellcaster with a well-placed slicing chord of magic-music, even as she desperately tries to control her own emotions. She breathes heavily, sweat on her brow as she concentrates. Her music invigorates this time, and much of it is directed at her own inner music.

Riva Banari has posed:
And then things go even more to hell. Not only is there a Heckmouth, but there's people apparently actively screwing with it. There is a moment where Riva is glad that they forced the girls to leave. This is /not/ what she expected.

the good news though is that these guys can /talk/. "FREEZE!" Riva yells, pulling out her MAC-10s and lunging for the open basement door. Anima surges around her even as everything flashes gray in her eyes, an oppressive feeling like veined Darkness pressing in around the edges of her vision. Her speed increases. Inga throws a ward around her, which shimmers, certainly giving her more confidence as she lunges down the steps multiple at a time in an attempt to catch the guy before he gets away. "SURRENDER AND YOU WON'T GET SHOT!" Riva yells. There is no time to think. Feel! Inga will be right behind her, it'll be all good.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     Bitter Medicine doesn't have his Sixth Dexterity Augmentation. Against trained cultists or gremlins, that would be a problem. Against these slackers? No problem at all. The Scourge of Autochthon races after the runner on the dance floor--hey, these shoes are pretty good for running!

He leaps, a Soulsteel missile shooting across the floor. His charms moan all the louder as his center of mass collides with Dance Floor Runner. He brings his elbow down against the small of the practitioner's back, then stands, forcing him up by his hair. "Lurker!" This thing has a cult, so that means it cares about worship, right? "Leave now or your follower dies."

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    CHARGE DOWN THE STAIRS
    Riva's charge down the stairs will lead her into a sub basement where the people who run the place keep all the banquet tables and other decorations. You know, when there's not dead and dessicated people down there too.
    There's a glowing magical circle in the floor, and a bubble full of Nothing inside the circle. ...Is it contained?

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is fairly concerned with keeping his allies safe. And so, rather than take an offensive action, Psyber spots Sona as she breaths heavily and sweats. He inches his way over to the songstress and puts a hand on her shoulder while she plays her song, squeezing it with one hand.

    "Hey. You okay?" He asks her seriously, worried about the effects he can see on her, "That's some pretty impressive stuff you've got going. Very nice." A compliment to distract her from whatever she's feeling. He is not currently attacking anything.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    The thing hates iron, steel, and silver. In short, it hates everything Kimiko conjures. That's good.

    As Bigby crashes through the window, and several others rush down the stairs, she stops, turns, and summons a nearly flat, circular disc of a shield. She spins on one foot, the other coming around with steel toe to precisely strike the shield as it hangs in the air, sending it spinning and hurtling to roughly crash against the nearest exit door--where it sticks. If one looked closely enough, they'd see the steel welding cooling off immediately after impact, where it's struck frame and handle.

    Kimiko repeats this feat with astonishing quickness, eyes scanning carefully for any spot she's missed that so much of a wisp of smoke may use to escape. Bigby's impromptu exit comes last, requiring her to leap over toward and apply a makeshift patch that looks like several pieces of armor torn apart and melded together.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    One goes down, one goes to the side.
    Aoko glances. Dance floor is handled, so...

    She points a finger at the ground. A thin streak of blue light shoots from the tip, like a cutting laser. She twirls graciously, cutting a full circle underneath her.

    The cut circle of floor, and Aoko, take the express shortcut to the basement. She hops off to land by Riva, whistling at the sight.

    "Well hello there, big guy. Let's see."

    She'll put her hand on the circle, to figure it out. No better way than getting hands-on with magecraft to see what magecraft does.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva gets down into the basement. she looks around, frowning. "Eew, Dead people." She says. So what if she's killed like a hundred zombies, some things you should never get used to!

Where did that guy go? However, her checking gets arrested by the big nothing bubble. She approaches it, holstering one gun as she reaches to pull her sword. Hopefully this isn't where she gets brained from behind.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    WOLF
    Bigby wrecks the window and pounces on the cultist, the pair of them skidding on the grass and furrowing offthe top of the fresh sod.
    The kid looks up and... there's Nothing in his eyes, the energy boiling off of the cultist as it opens up its mouth and screams at the Wolf.
    Just screams, an unending noise that doesn't stop, not even for breath.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    THUG-O-BOT AND KIMIKO
    BITTER USED TACKLE! The hit does cut off the cultist's escape route, along with Kimiko's well placed steel stopper, bolting the door closed. The kid slams into the door and there's another howling empty scream form underneath the Exalt only getting louder as he picks what used to be a kid up and off the ground. It would appear the Lurker has given him his answer.
    Kimiko quickly seals off the rest of the ground floor exits and windows, leaving just the overhead electric lights and a set of skylights left to let light inside.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
"SHUT UP!" the terrifying wolf-creature roars, slaver flying from his fangs as he reaches out with one powerful hand to grip the kid by the throat. His claws dig into the cultist's skin but draw only pinpoints of blood as he shifts his weight off of the cultist and lifts him bodily into the air.

"Now what're we gonna do with you," the monster growls, his voice seeming to come more from his chest than his mouth. From what (little enough) he knows about witchcraft he doesn't think killing the kid will lead anywhere good. Instead, he lifts the hand not holding his quarry up by the throat to his ear, where the newly-acquired radio earbud has managed not to fall out. "I've got mine," he growls over the local frequency. "Kid's about full to bursting with bad mojo. Your call, Harry, you want him downstairs or the fuck away from here?"

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    BARD AND CHOSEN AND AOKO
    SOna's magic will snag the last cultist across the back of the legs, knocking him over near the base of the circle, and leaving him sprawled out on the old stone floor. This one, however, isn't changing over to an Awful Thing Filled With Nothing. He seems rather cogent at least. There's bloody marks on the man's face and arms and Riva, Inga and Aoko will all recognize at least some of the signs. They're blood magic, old blood magic, looks Inca in origin.
    He snorts and smiles as the guns and magic are drawn down on him, and Speaks.
    Or rather, the Lurker Speaks. The nothing in the circle burbles. <hello again mortals and not so mortals. i see you have puzzled out another one of our hideyholes. i greet you but do not welcome you. this is my domain and i claim it as i see fit.>
    Harry pokes his head downstairs and starts to try and sidle around to get a look at the circle.

    Aoko, this one is an extremely solid construction. The other one last week was something meant to release whatever was inside. This one looks like a haven of some sort. A place of gathering, to hold energy inside. Probably why the Lurker couldn't be sensed from outside.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     This is a Complex Problem. Bitter Medicine has tried Hitting and Threatening, both to no avail. The scream is getting louder, Nothing is escaping through it. "Strongly leaning towards killing this," he says, fingers around the practitioner's throat in an unwitting imitation of Bigby. "Second animal man's request--please advise." Maybe if he squeezes hard enough, no Nothing can get through!

Sona Buvelle (586) has posed:
Sona strikes the strings of her instrument a little harder than necessary. When she turns to Psyber, there's something between fear and hopelessness brought on by the malaise filling the area, and the invigorating look of someone purposefully being manipulated by magic to be brave and strong. More than anything, as her hands constantly dance along the Etwahl, there's concentration, and a little bit of odd joy.

The compliment helps, and she perks up. There's even a slight blush, and she waves her hand dismissively.

Inner Sona is dancing up and down like a schoolgirl.

Then, forgetting the cultist she was trying to music-slice up for a moment, she tilts her ear towards Psyber. Leeeean!

As his hand and the half-angel's music touch her senses, she looks remarkably better. Her song lowers in pace, and she lets out a sigh of relief. Apparently, whatever she hears, it's pleasing enough to keep her relatively stable. For now.

Sona might not /entirely/ be up to date with the Lurker, but she knows Bad News when she feels it. The Lurker's music sounds /awful/ after all. She plucks several strings.

There's suddenly a small, black, bubbly representation of the Lurker, with a tiny guitar in his hands playing soundlessly. There's a chibi-crowd all around him, boo'ing and throwing tomatoes at him. See that, Lurker? Sona says your music is awful.

Meanwhile, as Harry sidles, she plucks strings quietly and tries to emit a feeling of unimportance towards Harry, to disguise any actions he might take. Not quite invisibility, but simply 'Pay no attention to the man in the leather duster'.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    WOLF and THUG
    The cultist outside is now locked out along with Bigby, and he's screaming still, though the noise tapers off, and those Nothing Eyes just keep looking voids at the wolf.
    The same thing with the one that's up with the Exalt. Husk might be a good term for it as both men go slightly limp and boneless in their grasps.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
Bigby shakes his cultist a little bit as his eyes narrow warily. Into the radio: "Uh, mine's stopped moving."

Inga has posed:
Inga recognizes that blood magic is at work here, though the particular symbols do not look familiar to her. She grits her teeth against the horrible feeling that suffuses this space and looks to the Nothing in the circle as it addresses them. She says nothing though, creeping along with Harry, eyeing the circle and waiting for direction. She does not want to bungle this. The other's can smart talk the thing and keep its attention, as far as she knows she must save her energy for whatever the solution may be.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
Bitter Medicine grunts. "Same," he says. "All in favor of killing with extreme prejudice?"

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Yuck, blood magic. Old one too.
    As Harry comes in, the red-headed magus looks at him, asking: "So, what do you think? I was thinking overloading the circle's probably possible, but then everything it has stored is gonna get out in one burst. Plus what we pour in. It'd probably take forever to modify the circle, and it's too charged for me to just change its state. It'd resist. Ah, ah~. But you're the expert. Consider me a handiman! Tell me where you want the new patio to go when you figure it out~."

    Then, she walks towards the center of the circle, smiling at the Nothing. "Hiiiii to you too! So are you stuck here? Gathering energy but you can't actually get out? Oooor... is this just a safe place? You could leave anytime you want, but while here you're gathering strength? Won't you tell us ~lowly~ mortals all about your plan, since we'll just die anyway?"

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko takes a look toward Bitter, but he seems to have that one handled. Everything's sealed up, so nothing is getting out... unless it breaks a wall... or the ceiling... or is already outside with Bigby. Erm. Well, nothing to be easily done about most of that.

    She underhand-tosses a few daggers--thin things, hardly more than the tang--up toward the skylights, just to embed in the ceiling near the glass. A chain hangs off one. It won't be important unless she needs to quickly do some more conjuration up there, in which case it'll save her about a second and a good bit of risk if she can get ahold of it.

    That done, she goes by Aoko's hole-in-the-floor to look down and keep an eyes on the malevolent, otherworldly intelligence in here with them.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber smiles at Sona widely and pats her shoulder a couple more times as she seems to come down from her emotional state and into a more calm one. He gives her a thumbs up, "There we go. Now let's get to going after that thing, yeah? I'll stick by you and protect you," He says, pistol in hand. He mostly wants to make sure she feels safe so her music can be as steady as she needs.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva has to put away the other gun to pull out her phone (only two hands after all) to take some pictures of the runes on the guy. She sends them to her People if Magic Interference doesn't get in the way of her phone operation. They'll get back to her later.

"Hello, The Lurker In Darkness. Sorry, but look, we really would prefer it if you stuck to chilling out in whatever eldritch hell dimension you are supposed to be residing in. You're violating like, every tenant code on the planet here." She, too, is working on keeping the Thing's attention.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    <you speak as if this matters.> The man on the ground is watching Aoko but it's clear the gaze of the Lurker is on Riva for the time being. <i remember you gaian and you magus.> The attention sweeps to Aoko, before the Speaker lies back on the floor again, looking up at Kimiko as she works upstairs. <a setback in the previous attempt and nothing more. i was... surprised by the forcefulness of the response. the dying throes of kine eaking out more time on this wretched plane.>

    Sona and Psyber next as they enter the basement. Sona's song is clouding out Inga and Harry at least. <the almost seraph enters with a new toy. i do not welcome you as well.> the bubbling mass in the circle looking like it's yearrrrrrrning to reach out, but does not. It's safe and secure for now.

    Inga and Harry will find that this circle is in fact more robust than the last. it looks like this one was never burned in the Great Fire, and it's had people actively maintaining it. Or at least recently refreshing it. Probably those fellows what are squirming and dying all around them.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko steps back from the circular hole. Once out of sight of the magic circle below, she does a quick step over to the kitchen where she'd patched the window. The door instead has one of her shields holding it shut, but at her touch it comes easily away, if a trifle slowly at first. A quick glance behind, and then she turns the handle, opening the door for Bigby to come in through. Once he and his charge do, she'll place the shield back on, quietly welding it into place.

Sona Buvelle (586) has posed:
Sona hugs her instrument close as that black blob of Nothing tries to reach out, staying similarly close to Pysber. She nods in his direction quietly, even as she tries to plug her ears. She swiftly gives up, as nothing seems to drown out the Nothing's sound. Every word is just another sour note to her delicate hearing.

She's soon scowling, and her notes on her instrument come more swiftly and more forceful. There's suddenly a chibi-Sona making very rude gestures at chibi-Nothing. The woman grits her teeth.

From the way she's fingering her strings, she's just itching to try to music-cut the thing, but is holding herself back. With a silent deep breath, she finally manages enough foresight to play a more martial tune. Those downstairs, and any who join them may find themselves filled with vigor, and physical and magical strength alike as she plays an uplifting tune.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
Flinging his unconscious cultist over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, the werewolf turns and takes the now-open door, rather than the window, back into the kitchen. He gives Kimiko a short nod and grunt of acknowledgement. Giving the beerless, boobytrapped refrigerator a dark look in passing, he tromps down into the cellar, the stairs creaking under the combined weight of Wolf and passenger.

Riva Banari has posed:
"Seriously? Why do you gotta be like that. Surely you endless aeon-devouring entities of inexorable power can just go watch Azathoth TV for a bit or something and when you look back, we'd surely have all died out by then. No need to go /accelerating/ things." Riva says, spreading her hands. "But seriously, if you don't get out, we're going to have to force you out and that way might actually suck for you."

She taps at the floor with her sword. "Answer fast. Us mostly-mortals are pretty impatient."

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    "How lively! So, why aren't you getting out and killing us, if we're so irrelevant and unimportant? Could it be that I was right and you caaaaaan't~?" Aoko smiles, as she slowly walks in circles around the Nothing and the man, hands back in her pockets.

    "Don't you want to reach out and have a meal right now? C'mon, step outside your bubble. It's nice and warm here, and we have chairs."

    Do they have chairs?
    She's pretty sure she saw chairs in a corner.
    Might not have been.

    One might consider her taunting to be unwise, but odds are if the Nothing does anything-- anything at all-- there might be variations in the spell circle. Variations that can be picked up on and understood. But maybe not, too.

Inga has posed:
Inga is looking at the circle with baleful concentration, sensing the anima and how it all connects. It is strong, much stronger than the other circles they have nuetralized. It is Harry who provides the valuable insight into the circle's constrution. Blood and Death. But what should they do? Inga tried last time to banish the thing, and if they overload the circle to destroy it she is afraid He Who Lurks will break free and devour as he pleases.

Blood and death, sacrifice...were these mages sacrificing to He Who Lurks? That makes the most sense. It would strengthen his connection to the material. How could they corrupt his connection? Perhaps if they could make the circle /drain/ its energy instead of feeding it.

Inga looks to Harry, dark eyes wide. "Could we invert it?" she asks. As someone who never used magic circles to hear the voices of the spirits, she doesn't rightly know.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
Much the same as Bigby, Bitter Medicine has some sensitive cargo, and given the apparent fondness for unpredictability that Lurker has, it's best to try and control any advantages the Outsider has or thinks it has-existence of trump cards not withstanding, Bitter Medicine socks the husk in the stomach. "Atemi," he mutters quietly before moving to the basement to assist, unconscious cultist in tow.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
"If it wants to reach out and /become/ a meal, I can oblige it," Bigby remarks darkly from the foot of the stairs. His tongue slips from between parted lips to meaningfully lick his chops.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    CULTIST SACK MULES
    There's a bubbling, threatening noise from the edge of the circle nearest Bigby, but the Speaker remains quiet on the Eating Portion. Bigby's cultist reamins still.
    Bitter's cultist takes the punch and doesn't even vomit. Though a puff of nothing escapes the man, lungs compressing in the attack.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Back to the hole on the main floor. It's a good enough spot from which Kimiko can see what's going on, and gives her more room to maneuver without getting in anyone's way.

    She doesn't have any words to share with eldritch horrors. Never has before, doesn't see a reason to start now.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    <i am like that because it pleases me, gaian. just as it pleases me to watch you all scrabble at this idea that you will stop What Is To Come.> The speaker turns on Aoko, a hesitance of displeasure it the dull blank voice. <do not think so highly of yourself magus. you are against creation already. now little it would take to move you one step past that line.> The speaker looks over at Bigby though, and the motion finally drags eyes across Harry and Inga, as the two poke and prod at the circle.

    And then all the bodies in the room twitch and shudder. The dead ones, the cultists, all of them start to move. The corpses a bit slower than the cultists, though those two certainly start to move and scream again. This time the screaming exhales bits and pieces of Lurker into the basement, a slow cloud of haze and Nothing attempting to snuff out dissent.

    The Circle burbles. This time the voice is from there. <wiiiiizard. seeeeeeeeeeer. ceaaaaaaaaaaaase.>

Sona Buvelle (586) has posed:
Sona silently mouths some very, very unladylike words as the Circle burbles and speaks. When those corpses seem to rise up?

She plays a very, very strong chord. A wave of magic slashes out towards the undead, both trying to cut them to pieces...and potentially stun them, and make them dance in place for a few seconds.

Sona's magic is weird.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    "That's fine! Move me past the line of you want. It won't change my life. Ah, but thinking highly of myself? Nah, nah, you have me all wrong, mister. I can call you mister, right? Would sir be more polite? Do you have special titles for beings like you? Anyway! I'm just a third-rate magus, see. And all I'm good at is destroying, and I like to talk a lot too. I'm not very interesting! Not compared to everyone else who's here, see? You, you're big, you're scary!"

    She stops, glancing about as the screams and the bubbling happens. She should probably take a step back, but if she can keep distracting it...

    "You'd just eat me up. Nom, gone. No more magus. But you're not, that's why I'm talking! Not a lot of people get to sit down and talk with people like you. So I'm growing more and more curious, is the bubble keeping YOU safe from us, or US safe from you? And if you want the wizard and seer to cease so badly, why don't you just do it yourself?"

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Harry's eyes flick over at Inga, before the jig is up and they're both spotted. "Welp, that's that. The second circle looks like it's holding the outer and inner bits in place. See if you can't pop that one while... uh. We get smoked." Harry's busy pulling out his own athame, and slicing open one of his fingers to drip blood on the blade.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    If their actions were pointless, why entreat them to stop? Kimiko finds an inconsistency in the Lurker's words. But then, things from beyond reality have rarely seemed rational to her under the best of circumstances.

    Unfortunately, there's little she can do about Nothing. Acts like smoke; at least, it flies and it fills lungs. She's breathing, though that wasn't an issue last time.

    Wait. Why would there be steel plates in the floor? Time to check on that. Do these extend to the basement floor?

    She stretches her senses outward, feeling out what her magic can reach.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
     Oh, no you don't. Half of these bastards are already dead, so what good is beating them up going to do unless he absolutely smashes them to pieces? The Cheeseheads probably won't want entails in their basement, anyway. So! What good's a faucet that's too clogged to run? He made the mistake of trying to fight the symptom last time. This time he goes after the source. As Sona's strange magic takes hold, he capitalizes on the tense moment of respite by tearing insulation from the wall and shoving fistfuls of it into the mouths of corpses and cultists alike. At least if it doesn't work, it's inconveniencing them?

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
Bigby was told to kill his hostage if he twitched the wrong way. This definitely qualifies as Wrong Twitching, to his mind. Plus that /god damn screaming/ again! His ears flatten in irritation, but he moves decisively.

With almost military precision and certainty, the werewolf hoists his shrieking package up off his shoulder and flings him to the basement floor. One large, clawed foot stomps down on the writhing cultist's groin to hold him in place, and then with a meaty *splut* he jams a hand up under the kid's ribcage with a swift thrusting motion, and then rips his arm back, his forearm covered in gore and his hand grasping the pink, meaty remnants of his victim's lungs. "Try screaming without these," he suggests to the body under his foot.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    KIMIKO
    Now that you're looking at them those 'steel plates' appear to be the ties and suspension steel from rail cars. And that's bolted at points down into the foundation of the basement. Down down down...

    The base of the whole thing appears to be thermite and steel and slagged right underneath the very bottom of the place. Just the perfect thing to hold up several tons of metal and make a bouncy ass dance floor.

Inga has posed:
Well, their time of concealment is done. No more ideas, time to take action.

Inga nods toward Harry, proceding toward the circle. The fog of Nothing rips through the room as the corpses being to move, some of them emiting and endless, horrible wail. It is /quite/ distracting, but she can't concern herself with the corpses.

The wisewoman slices into her arm, saying a prayer as she does so. "This blood is dedicated to my gods--to the gods of the North and their messengers," she prays, taking an extra precaution as she uses her blood, doing as Harry does and wetting the blade of her knife well before she reaches in, pooling her anima into the iron as she sinks it down into the second ring of the circle, trying to destroy this ring in hopes that the circle will implode upon itself.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    RIGHT! ACTION!

    Let's start off with THRILLER NIGHT and Miss Sona's Crescendo. It's not quite so much THRILLER as mild shuffling. The Speaker resists that simply due to the fact that his mind is pretty much the Lurker's right now. The Zombies start to shuffle more though, part of it the dancing and part of it coming full active as they soak up the miasma of Nothing.

    Uh, Bitter and Bigby start violating their charges. The insulation seems to actually stem the flow from Bitter's charge, while Bigby takes the... direct route and eviscerates the fellow he's got a hold of. Blood and guts and bits of man fly around the room and there's a sudden explosion of nothing in his face.

    And when the blood strikes the edge of the circle, it seeps down and mingles with the circle itself, a pulsing of energy gathering.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    ACTION!

    Riva's goign to be very sorry she said such awful things though as two of the zombies drag themselves over and try and drag the templar to the gorund with them and try to take bites out of her. RAAARRRRR

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    ACTION!

    Aoko's taunting gets a very definite reaction as well.

    The Lurker /looks/ at her, and she can feel the baleful Gaze of He Who Lurks in Shadow manifest itself as a ghosty horrid lance of terror made manifest. Every terrible sensation of being afraid of the dark, every awful thought of what's right behind me, what if someone's about to stab me, betrayal, all the awful little thoughts that creep into our heads manifest in one agonizing moment.

Riva Banari has posed:
"WAAAAAAAAAGH!" Riva yells, almost on cue as the zombies get up and try to eat her. "WHY IS IT ALWAYS ZOMBIES?" She laments as they flail at her. Anima flares as they hit the ward Inga put on her first, which gives her just enough time to turn and and unleash magic dakka upon them. The Ingram MAC-10s from Addie are certainly better than her old guns, that's for sure. "JUST STAY DOWN!" Riva yells. Cue Action Templar! She'll be busy shooting zombies for a while.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
The Wolf throws his head back and half coughs, half howls, a discordant counterpoint to the previous screaming. He flings the gooey mess of what used to be internal organs down onto the floor at his feet and reaches up to paw at his face, trying to rub feeling back into his muzzle after that sudden explosion of what felt like Absolute Zero and inhaling vaccuum. Wiping his hands over his eyes, he blinks and has to wait a moment for the tears to come before he can see again... and then it's blurry, as his body overcompensates for the searing, burning COLD that had hit his eyeballs. He can, however, make out the shambling form of not-friends attacking Riva, and with a feral snarl he leaps into the fray to help her destroy them.

Inga has posed:
Inga hears there is a plan to bring the ceiling down on the creature. That...sounds like it might backfire and leave her trapped beneath rubble. Hopefully, they can be very precise, for she is at the end of the circle, still stabbing it with her knife, trying to pop that second ring as suggested, pouring anima into heavily.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    SEER AND WIZARD.

    Now shit is kicking off and Miss Inga is... well, she's learned. A month's worth of bullshit circles has her recognizing important bits and learning how to unravel stuff.
    The anima helps. It helps a lot. Buzz buzz buzz.
    Little delicate whispers in her ear guide her. That one, that rune right there, scribe it out, scratch it like this, Elder Seer. Rewrite what is wrong.

    And with a hiss of energy, there's a flood of... uh.

    It's like a tire deflating. If the tire was instead the oppressive sense of energy in the room and the air was in fact the bonds of an Elder Outsider. The Lurker's gaze breaks from Aoko, and wobbles dangerously around the room.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Alright, she deserved that.
    Might have pushed the thing's buttons a bit too much.

    But that's how you learn! It's all in good fun.

    The magus shudders, even as the weight of her presence and magic actually shimmers into existence around herself, a dim blue light that seems to flicker and get blown away from her in an instant at the highly conceptual impact.

    She shudders, and actually takes several steps back.

    That was extremely unpleasant.
    No, that was worse. The kind of stuff that laves a mundane, normal man a whimpering mess for the rest of his life. She's lucky to be a magus, however awful of one she says she is.

    "Well, fine. Be like that. I don't want to talk anymore either."

    The woman snaps her fingers. "Main, set. Deploy."

    Two dozen tiny but extremely bright blue orbs appear around the spell circle, the size of a marble. They shine, bright like tiny stars. A good look reveals they ARE stars, rotating, reproducted perfectly. And then, all two dozens of them erupt into blazing cyan solar flares, taking the form of precise, thin cutting lasers.

    A curtain of blue lines around the circle, aimed at the ceiling.

    They make a quarter of a rotation around the room, cutting a circle into the ceiling, the perfect size to fall onto the bubbling pit of Nothing and cover it entirely, without harming allies at all. The tiny stars disappear, having used up their energy.

    Aoko has long since taken steps all the way back to the edge of the room, hands fishing in her pockets for some candy. No, she's out. Damnit. And she left the honey upstairs near the salt. Whyyyyy.

Bitter Medicine (569) has posed:
The effect of spilled blood on the circle is not lost on Bitter Medicine. He also knows all his insulation trick did was just putting a wad of gum against a dam. There's a way to satisfactorily solve this for all parties--sans He Who Lurks and his followers, of course.

"Linear Flight Principle!"

A single palm thrusts into the chest of the nearest mook. The attack is powerful enough on its own, but the technique in question means it's like being thrown into a wind tunnel.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Harry calls out from the other side of the circle. "That's done it! Good work!" A blood hand raises up in a thumbs up gesture, before Harry's staff can be seen raising up, and slapping into the floor. "FOZARE!"

    The circle SHUDDERS, and the nothing bubbles a bit more. Shudders with mirth as the circle starts to collapse inwards, slowly shrinking into the concrete again, the lights dimming.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    AGRESSIVE NEGOTIATIONS!

    Have you ever eaten a piece of jerky? Like bad jerky? Jerky that managed to turn before it dried out all the way? Or jerky that sat in the bottom of your jacket pocket all winter and when you got your coat out again you found some jerky and you thought it was a good idea to eat it?

    Bigby you've got taht stuck in your teeth. The awful jerky is not in fact attempting to eat Riva now though, so that's a plus.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Also the jerky is faliling and trying to weakly punch the wolf in the snout.

    GAIAN TACTICS.

    BULLETS, SO MANY BULLETS! Riva looks very impressive while she's driving home from work and will clearly get out of the way before what's about to happen happens.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    AND THEN THE ROOF CAVED IN.

    That totally just happened and Aoko executes Kimiko's great idea. The dance floor shudders and cracks and groans and then... with a noticably loud release of energy, the suspensions CRACK and SNAP and then a one ton chunk of oak and steel and dust and plaster crashes down on top of the circle with a screeching thud.

    But it doesn't eliminate it. The iron in the floor scrapes and screeches at the surface 'film' of the bubble, forcing downwards with enexorable force.

    He Who Lurks's baleful gaze can't really reach anyone while people are dropping shit on it.


    Also the building makes an ominous rumble, as springs and flooring start to creak and shudder upstairs. That's sure some pressure releasaing and bending the place inwards.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    This sort of long-range magic isn't Kimiko's strong suit. The closer up she is, the better she can work. With that in mind, she holds out one hand in front of her, a long spear shimmering into appearance, only a thin spike for its head, but together with the shaft a good ten feet in length. She leaps up and forward, her armor appearing over her from her feet upward as she falls through the precisely-cut hole over the magic circle, her spear-tip tracing an arc through the air until she's holding it straight down in both hands, body balanced around it. She lands heavily on the cut-out flooring, with a sound more like a crash, her spear driving straight through everything in its way to reach deep underneath. The more contact she can make with that foundation, the better this next part will work.

    Her magic reaches down, grabbing the steel below. Thermite, when burnt, leaves elemental iron--and she grabs that, too. She pulls, and she hefts herself up to balance upside down a moment, held up only by her hands on the farthest bit of her spear's shaft, as her magic reforms the metal into shapes more suiting her conceptual strength.

    A mass of blades, in a multitude of varieties, burst from the floor, clashing together with the transformed remains of what had been part of the ceiling.

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
This jerky really needs some worcestershire sauce. Bigby 'fleh's and 'ptoo's and spits bits of zombie out as fast as he slices and shreds with claws and fangs and gets his teeth even more gummed up with the disgusting flesh.

Dimly, he's heard something in his ear about the ceiling caving in, and while he'd normally disregard such a warning from the likes of Chicken Little (that irritating little shit) this seems like a more immediate sort of threat. He swats at the ineffectual zombie as its pathetic punch mushes against the side of his snout, and tries to make his way back toward the stairs--

And then the roof really does cave in. Just not, thankfully, on top of him. "Shit!" he half yelps, half growls as the shockwave of the impact judders the ground beneath his feet and sends him sprawling across the floor.

Inga has posed:
Inga sees Harry giving her a thumbs up and grins in response.

But it isn't finished yet. Inga hopes the ceiling fallin is very precise indeed, for she's afraid to withdraw from her work. The voices of the spirits are in her ears, sharing their wisdom. Slowy but steadily, her and Harry are turning the circle on itself.

"Time for you to go," she growls to He Who Lurks, jamming another jolt of anima through herself and into the circle with steely purpose.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Well, that worked.
    Possibly not permanently, but that's why everyone else has contributions. She doesn't feel the need to pile in, really; Aoko's ceiling cutting prowesses (which are probably about to bring down every further floor up and the roof, if there were any) are good enough as-is!

    She has to wonder, though, why something weak to steel or iron would reside in a building full of it. Why not one of those rustic wooden houses? You know, ye olde designs. Haunted abandoned buildings. Way less likely to have a ceiling full of your Kryptonite dumped on you.

    Oh well. Maybe it didn't have a choice.

    She'd ask, but doubts it would tell.

    So instead, she's going to watch Inga practice her magic, because she still finds that branch of Scandinavian magic she's using to be really interesting. Way outside her own reach. At least it's not runes.

    Screw runes, they're so lame.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    If you had told Harry Dresden he was going to watch a bunch of Elites put He Who Lurks in Shadow into an Iron Madien and pincushion it to oblivion today... well he would be suprised.
    Just as surpised as the Outsider must be at seeing the ceiling fall on its circle and the the floor and cieling suddenly piercing thhe whole of his hidey-hole in one fell and awful swoop.

    And like Inga said. The mess.

    This time the blood is fresher, hotter and less plentiful. The force of the attack still splashes t around pretty good though, soaking the basement once again. And everyone else.

Inga has posed:
Inga is ready for it this time, though there isn't much she can do besides curl in on herself to protect her face from being splashed with blood.

At least rate, Inga is really going to need to buy some new clothing. Her are not magic. At least not the self-cleaning kind of magic.

Inga then flops onto her behind, letting out a small laugh as she looks up at the hole in the ceiling. "Well, that was not something I expected," she says. "Is everyone alright?"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is totally here and was doing stuff. It involved guns and generally shooting. He didn't do TOO much mostly because he was hanging around the clearly jostled Sona and trying to keep her calm in the light of freaky stuff. He comes back just in time to get blasted with a huge splash of blood. Again.

    "Harry, if I get blasted with blood every time I come help you out, I'm going to start charging you."

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
Bigby is just getting his feet under him to make a run for the stairs when the bloodsplosion catches him in a hot sticky *splat* against his back. He sighs. But hey, at least he's naked this time. No having to scrounge for new clothes THIS time, suckas!

"Fine," he grunts in response to Inga as he consciously resists the urge to shake himself vigorously. "How many more of these hellholes are we going to have to explode?"

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko may have sounded dismissive, but being used to a dirty business doesn't really make it any more pleasant. Blood gets everywhere, and she's right over top of it. Again, she's in full armor, so most of it doesn't actually reach her outfit--but what does reach her face is immediately revolting all the more for how sudden and warm it is. Her blade-magic retracts, metals pooling back underneath in approximately the form from which she'd taken them, though it's outside her speciality and the result is inexact. It's enough to make it safe to stand, at least, and so she can flip down from her spear, doff her gauntlets, and--smear the blood into her face more than wipe it off. Quiet eugh.

    Her armor is a rich crimson, now, but that's no real matter.

    "No injuries."

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    At least this time Aoko remembered to use magecraft on herself before coming. She is spared from the blood and uncleanliness, but as last time, not the smell. Uuuurgh damnit.

    "I'm with Psyber, we need a blood tax. Is that an acceptable term? I bet your accountants would question it. But blood spatter tax would probably be even worse."

    "I'm fine! I think I'll avoid taunting the next one though."

Inga has posed:
Inga looks to Bigby, sighing. "I don't know. I would like to think this was the last...but I think I know better," she replies.

Harry Dresden (206) has posed:
    Harry Dresden sits on the floor, blood soaking into his duster once more, and he just sighs a bit, looking up at the holes in the ceiling and up... and out into the night's sky. A nearly new moon tonight, and Harry's eyes close in frustration.

    "I'll give you the number of my dry cleaner, Psyber, I can get a discount and she doesn't ask questions." He wipes his face with the cleanest part of his outfit and grumbles. "There's one more."

Bigby Wolf (585) has posed:
Bigby's ears prick up. "Only one? Great, that's the one where /everything/ can go wrong."

Inga has posed:
Inga happens to have a handkerchief, which she offers to Harry for his face. "One more," she sighs, shaking her head. "We'll have to do a bit of planning," she adds, looking up through the holes in the building to the sky. "Nearly a dark moon. By the gods...this is going to be difficult to explain, isn't it?" she asks, gesturing.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko hasn't forgotten about fixing things. The ceiling/floor is a bit outside of what she can really do, but she can at least feel into the foundation and check that it's not actually going to come crumbling down. She can /check/, and she can meld cracks closed, but if there's serious, long-term damage all she can do is point it out. Sucks for the owners.

    The shields she put over the doors will disappear on their own. No actual damage. The patch over the kitchen window will also disappear... leaving a broken window.