2392/Husks Pt. 2

Husks Pt. 2
Date of Scene:	06 June 2015
Location:	Paragon City <CoH>
Synopsis:	The exciting conclusion to this story arc! A confrontation with the Banished Pantheon!
Cast of Characters:	Maya, 300, 414, Alexis, 560, Reiji Arisu, 707, 769, 796

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Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Drums beating underground. A high-pitched, ringing that echoes off the cavern walls. The darkness down here seeming to pulse in and out like a living thing, only to suddenly crawl and move at the wrong angles, in ways it shouldn't, as unseen light sources move by in an invisible realm existing alongside this one. Heroes local and from more distant places have gotten involved in this mission. Blurr is guarding their exit for them outside the cave entrance, while Revan, Sarah, Alexis, Shirou, Reiji, Maya, and Cortex descend into Yet Another Cave underneath a major metropolis.

    How many caves and tunnels does this city have, anyway?

    The Scepter of Mot is a relic that can't really be gotten rid of, and is best kept out of the hands of bad guys. Especially not the group of villains who are best suited to and most willing to actually use it. It's night out, and these guys primarily move at night (at least outside of Dark Astoria). It's only a matter of time before the Banished Pantheon depart their temporarily hiding spot and make the relatively short trip to the Security Gate leading into 'their' territory. It's a gate they shouldn't have even been able to get past in the first place, so they must have some method other than 'charge right at it' to get through.

    Those sensitive have already determined there's something bad down here. Maybe not the Worst, but still Bad. From what they've seen and heard of this cult so far, just about anything they do can be expected to be meant to cost a lot of people their lives.

    The tunnel before them, leading from this entrance room and further into the cave system, has the erratic shadows of firelight flickering along the wall. Cortex holds up a hand, and says somewhat raggedly, "Everyone, can you wait for a moment?" Yes, he's having difficulty with the things he's hearing in his head down here. But he's not much of a 'sensory' type psychic to begin with, so he's not getting TOO much of the Bad down here. But he does have a hand to the side of his head. What's up with him?

    "I've just been informed that we have reinforcements joining us shortly. I know we have a time limit, but it seems at least one other hero and... Possibly someone else are coming to back us up."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
While it's not IMPOSSIBLE to separate Reiji from Xiaomu, or vice versa, the sage fox has an ongoing vested interest in being at the onmyoji warrior's side and watching his back, much as she trusts Reiji to watch *her* back, and when it comes down to trying to stop would-be apocalyptic cults from either laying hands on or actively messing with artifacts of great power, not even the latest RPG to come out is going to stop Xiaomu from backing Reiji up, even if that means putting off the salvation of a virtual world to deal with a threat to the real one.

Xiaomu would be really pissed off if someone ended the real world, after all; that would destroy all the good video game companies. (And, well, her and Reiji too, can't overlook THAT little detail.) The fact that this is a different world within the panoply thereof that is the Multiverse is beside the point - and Reiji's still there, so.

It's probably not hard for Cortex to detect the sage fox on her way down the tunnel, and before long the jingle of the rings on her staff's headpiece will catch the sharper ears among the group. "Sorry I'm late," she stage-whispers to the rest of you, reachnig up to muffle the sound of her staff's rings as she slows from her run to a brisk walk, then coming to a halt next to Reiji. Then she reaches into her carry-pack, rummaging around briefly ...

And pulls out extra ammo for Reiji's guns. Y'know - just in case he was running low.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis pauses when Cortex says she needs a moment. "We're probably going to need all the help we can get if they're as bad as you say they are." A metallic sounding thrum comes from the sword and shield strapped to her right arm as the gemstone 'eye' in the hilt rotates towards her. "Yeah, Balisong is getting a creepy vibe from this place, too." And if the -ghost- is creeped out by it...

Every so often her Charizard shifts his tail to use its flaming tip like a torch, but the shadows down here keep moving in ways they probably shouldn't move in regard to the light.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
"As far as I can tell we're just winging this whole operation." Sarah says comfortingly to the Foxgirl, "A little tardiness is to be expected." She falls silent for a few moments as she listens to the far away sounds of drums and sees how on edge her companions are getting. She doesn't have any magical senses, but even she's starting to get creeped out by this place. Taking a deep, anxious breath she shifts her shield to her left and and reaches up to the unusual necklace she's wearing. "I think I'm gonna need the Big Gun for this." She says nervously as a large squarish stone hammer suddenly appears in her hand with a metallic humm.

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
The sound of powerful jet engines roar in the sky over Talos island. It's visable too, if only because the air space over Paragon was in such a bit of flux required at least one moment of the aircraft popping off it's flares in a bright display of defensive technologies. If Longbow had provided an escort, that likely wouldn't have been needed.

A few minutes after that display of lights in the sky to the east, the rustle of fabric can be heard, and black dots with canopies of olive drab (as if there was any difference in this light), appear, getting larger and larger, before the shapes resolve into people, a group of nine black-clad soldiers, with no identifying markings, a heavy amount of combat gear, and gas masks... already worn on the drop. They land in a tight grouping (no broken ankles to slow them down), detach chutes, and quickly gather them up to stow into the Cavern.

One person delegates his job to another one, before stepping forward to the group at the cavern. "Someone in charge here?" He says, voice slightly tiny through the vocalizer mask. "Stadler. This is SCAI Team Wildfire." He says, motioning to the small group of 8 forming up around him. "Sorry we're late. The airspace running into this place is a goddamn zoo."

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Xiaomu's arrival is a welcome change from the... Less-than-pleasant nature of this particular set of caves. What is it with Paragon and having ancient evil stirring around in its tunnels? Maybe it's just a convenient place for such things to hide. Regardless, it is, as the kids say on the street, ridiculously spooky. At the very least, it's uncomfortable, especially to an exorcist attuned to the goings on in the spirit world.

It's sort of important to have some sort of anchor in these kinds of situations. Xiaomu provides an excellent one.

    Reiji nods, relief clear in his expression at the Sage Fox's entrance. "Xiaomu," he says, sliding the offered ammunition into his spare cache. "Glad you could make it. We've got a bit of an infestation on our hands. You can probably tell." It's hard not to tell, admittedly. The air down here is thick with the stench of undeath and corrupted spirits.

    He glances to Cortex, then. "Don't sweat it. More people means we'll just make up for lost time. Less chance for failure, besides." Stadler's arrival seems to punctuate that fact. "Hey. Good to have some more firepower. We'll probably need it, if my hunch is at all accurate."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
The 'zoo' comment prompts a quiet look from Xiaomu in Stadler's general direction, and a collective flick of five 'hairtails' plus two vulpine ears. "I thought I already said thank you for the ride ..."

Revan (414) has posed:
     Lowri Revan-Shan was already with the group making their way through the dank, winding caves below. She had seen caverns on more than a few different planets before -- some even filled with the skeletal remains of explorers and Sith academy students -- but this was the first time the dead in them were not simply laying there quietly. Not very many things tended to shake the Jedi, but she had to admit this was a bit creepy, not the least of which was the overwhelming tainted energies bleeding off of the very walls.

     Then again, there was also the fact that this group was able to rip a person's very soul from their body and use it in their dark rituals. A fate much worse than even death.

     She stopped as Cortex called for a pause, listening in on his radio. "Glad to hear it," the Jedi commented. "I'm reasonably sure things down here are about to get nasty."

     Tossing a slight grin at their newer arrivals, Revan waved off the perceived tardiness. "Welcome to the party," she quipped softly. The cultists might already know they were there, but better to err on the side of caution.

     To Stadler's question, the pale-haired Jedi nodded towards Cortex. "Since this is his home turf, I'd say this is his show. He knows the enemy and terrain better than we do."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Do we have any way to safely scout the cave while we wait?" Shirou ponders aloud. he doesn't want to just be here doing NOTHING.

    Thankfully (or maybe not so) he's startled out of his thoughts by the roar of a jet engine and PARATROOPERS dropping in. It's his firs time being so close to proper SOLDIERS so he goes a bit wide-eyed. "In charge?" He ends up looking over the whole group, expression turning a bit fretful.

    Yeah, who's in charge of this gig, anyways?

    "... It's been seat of our pants so far."

    He, of course, does not look at all like ANY kind of themed hero or soldier or even a proper warrior. Casual clothes, but wielding two yin-yang-styled short swords, how weird.

Maya has posed:
Maya was not in her blue witch costime for much longer, there was a falsh of light her outfit changes from the blut witch to a mix of heavy leather and metal. Like something out of a post nuclear wasteland move, really. Well to those from earth. Maya now adjusts a rifle and move in with the group. She does wait as she's tasked to hold up. She checks her spell cards and the big honking rifle she has and she looks over to Xiaomu.

"It's worth waiting for your backup Xiaomu given what we're facing."

She also takes note of Sarah for a moment and she looks to Richard for a moment shrugging.

"Cortex would likely be the cloest thing we have to someone incharge, and that's the story of my life Shirou."

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    As noted, the psychic hero isn't really the 'sensory' type. The fact he's picking up anything is evidence that there's serious mojo down here. He knew they were getting company because he has a radio ear piece in his costume and got the call from outside. Good thing they aren't too far underground yet or the transmission might have been blocked! So he only knows Xiaomu's presence is there when her ringing staff and voice act as announcements. Looking a bit pale, the black-and-purple garbed hero tries to give a smile and a thumbsup to the new arrival. "We're glad you came. All assistance is appreciated." After all, he's so very, very out of his league here.

    Thankfully they have some kind of priestess who no doubt has powers well-suited to this kind of mission, a dragon-tamer and sword-wielder and dog-trainer and who-knows-what else, a flying heroine with some kind of powerful hammer in addition to her shield, mysterious (but definitely friendly!) soldiers, an anti-evil spirit combat exorcist, and a laser sword-wielding heroine with powers both similar to and beyond Cortex's own. With a sword-wielding young hero, and a potent mage with versatile spells as well, they have quite the arsenal for taking on one of the scariest villain groups that Cortex has ever heard of.

    And then, just like that, he is identified as the one 'in charge'. Him. He's the weakest one here, probably the least experienced too... Even Shirou probably has faced more bad guys. And yet he has just been nominated as the 'team leader'. He looks at Revan, trying to hide how aghast he is at the idea, and just focus on the task at hand. There's no time to feel inferior. People's lives are in danger. It's trying to fix THAT, and not just being strong or being skilled or being a veteran that makes one a hero.

    So he looks back to Richard and says, "I'm Cortex. I'll do everything I can to make sure this mission is a successful one--No. We WILL be successful. A lot of lives depend on it. We're glad to have you, Stadler!" Then he gives the man a thumbsup and does his best to smile confidently. Cortex has to be a hero. He has to push down the fear and do his job. To do otherwise would be to spit in the face of these others around him who have fought just as hard or harder, and didn't just give up and go home because it got dangerous.

    Lowering his hand, Cortex points deeper into the caverns as he lowers his voice. The light of Charizard helps somewhat but the inside of this place is all wrong. Shadows are just one of the problems. "There's a cult known as the Banished Pantheon. From what I've heard, they're servants of a bunch of 'gods' who were exiled a long time ago for trying to kill all the other gods. They almost succeeded too, I guess. They have mortal servants, though we haven't run into any yet on this mission. They also have undead, and some kind of weird floating masks with various powers. They have something they can't be allowed to keep. It's our job to go get it, take out their leader, and get the Scepter somewhere safe."

    "If they're aware of our presence, hiding out in the entrance won't do us any good, and we need to face them sooner rather than later. I know it's creep down here, but let's move forward so we can go home that much sooner!" Then he moves to start leading the way, running towards the tunnel leading out of the cave and on a winding course into even more tunnels.

    Somewhere beyond the entrance, there's a mass of withered bodies in partial armor that looks like it's from World War I standing around in the middle of the tunnel. A single, barechested living man stands among them, a torch raised above his head.

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
Richard Stadler looks to Xiaomu. "I meant more the fact that we had to detour from the main route due to aireal threats we couldn't identify. I've got nothing aganist flying foxes. Know a few of them, myself, and the Air Force is the one that's going to have to clean the fur off the metal." He notes, before nodding to Reiji. "I prefer precision to overkill, but I also prefer to be capable of both. We're just here to make sure those creatures reports say you're shooting aren't the type that spread via traditional or nontraditional vectors."

When Cortex introduces himself, the others pointing him him as the one in charge on this operation, Stadler looks him up, and down briefly. The chipper attitude and the thumbs up is met with a bit of a hard look, and one at the... costume he was in. "Well, you're not as much of a showboat as the other superheros I've known. I'm sure you'll do fine, and you know the enemy here. We'll focus on the undead targets."

Stadler snaps his fingers. "Warrant Officer, keep 2 men at the door way here. The rest with you and I moving down here." He notes. The Warrant Officer nods, and directs two of his men at the door, taking up defensive positions to keep their rear covered, as the other soldiers move into the cavern, combat lights on the rails of M4s switched on as they prowl forward, seperating to cover each other.

Stadler moves in a little slower, along with Maya, someone he knows been doing this job for a while. "You've been on site. How is he going to hold up? Seems a bit young."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Creepy" is something of an understatement to Xiaomu; the stink of undead things - corporeal and otherwise, those that SHOULD be at rest but are denied it - sets her teeth on edge, and it's probably a testament to her devotion to Reiji that she actually came straight down into the tunnels without hesitating.

Once she's delivered Reiji's extra ammo, she zips her carrypack closed again and secures it across her back once more, taking in who else is here. A couple of them are familiar, a number of them aren't, but all of them look reasonably capable of kicking ass, be it already-dead or still-living.

Good enough for Xiaomu. She double-checks the loads in her own handguns while Cortex is briefing the new arrivals, then grabs her staff and resumes moving, easily keeping pace with the others - particularly focusing on staying alongside Reiji.

The actual *sight* of those undead ... well, 'brings her up short' suggests that it puts her off-stride. She does come to a halt, but only to plant her staff in front of her, the rings on its headpiece jingling - or 'chiming,' rather - more clearly than before, as she begins chanting a sutra under her breath, trying to put those who should be dead to rest ...

If it doesn't work as cleanly as she's hoping, it's probably going to cue a lot of undead warriors charging the group - and particularly charging Xiaomu, whether their still-breathing 'commander' has to order them to do so or not. If it DOES work, though, then it should clear a lot of opposition in a hurry.

Alexis has posed:
Inexperienced, maybe, but this IS Cortex's world. He's the most familiar with it, and with what they're coming up against.

And of course the tunnel leads to more tunnels. This gets Alexis to groan softly in a bit of exasperation, even if this cave isn't littered with goddamn Zubats or Gravellers that try to Self-Destruct as soon as you let loose a pokemon to chase them away.

"Ugh, we don't have -time- to worry about finding our way through a maze." Alexis grabs for a different pokeball and cracks it open, releasing a dirt colored rodent of some kind sporting spines down his back almost as big as the claws on his forepaws. "Okay Spindrift, we gotta find the 'boss' of these hoodlums somewhere in these caves, and we ain't got a lotta time. Dig your way through the walls, but don't take out any structural supports. Just.. make doors, if you will."

"Saaand SLASH!" The pokemon replies, saluting with one clawed paw. The rolls up into a big ball of spikes and flings himself into the rocks like a high speed grinder. Though avoiding any formations that look like they're actually holding up the cavern. Alexis just wants to find the quickest way to the freak with the scepter, after all.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    "Sounds like a plan, commander Stadler," Reiji gives him an acknowledging nod. "If we encounter anything incorporeal, leave them to Xiaomu and I. For everything else," the exorcist gives a somewhat darker smile, "Bullets take down people as well as they do zombies. Rules of engagement for this city mean we can't actually kill them, though."

"Don't worry," he shrugs, "I've found that the locals too durable to go down to a couple bullets."

    "Something like that," Reiji agrees with Cortex's summary of this particular group of evil sorcerers. He's done a bit more digging besides, though. He knows the identity of at least one of their gods, which makes it possible to hypothesize some of the others. But not all of them.

    Regardless, the group of undead appears in the not-too-far-distance. Reiji makes a soft, unhappy sound at Xiaomu's displeasure and unholsters his handcannon from its holster. He doesn't target the zombies though. His sights are trained for the lone man with the torch in their center.

A shot from Gold to the sternum should knock him off his ass for a while.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah starts moving quickly. Beside and just a little behind Cortex, since he's leading the way. Shield at the ready for unexpected company, and the Hammer looking like it might fly from her hand of it's own accord to smash something. "I get the feeling there's more than zombies and floating masks down here. That one group we dealt with didn't seem too difficult."

A *lot* of shambling corpses can be a problem however. She pushes Cortex behind her for a moment, holds her shield out towards the mass of undead, and then strikes it hard with the Hammer, sending a out a loud shockwave. The lesser undead probably just collapse from this, but even the big ones are likely to be staggered. The Cave itself may not fair so well either, the weaker points giving way and dumping debris on friend and foe alike.

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
When they finally come through to the end of the cavern, and the bodies are found, there's a yell from the soldier ahead of them. "Targets, front, revenents!" The woman in front yells. She raises her rifle, as Stadler moves to the side of her, nodding to Reiji. "Good thing they're already dead."

The weapon fire isn't spray and pay; the pointwoman in front firsts a burst at the head first. If it goes down, she moves to the next. If not, burst to the heart. And if that doesn't work...

Lots, and lots, of gunfire.

It's methodical, though, forces moving into a curve around the targets, covering as much of the targets as they can. The large one with the torch in the middle has the 'thunk; of a grenade popping out from Stadler's underbarrel launcher. Let's see how it handled Acid.

Revan (414) has posed:
     In contrast to the fledgeling hero's horror, Revan knew /exactly/ what she was doing. It might not have been one of the most gentle of lessons, not unlike throwing someone into the deep end of a pond to teach the person how to swim. Unfortunately, there really wasn't an adequate way to gently ease someone for that kind of role, and that was a lesson she had learned first-hand on Taris with Sith breathing down their proverbial necks. /Stay calm/, her slight smile of reassurance seemed to say. /Above all, a leader had to remain in control of himself or herself./ That was one of the better parts of the Jedi Code; keeping a clear head, holding off panic to be able to act with precision and remember one's training.

     And besides, someone didn't have to be the strongest one in the group of lead; that's what she and the others were for. It would be up to him to co-ordinate those efforts...but if he needed some nudging in the right direction, she could do that, too. It's a form of special training, just as much as the physical condition they needed to strengthen and maintain.

     Lowri nodded her approval. So far, so good. It would take a while for Cortex to settle into the role, but it was a good start.

     She did have one thing to add, though. "They have the weaknesses and resistances against what you'd expect; fire, energy, and slashing attacks work better than negative and bullets. At least the reanimated corpses...the priests are human. Lastly, watch out for the floating masks, they seem to shrug off damage other than psionics."

     The moment she could sense the undead before them, the Guardian was already moving into position ahead of both him and the squishier members of their team. Alexis's method wasn't a bad idea -- she wasn't foolishly knocking down walls willy-nilly to bring the whole caves down on their heads -- but they still needed to keep the undead off their backs.

     Lifting her right arm parallel to the ground and extending it out, Revan released a Force Wave at the husks already firing off antique weapons in their direction. It would probably not do much to stun then -- if anything -- but it would certainly do some damage and knock them off their feet.

Maya has posed:
Maya gets that their aly is more the blaster sort than sensing sort when it comes to things. Given he has picked up things that does get Maya's attention and she's not feleing very easy about this either. She looks at some of the others whom have arrived and nods a bit.

"Given the backup this is serious. Richard has a lot of anti zombie experiance. Both magical and science based ones. Also your pretty experianced your self Cortex so don't sell yourself short I have faith in you."

Maya seems to mean it and goes quite as she listens to the briefing about the cult that's waiting for them downbelow. She also looks at Richard for a moment and says "He knows what he's doing, he's also been dealing with them longer than we have."

She now has several cards out and she's moving to start channeling magic. Blue fire leeches out of he rbody into a pair odf cards she's holding in her hands the cards glow and soon everyone would be warded against the undead it should help protect the group a bit, right? She can bring her spell power against hte enemy soon enough.

It's a good thing too as the enemy has found them already.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Instead of going immediately hostile on the lone torch guy, Shirou brings his weapons up to see what they're going to do while fixing him with a firm stare, slightly panicked. Who'd be down here that might, maybe, be not hostile, amidst a pile of the dead?

    He's a bit naive, really.

    Which is why when others just start opening fire he winces. "They didn't even have a chance to give up..." Although they don't have much time to wait around, do they?

    He ends up falling back to Maya and Stadler, for he's worked with Maya plenty of times before. "Into the belly of the beast. I'll handle the close-up if it helps you two cut loose."

    For emphasis the boy expertly twirls his weapons around, confident the others can handle one lone dude with a torch.

    He may be wrong.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    These undead are... Powered by a force well beyond what a single priestess, no matter how skilled, can wield. These bodies haven't just been reanimated by magic, they're BEING reanimated by divine magic channeled directly from dark gods. Their mortal cultists act merely as conduits for that energy long enough to establish the connection. So while Xiaomu's banishment might have worked quite well against various other forms of undead... There's already a river of power from several gods linking each corpse to Nowhere Good At All, and their response to the intrusion of another divine power when they already have cause to hate other gods is basically, 'STOP.'.

    The holy energy might at least do physical damage to them, but the Chambers and Husks turn to face the source of the attack, a few and begin making their way slowly in an uncoordinated almost-jog in Xiamou's direction. The rest draw muskets and Lee-Enfield rifles and let loose single shots into the sudden crown of heroes who come rushing into the tunnel.

    Cortex, in the lead, right up until Sarah pushes him back, can do little against the undead. They're resistant to psychic influence. But as she uses the shockwave of her shield to hurl the zombies back, and defeat some of the closer ones, the psychic hero decides to target the one person in the group he has a decisive advantage against.

    the Death Shaman who is drawing his hands upwards and causing the cavern floor to split with darkness as a corpse is called up from the Underworld itself gets a nice psychic blast to the brain to keep him from calling up anymore reinforcements. He is left trapped in his own head temporarily. Which keeps him nice and immobile for Reiji's trained shooting skill to send him hurtling backwards through the air. When an acid grenades goes off all over him, he flops for a moment, and convulses, and then doesn't get back up. He also doesn't summon any more dead things out of the Underworld. He starts to fade out of existence after awhile, being sent somewhere equipped to handle him.

    The other zombies don't seem to take extra damage or be stopped by headshots or heartshots or similar, but enough damage takes them out no matter WHERE they're shot. Any who get close enough bring out tomahawks, wooden clubs, or simply their fists, to attempt melee combat.

    And that's where Shirou is waiting to chop them down and knock them away, returning the dead to their graves. Keeping his allies safe who might not fare so well with being clubbed, chopped, or punched. Also zombie skin is REALLY GROSS so no one really wants to be touched by it. A glyph on each zombie glows with a weird light, an outline of the symbol leaving the flesh and out into the air continuously, over and over. While Shirou is taking them out, he may get a good look at them. What do they mean, if anything? Maybe it's as simple as a mark designating each of these dead as belonging to the Pantheon forever.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    With Shirou handling melee, Revan is hurling away those taking pot shots at them. The wall-to-wall zombies are being kept locked down, taking damage from guns, shockwaves, blades, telekinetic throws, and Xiaomu's power making them take damage continuously for as long as she channels it.

    With the addition of Maya's magical protection, even the attacks that DO get through are more likely to miss and do less damage than normal if they DO hit. Defense Buff + Damage Resistance! Things are going quite well so far!

    The Sandslash is able to try to start tunneling through the walls, but while they're sturdy, this is something the pokemon is good at. As everyone else battles, this clever creature tries to find a shortcut.

    Unfortunately, it's likely to trigger aggro from additional groups of zombies and shamans and even those weird floating tiki mask things while looking for the leader of this operation. Meaning Spindrift may wind up pulling the entire area before getting to the final cavern, a large open area with lots of zombies in small to medium groups, with more shamans, and something that looks like a giant flaming totem pole made of rage and hellfire looming over all of them, radiating malice that makes the sound of terrified sobs echo off the cavern walls as the Dead Beneath The Earth mourn their own passing.

    Meanwhile, back with the group, as battle wraps up, Cortex tries to fill the role that Revan trusted him with, and says, "These cultists are insane enough to not only mess with the undead, but to help beings they know want to kill every living thing. Our teleport network will put them somewhere they can't hurt anyone if defeated, so don't worry about attacking them. They won't hesitate to attack you." Cortex is not a sensory type, as mentioned. But his head is throbbing. He can hear voices he doesn't want to hear. He seems a bit pale, but rather than standing around talking, he charges ahead and says, "Come on! Let's see what Alexis's friend found for us!"

Alexis has posed:
Yeah, circumnavigating the maze structure of the cave is sure to draw plenty of attention to them even if they avoid the initial fight. You don't flip a figurative middle finger to the enemy's evil lair layout and not draw some heat for it. Or cold. Or whatever it is undead bring the battle. But that was actually part of the plan, to a degree.

"You guys know the drill." Alexis turns to stand with her Charizard and cover Spindrift's back while he's digging the passage through. She finally grabs the hilt of the sword half of her Aegislash and pulls it from the shield, the ghostmon wrapping it's banners around her arm for additional support, while allowing her to continue using its shield as such on the other arm. But right now it's the ghost-sword that's important, as she uses it to slash at the undead that starting getting close.

The Shamans and Tiki Heads that try to stay back and fling spells don't escape the heat though. Not when Redline "CHARRRRR!"s loudly and spits out Flame Bursts at them, fireballs that explode like grenade splash damage when they hit.

Alexis still has to use the Shield half to try and push back some of the zombies though, they may be slow and stupid but they definately have numbers on their side. "Yeah, maybe I should of thought this clever idea through a slight bit more thoroughly."
"Char? (Gee, y'think?)" Redline manages to snark back between fire shots.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah motions to Revan to help her bring up the front before eagerly dashing through the Sandslasher cave. Fortunately she has enough sense to pause when their new tunnel intersects the natural ones. It's pretty easy to follow the mass of chaos that the Pokemon has created, if something decides the group is a bigger threat, it gets a Mjolnir to the face. Possibly even taking out a few stragglers on the way back when she called the Hammer back to her hand.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Well ... that, honestly, was NOT what Xiaomu expected to run into when she tried banishing undead.

Fortunately, everyone seems to be ready to take the zombies on physically, and it's quite satisfying to see the Death Shaman taken out of play so quickly by Reiji and Cortex. On the other hand, the rest of the undead completely neglect to go down when their summoner/commander is removed ...

So as soon as Xiaomu gets her head reoriented after encountering the spiritual equivalent of a brick wall reinforced with steel, adamantite, and neutronium, she switches over to shooting zombies as well, the thunder of Silver and Platinum, *her* pair of handguns, adding to the sounds of gunfire in the caverns. It's unlikely that any zombies are going to get into Xiaomu's melee range, but she's ready in case they do.

The group runs out of zombies soon enough, and Xiaomu spares a moment to reload, looking around to see how everyone else is doing. "... So, anyone else getting a bad feeling from something?" she inquires. "Because I don't know if it was just the nature of the undead and the power that made 'em get back up and move, but it feels like we need to remove all of the cultists and get a multi-denominational team of clerics down here to purify every inch of these caverns ..."

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
The soldiers continue to fire at the targets in front of them; when the shot to the standard weakspots (head, heart, and spine) do little to stop them, the team starts to take a step back, moving from a formation designed to deal damage over a wide area, and to one that was better for a defensive posture, sending a more concentrated grouping of fire into a smaller concentration. They'll start aiming for legs and arms, too, looking to disable a target rather than kill it. At this point, it was more about holding them back then killing them, letting the magical teammembers take care of them through area of attack magic.

There's a brief pause as the man next to Stadler reloads. "Ammo's going to become tight, sir." He says, slapping in a fresh clip and releasing the charging handle... before Stadler detaches his LBE and hands over his clip. "Then start consolidating?" He says, as one of the zombie's get's close. Close enough for Stadler to reach to his side, jam a trench spike into it's skull, and boldly pulling it to the ground, before grabbing it's SMLE. Another one that gets close gets a rifle butt to the throat, before Stadler has enough time to reach down to the first zombie and pull off the combat gear he has, working the bolt open on the Enfield, before slamming a five round stripper clip in, locking the bolt back in place, and then sending a .303 British round into the chest of the next target.

He's quickly working the bolt when the zombies start to move down furthur in the cavern. "At least she's using those Pokemon responsibly. Not getting lost and ending up back in goddamn Atlas Park." He mutters, before raising his voice. "Sharpshooters, grab a battle rifle off the dead! Ammo goes to auto-rifleman! 30 seconds and then we're moving forward!" He says, before moving onto one of the corpses. This old equipment was built to last, and another two of the soldiers with them are sporting bolt action rifles by the time they're heading back down to the main cavern.

As they move forward, Stadler shakes his head to Xiaomu. "If it's a magical source, a spiritual source, I'll leave that up to you. My people direct fire at targets, and I haven't had an M4 Inverse in a few months to spare. If I see anything glowing, I'll make sure to shoot at it." He notes, pulling his rifle up, picking off a straggler, and then working the bolt again to put in a fresh round. "What rounds are you taking?" He asks.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    With the shaman taken care of, and considering the raw volume of fire that saturates the area, it doesn't surprise Reiji that the group goes down relatively quickly. There isn't anything quite as efficient at this sort of thing than Superior Firepower, after all. Especially when that firepower is bolstered by magic and other things.

    That said, Reiji does take a moment to squint at the odd sigils on the Chambers' torsos, and makes a note to copy them down for research later. Could be useful if they can find a way to dispel them enmasse.

    "I've been feeling something off since we set foot in these caves," Reiji replies with a slight shrug. "Whatever is animating these things, it's powerful, angry and unquestionably hostile to life. We'll deal with the purification after we've dispersed their priests and spirits, though."

"Xiaomu, let me know if the spiritual pressure gets too intense, alright? It's pretty terrible down here."

    Reiji follows the Sandslash through the tunnel as the last of the zombies fall. He replaces his handgun with a pair of swords. One crackles with electricity, the other blazes with purifying flame. As might be expected, neither are really quite beloved by undead.

    "There's no doubt that it's a magical source," Reiji says to Stadler as he drives Karin into a corpse that wanders too close. Its dessicated flesh catches fire like dry papyrus, allowing the exorcist to move on to another target. "It's thick in the air. In the earth. This place is thick with corrupt energy. It's a miracle there aren't any demons crawling out of the walls yet."

Maya has posed:
Maya is doing her best to support the party with her magic. She could unlad a godo dela of spells at this point but she's holding off. It's a good thing too or they might evne have more of them coming in. Ot it's too late for this point. She seems concerned for Cortex and is going to talk to him after this operation is over. The young man has proven himself several times over already to her. She presses aheade opening fire with her rifle, not with rifle round but with missiles? Yes missiles, the rifle's body splits near hte barrel revrealing a small group of micro missiles waiting to launch into the throng of cultists and undead coming for them.

"I have to agree there Reiji but we're lucky not even the demons I think like these guys! They don't wnat thier playthings all dead!"

Revan (414) has posed:
     Right, so trying to take a shortcut might not have necessarily worked as smoothly as it could have. But they had a relatively clear path to the ringleader, and fighting the collected cultists and minions and spirits all at once might be easier if they could affect a wider area. These narrow caves only slowed them down even more.

     But Cortex did have a point; if the numbers became too unmanageable, they would need to redirect some, or find some way of immobilising them. Fortunately, she had a number of tricks up her sleeve for just such an occasion, ranging from the mundane to the powers of the Force...and there was her love of crazy ideas. Mismatched eyes scanned the ground; there didn't seem to be anything which would block their exit if, say, someone placed incendiary mines.

     But the first order of business before they went much further was to cast a buff of her own. Revan concentrated, and everyone in the group would feel their resolve, accuracy, and speed boost significantly, layered over Maya's previous buffs, in the form of Force Valour. She had been sticking close to Cortex to make sure he wasn't getting in too over his head in places, but another layer of defence never hurt.

     The Jedi shook her head at Xiaomu's query as she followed. "My own senses aren't as specific, but it /does/ feel like the whole cave needs to be purged. In my galaxy, this would have been one of the most Dark Side-tainted places I've ever run across."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Teleport field or no teleport field, Shirou tries to avoid anything too lethal - at least when his opponents aren't zombies. All too often he attacks with the flats of his blades and strikes for areas he knows don't have major arteries in easy reach. Several copies of Kanshou and Bakuya break through the assault and he takes a few blows to the gut, driving him back, but with the others handling ranged he manages to easily leap back to Maya and Stadler where he takes a moment to lean against a wall.

    This gives him a good moment to see the Totem Pole from the Black Lagoon, wreathed in hellfire... and THAT gets him balking. "You've gotta be kidding! That's just crazy..."

    Thankfully the others are mopping it up...

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Zombies fire and are fired upon. Only the back ranks as first as they struggle to go after the small pokemon who may well be alone in a large cavern with nothing but enemies on all sides. But as the more significant threat of dragon fire, guns mundane and magical, swords, god-hammers, and strength, courage, determination, all assail the wall of not only undead that more and more focus on the heroes, but also floating masks -- evasive to most attacks and able to unleash blasts of pure pain energy, flesh-devouring darkness, and bombs of will-crippling sorrow -- and mortal men who have given themselves over to their own annihilation. Blizzards spawn from nothing, parts of the tunnels becoming miniature worlds of snow, wind, and sound. Hurricanes form, reducing visibility and hurling back those who try to enter the powerful, unnatural weather. Balls of darkness come flying out to try to eat life and body alike, and others steal life energy to heal themselves or summon more Husks to replace those lost.

    And the whole time, fear like a jagged knife carves its way into Cortex as he hears things he shouldn't, doesn't want to, doesn't need to. Things that are shaking his resolve, even as he tries to put shaman to sleep, or hurl masks through the air with blasts of psychic force.

    Something has to give.

    Finally, Cortex strains himself to the utmost, pink mental force rising up out of his skin. Then he uses his Telekinesis, his newest power, on the Husk that was closest to chopping him in the face. The undead flies backwards, helplessly flipping end over end through the air. It comes close to another zombie. And a few more. Shamans. Spirits. More and more are drawn into the invisible force that is holding them all helpless, repelling them from Cortex, leaving them in the air with no method of attack or defense.

    His head is splitting with the effort, and it's only been ten seconds at most. Once the main target of his Telekinesis beyond the others, and all the other enemies lie between the two points of 'Target' and 'Cortex', the psychic super hero calls out, "EVERYONE CONCENTRATE ATTACKS DIRECTLY AHEAD!"

    He should already be out of stamina from such a huge load of enemies, but somehow he finds the Inspiration to keep rebounding from the brink of exhaustion, and maintaining the effect until the others can take down every last one of the foes before them.

Alexis has posed:
Alexis and her Pokemon take their share of cuts and bruises for the brash tactic to shorten the trip. But this is why Teamwork is awesome, as the others are quickly there to give them support before the little group is overwhelmed. The ice spells don't really phase the Charizard, but all the grit and rubble being kicked up by the winds is annoying, pummeling him where the ice doesn't. Even as Alexis is using the shield half off her Aegislash to, well, shield herself and the smaller Sandslash, a coating of frost forming over the steely ghost's surface. The down side is that while using it's Shield Forme to protect the two of them, she can't attack with it. "Redline, now would be a good time to live up to your name."

A snort from the flame dragon as he steps forward, then spreads his wings and flexes his arms as he throws back his head and roars "CHARRRRRR!" The flame on the end of his tail practically erupts into a bigger, bolder blaze as his entire form starts to glow like the heat ripples in the air. Flames crackle around his maw briefly, until the overcharge of fire spews forth in a massive Overheat attack at the position Cortex is indicating.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
And that's their cue.

     Reiji wastes no time. Cortex can't hold that field forever, and Reiji has no intention of letting him. "Xiaomu! Stadler! Let's move!" The exorcist roars. Chirai decapitates a Chamber, allowing Reiji to use its convulsing body to leap directly into the radial 'center' of the arc that Cortex has established. He lets his swords fall back into their sheathes, and replaces them with his two guns, each crossed over his chest.

    The first: Gold, a pistol imbued with the penetrating, imploding energies of Metal. The second: Hollywood, a shotgun enchanted with the expansive, living power of Wood. He takes in a breath, eyes scanning the entirity of the shambling horde as he draws in his focus.

Light blazes underfoot, filling the cavern with a triumphant, sapphire glow. Reiji's will pours down into the circle forming beneath him, causing the light to gather into cocentric squares- three in all, each successively smaller than the next. They link corner-to-side, expanding to capture the zombies, shamans and all other manner of evil spirits arrayed before him.

"On my mark," Reiji says, his arms and weapons unfolding, "Juu no Kata, ready!"

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
The Z-team Stadler brought stand their ground aganist the undead in front of them. This time going aganist training and pressing closer to the targets, trading range for getting close to the target for whatever Arisu had plan. It was dangerous, and those blasts of energy ate at the strong soldiers there, men and women attempting to fight back the feelings of pain and sworrow that bombard them. Bodies almost acting on automatic as the injuries flow to them.

When Reiji gives the call that the 'spell' was ready, the soldiers garthe their wounded, and move into the Mystic Square that he's set up. The gunfire stops for a moment, men and women pulling out and loading in freash clips, grenades, an Auto-Rifleman simply... flicking over to the Full Auto...

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu's got her handguns ready even before Reiji gives the word, and she charges in beside her partner and Stadler, less running and more leaping to take up her position, almost back-to-back with Reiji. She knows his patterns, he knows hers; the only 'wild cards' here are Stadler and his soldiers, and she's confident no bullets will seek her out from that quarter.

And most importantly, Silver and Platinum are fully loaded, so she doesn't have to worry about running out of bullets in mid-technique. Wouldn't THAT be embarassing.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    Azure light blazes briefly in the very centers of Reiji's eyes. "Juu no Kata," he roars, "GO!" On command, the spell underfoot twists and transforms, its magic activating in a brilliant burst of spiritual pressure. The cocentric squares become an exotic array of magical symbols. Space itself distorts- the rounds racing from the square's center seem to double, then triple in velocity. Those that break free from Cortex's psionic grip would find that the opposite is true for them. The very same force that bolsters the gunners restricts their ingress, arresting their movements with a cushion of condensed, 'thickened' space.

    Gold and Hollywood roar as one. The exorcist's moves as if gunplay itself had become a martial art. Heavy metal slugs and expansive clouds of shrapnel mixed with splinters cut from sanctified trees mix into a deadly, hail. Reiji seems to fire without aiming- but that's not quite the case. This technique is one he's practiced countless times; his body does not need his eyes to aim his guns. His arms move and the weapons are already exactly where they need to be.

This technique is as much an extension of himself as his swords and guns are.

It is much the same for his partner.

    As the gunfire starts up, Xiaomu moves like she's in a John Woo film, or maybe one of Kurt Wimmer's movies - a combination of martial artistry, dance, and gunslinging that fluidly covers her allies' blind spots both offensively and defensively, helping them fill the air with bullets and defying any of the bad guys anything remotely like a clear shot at the sage fox, while also confusing their aim if they happen to go after Reiji or the soldiers when Xiaomu is in the way. Her magic flows smoothly to increase the power in the magic square, just as her fingers rhythmically squeeze her handguns' triggers at JUST the right moments to ensure that her bullets will have a target waiting when they get there.

    But even then, there are a lot of zombies to cut down. Two gunners would never be enough. Xiaomu said they might need Juubai Juu no Kata- This technique, repeated ten times over. Reiji had a different solution: Volume of fire, something that Stadler's squadron provides in great abundance. For those soldiers, the exorcists' gunfire is an ignition switch.

    When the time came, the remaining men move into tight ranks, one standing, the other kneeling, to the targets in front of them. There was a reason well-trained teams like Stadler's used hand signals. When the gunfire started things got very... very... /very/ loud.

    Each shot from one of the bolt actions, burst from rifles, controlled auto-fire from the SAW, and the launch of grenads from M302s. The training and focus of these people can be seen normally. With Reiji assisting them, it's almost horrifying. Everyone seems to be concentrating on a supporting target, wasting little firepower on over kill, slamming enough rounds where they needed to be to destroy a target before moving slightly to the left, or right, and starting on it again. The background of burning white phosphrous from the incendary grenades just illuminated the targets as they were engaged one, by one, by one.

    As the smoke clears, Reiji lets his hands fall to his sides, smoke rising from the barrels of his guns- and of all those involved in the Multiple Assault. With a hiss of exhaled breath, the spell is released- and the bodies are allowed to fall.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    For Shirou's part, he has only one course to take for ranged combat and focus fire. Kanshou and Bakuya are banished in a hurry and replaced with a black (western styled, much to his distaste...) bow that he raises with expert ease. In his other hand... the fallen holy sword, Clarent appears. Even though it's a mere illusion made real, a false Noble Phantasm still packs a punch indeed. The boy's deep in concentration while drawing the weapon back along the bow. The sword streamlines smoothly, reshaping into a more aerodynamic and balanced form while retaining the frightening, shimmering blade.

    The entire projection glows with some extra prana - only a little, as Shirou has not much to spare for this purpose.

    Then, as he takes aim... he finally lets the projectile fly!

    It scorches a path through the cave, wreathed in a bright white envelope of warped prana and divine fantasy!

    On impact, it won't just shatter, but DETONATE - like a whole bunch of grenades going off into a roiling, multi-colored firestorm that's gone as quickly as it came.

    He's got nowhere near the output of his future self, and even if he was... going full bore down here would be pretty stupid!

Maya has posed:
Maya abilities seem to work well enough with Revan's own. Maya's very much coming to enjoy working with the Jedi at this point.

"I can not argue with this! This is as tainted as Draxx's lair or Gemma's blade."

She notes as they press the attack and she's glad to have Shirou by her side along with Richard as well.

The Zombies are just coming onwards now. She sees Cortex press things with his own powers and that makes an opening for her. She hears the call to open fire and that's what she's going to do. She pulls a fate card and starts casting a spell, no two.

"Sometimes the only way to burn out the rot is with fire... Ouroboros lord of fire I call upon you for your aid...turn these abominations to ash!"

Maya magical energy spikes noticeably now there's blue flames flying all about her and her hair is dancing in this magical wind, she seems to start to fade out as something is happening. Those who could sense spirits and the like? Would know Maya's calling something, likely from her home world to help. Soon four massive stone pillars seem to form along with a massive cauldron full of magma then a horrible screaming from it as three things rises from the cauldron. They look akin to a snake and a worm had some unholy love child and their mars opens spewing fire into the enemy and not letting up.

This would go on for a time and then it would fade oddly it would not harm any of the ones who are working with Maya, and soon Maya would fade back into view looking a bit strained from holding the Elemental, Lord, well a part of it's power here in such a place.

Revan (414) has posed:
     There wasn't any time to waste once Cortex unleashed his Telekinesis hold. He wasn't going to be able to hold an attack of that magnitude for very long. They had to act fast.

     One of her lightsabers was already hooked back onto the left side of her belt as her hand reached within her robe to withdraw a spherical incendiary grenade. Yet, before she had the chance to throw it, Reiji had somehow landed within that vortex of psionic energy, readying for some sort of combined attack. Change of plan.

     There was one particular attack which would do nicely if the circumstances were right. While it wasn't fire, it was still capable of frying...well, a lot of things, actually. But it took considerable energy and precise control of the Force, and many a Sith had become horribly disfigured attempting to master it...if they even managed to survive. Revan would need complete focus. Sadly, she was unable to properly appreciate Reiji and Xiaomu's gunplay -- it reminded her of someone quite close to her, as a matter of fact -- for what she unleashed.

     Lifting her arm upwards with the fingers of her open hand splayed, blue-violet lightning crackled at the tips. But rather than striking out at a single target, the stream formed a ball high above before arcing outward, creating an artificial storm, leaving the exorcists safe within the eye even as they commenced their own attack.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah takes to the air to be sure she's not hit by the ungodly amounts of friendly fire whizzing past her, She heaves her hammer up and back preparing for a powerful throw, and watches and still more zombies fall to an incoming rain of fire and lightning. Aw Nuts.. Is there even anything left for her? She hurls Mjolnir at the ground, centering on the largest group of whatever's left. Probably those damn Tiki Masks that ooze pain and sorrow.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    As everyone unloads upon the zombies with the things that make them unique and special, not just their weapons or powers or skills, but their individual merits -- the many factors taken together and made into a whole stronger than the sum of its parts, their barrage causes hurricanes and snow storms and earthquakes to stop one by one. Psychic blasts, pain energy, hungry darkness, and the loss of the will to live stop being hurled at the group of heroes. New zombies stop spawning from the ground, and the existing ones flop limply to the cavern floor, alongside their mortal allies. The Spirits simply cease to exist.

    Cortex collapses to the ground, sweating like he just ran a marathon, when he no longer has any enemies to suspend in the air. He remains on one knee, his fist to the ground, and simply focuses his gaze on the ball of smoke, flame, and electricity that surges in the air and along the various bodies on the ground. Spent casings, bullet-riddled zombies, burnt and bruised madmen, the shattered remains of wooden masks that once housed spirits. There's a crater in the ground from where Mjolnir hit, and another in the ceiling from the damage Shirou's arrow did. Monsters had been sent every which way. Until moments ago, there were pillars of fire like a god of flame had put down its fingers into this very cave and tried to rub out the existence of the undead that offended him.

    Power a-plenty was wielded here, and now in the deafening silence that follows, the caverns seem mildly less terrible. The whispers are quieter in Cortex's head. As he Rests to recover from both the injuries he has taken from stray shots, and all the energy he has just expended, he sets his sights on the Totem at the other end of the cavern. The pedestal sitting next to it, with a bag that's visibly glowing. They did it. They did it together. Maybe he can be a hero after all. Maybe, if he just keeps pushing himself, he'll make it through this. He has the feeling, somehow, someway, that if he succeeds in this mission, if he gives it everything he has and overcomes the challenges before him, he'll have conquered his fear.

    The psychic hero rises to his feet. The image of the speed, the skill, the fury, the power, the determination, the teamwork of everyone here will remain imprinted upon him for the rest of his life, he's sure. But now he has to act.

    He lifts off into the air with his telekinesis, and says, "These non-zombie ones seem vulnerable to psychic attack. It's almost their only weakness. I'll take care of him, someone else get the Scepter of Mot, and while I'm keeping the monster's mind locked up tight, the rest of you surround him and attack." Then, he flies towards the final enemy at full speed, not quite waiting for the others to catch up or agree.

    The Totem's eyes and mouth flare with green flame, letting out a noise of flaming roar of pure menace, like a basement furnace come to life, and starts stomping forward to meet the charging hero.

    They will all die eventually. The sooner the better.

    He had to prove that everyone was right about him. That he actually was a hero.

    Mental exhausted from the strain, no matter how much energy his body has recovered, Cortex tries to stop just outside the Totem's range and attack it with a psychic hold.

    But the monster speeds up despite the damage it takes, moving further and faster than the psychic hero anticipated.

    The hook-clawed hand swings up.

    Something had to give.

    The claws come back down, carving open Cortex's forehead and sending him falling to the ground like a rock.

Alexis has posed:
Redline nearly collapses after the massive expendature of his energy. It wasn't quite as crippling as the drain from Hyper Beam which stopped a pokemon entirely for a few moments, but it was still a large dent in his special attack power. But the Overheat did the job, along with everyone else's contributions.

"Good job, big guy. You better take it easy for a bit." Alexis taps his pokeball and the flame-dragon disappears in a brief surge of red light. "Stick close, Spindrift." The Sandslash is less exhausted, so she's just keeping him close in case they need a quick Dig escape.

She turns back to the rest to say something, but it catchs short in her throat when Cortex attempts to pin down the freakish thing on his own, and gets taken out of the fight with a savage blow to the head. "Sunnova..." He was trying so hard to live up to his intentions, too. Maybe a little too hard.

Alexis snarls, letting go of Aegislash as it's blade starts to glow, it grabbing it's own shield with one of it's banners like an arm instead. If only so Alexis can reach over her shoulder and pull the much larger Chieftan's Claymore from her own back, gripping it in both hands. "Yer gonna pay for that one." Though she only takes a defensive stance, with the sword ready to protect herself.

The offense is picked up be a different flash of light next to her and a Dewott with his head tuff tied up like a topknot appears, cross-drawing the two scallops from his hips, blades formed of energy extending from them so the seashells make the hilt and crossguard. He strikes a brief pose, one held back to his side as the other blade is pointed at the Totem. "Dew ott dewott ott." (As she said. Your desecration of both Life and Death ends here. Stand tall and strike true friends, so his fall be not in vain!)

Speech made, both Dewott and Aegislash launch for the Totem, veering to come from the opposite sides and lash out with their glowing blades to rend the hideous thing with Retaliate -- and attack that strikes with double the power when an ally has been bested in the fight -- in Cortex's honor.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah takes a deep breath as she calls Mjolnir back to her hand. Wasn't this supposed to be over by now? What that Totem just did to Cortex is far worse than anything one of those Sorrow Spirits could have hit her with.

The Crusader's shoulders slump for a moment, but she reminds herself that Dad never gave up in a situation like this. and neither is she Dammit! "I'll see if I can keep the big guy busy long enough for you guys to help Cortex." Her voice has a monotone quality to it as if she suspects he's already dead.

With that she flies up to the totem, and an idea seems to hit her, she actually manages to smile a bit, "Hey Mask Face! Catch!" And with that She tosses Moljir *to* the thing. Not at him, but as if she was tossing a football around with the Eldritch horror..

Maya has posed:
Maya can do a lot of fighting sure she's got a lot of power yes, but so do many other people. She values her ability to heal far more than anything else. If there's one part of Kyra that's rubbed off on her? It's her understading her ability to heal has far more worth than her abilities to destroy. Maya's off like a shot at this pint for the fallen Cortex. She's seen too many good souls fall and she won't let him go. She understand death comes to everyone but she does not thin this is Cortex's time. Maya's already going for a basic fate card to channel a healing spell, this is an attempt to sablize him and slow bleeding also perhaps regenerate some of the damage, shes going for other means as she gets work as this is serious. She'll trust the others to keep fighting.

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
The fire tails off from the group of soldiers as the targets die (or do whatever Spirits do one by one, leaving the area in front of them clear of enemies for a moment. "Reload!" Stadler yells, as clips are again expended in a slight cacphony of magazines reloaded, recharging handles slammed forward, bolts opend and closed, pistol slides worked over. Each soldier quickly yells 'Good!' once they're back in the fight, as Stadler looks over to Cortex. "Are you sure you can-" He starts, before that claw leaps forward and suddenly Cortex doesn't have much of a forehead. "Oh... /fuck/."

His soldiers respond to a hand signal, and do attack... but also try to move in a covering position, attempting to provide fire support to keep Revan from getting attacked as he pulls Cortex back from the line, falling back with him when he pulls back. Stadler...

Stadler has a box that he had carried with him on his back, quickly extending the FLASH launcher into a firing position. It had four shots, each one meant to destroy a large monster, or to be launched through a bunker's thin firing slit to immolate those inside. Only a few people knew that you could fire all 4 rockets at once.

And reloading these things was a pain anyway.

The rockets fire in a slightly seperated pattern from the launcher, slaming into the Totem in bright flashes of high burning flame, attempting to overpower the sickly green with the clensing red of an incendary device. Stadler stands up, tossing the now useless launcher to one side. "Pull him back!"

Revan (414) has posed:
     The winds and ancient artillery and blasts of dark energy at last fell still. With most of the minions down, Lowri rocked back on the heels of her feet, winded. That kind of attack tended to take a lot out of most Force-wielders, even the strong ones. She would need a moment to catch her breath....but it didn't seem she would have that when Cortex surged on ahead before she could even warn him to stay with the group.

     "Cortex, wait! We still don't know..." The Force flared in warning even as the Totem lifted its hand and struck the flying hero down. And Lowri was powerless to stop it.

     She didn't scream. She didn't yell. She only stared in horror for a split second before blurring into motion. The Guardian darted forward with a burst of Force Speed to reach for the fallen hero, her left blade thrown up to shield herself from a similar attack. Pulling him back out of the direct line of attack would have been much more difficult but for her own telekinetic assistance, levitating his unconscious body even as she pulled back towards their party once Stadler gave her the necessary cover fire. "I owe you a beer!" she called out with a tight smile.

     That smile fell away however as she and Maya got to work, the Blue Witch attempting to heal his body while Revan attempted to reach his mind.

     /Cortex, it's Revan. Can you hear my voice? Please respond!/

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
For all that Juu no Kata is slightly more of a physical move than a supernatural one, it DOES incorporate facets of both - and in the wake of dispensing all that firepower, even Xiaomu has to stop and catch her breath briefly; she actually holds her final pose from the Juu no Kata as she's doing so, one arm extended straight, the other hooked over her head to point both handguns in the same direction.

She also winds up with an unobstructed view of Cortex getting his skull laid open by the monster.

And two empty magazines clatter to the ground, as she thumbs the release catches. "You ... are *SO* ... gonna pay for that," she growls at the cult's Totem, slapping fresh magazines into Silver and Platinum, then re-holstering both handguns as she grasps her staff tightly in her left hand. "Reiji ... let's teach that guy to be *afraid* of mortals."

The butt of her staff slams into the ground next to her, rings jingling loudly. The power in these caverns may be dark and eldritch and obscene, but it's *power*. Much like Xiaomu, for all that she's chosen to ally with humans against all manner of things that go bump in the night, is a youkai herself.

Her right hand comes up, mystical force focusing in her palm as she calls out, "XIAOMU ..." The energy bursts into light, a larger bubble of energy snapping into existence as she finishes, "... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE!!!!"

And with the formation of that bubble - intended to imprison the Totem boss monster where it stands - a magic square appears, rotating slowly on the ground beneath it; Xiaomu is pitting her full power against the Totem's just to HOLD IT STILL, not with mere telekinesis but with powerful binding magic. She trusts her allies to pour on the damage while she's doing this, most specifically (but not limited to) Reiji.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    "Clips spent," Reiji murmurs, dropping the empty cartriges out of his guns. Fortunately, he has spares! One set of spares. He slides the extra supplies that Xiaomu provided him with back up into his weapons, "Last ones. Let's make it coun--"

And then Cortex runs off on his own.

    "Hey. Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing! No splitting the--" There's a flash of red. Blood and bone and other things on the red rocks. Reiji's eyes widen, his pupils constrict, blood and adrenaline hammer through his veins. "...Damnit," he hisses, turning a heated stare onto the avatar of a sealed god. There is no fear in his heart when he looks upon it- only fury, and the knowledge that whatever that thing is, it just signed its death warrant, "For a psychic, you just couldn't use your head, could you...?"

"Xiaomu," Reiji murmurs, his voice like a crush of ice and fire. "I think this thing needs to know how mortal 'gods' really are," he hisses, rolling one shoulder until it pops, "Let's do this. Tenchi Banbutsu, give me the strength to encompass the world."

    His partner makes the first move. Reiji makes the second. He leaps through the air, portable arsenal gripped tight in one hand. "Behold! Gogyo Battou," the exorcist growls, landing in a stance that is nigh-on identical to a classic Iaijutsu position... Except that his hand is not on a sword.

It's on the handle of a gun. "Ougi!" A wave of spiritual pressure washes out from the Shinra Exorcist like the rising tide. His will connects to the deep well of power within burning through his veins, mixing it within the living Taiji Reactor that is the human soul.

Hollywood emerges first, unleashing a devastating cluster of elemental buckshot into the Totem's tribal mask--

"Wood fuels Fire!"

--Only for the weapon to snap back into its holster. Karin erupts from its sheath next, unleashing a scorching inferno of heat and flame--

"Fire creates Earth!"

--Another click of a weapon sheathed. Another click of a weapon unleashed. Lightning dances through the air in a staccato beat as Chirai is drawn- and swung- in a flurry of slashes, each faster than the eye can see--

"Earth nurtures Metal!"

--Chirai is replaced with another weapon. Gold glimmers in the light of Xiaomu's spell. Reiji takes aim for the mask's burning core, "And finally--"

    Xiaomu leaps forward, finishing the incantation, "Metal carries Water!!" As she speaks, she grabs her staff's headpiece and draws Suiren from within the shaft, the ice-elemental sword gleaming as she bolts towards the Totem mask-beast and slashes, adding the power of the Water element to Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal that Reiji's attacks have poured into the monster.

She lands with her back to the mask and a smirk on her face, beginning to sheath her blade...

    Spent shells clatter to the ground with a harsh tinkling of metal as Reiji turns away from the spirit, his gun's barrel leaking a thin contrail of smoke. "Shinra..."

Xiaomu's eyes turn slyly towards the totem. Suiren returns to its sheath with a final snap of metal, "Bansho!"

There's a brief pulse of magical energy...

    And then the spell dissolves, releasing a cataclysm of elemental power centered on the corrupted core of the Banished Totem. It tears away at baleful energy with the churning, all-encompassing power of Shinra Bansho. All Things in Nature, arrayed against a single foe.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Cortex goes down and all hell breaks loose. In that moment where claw meets forehead, Shirou's perceptions dilate into a near-freeze. That THING has to go down, NOW, lest anyone else die.

    Destroy it utterly. Before there's more blood. Before there's anyone else he can't save!

    "My body is made of swords."

    No sooner than the chant's out of his lips than the air around him ripples. A wave of phantom flame expands from his feet, burning nothing but making a hell of a show... and carrying with it a glimpse of a barren land. Dozens of swords erupt from the ground before the vision fades away. They don't just erupt, but hover up around Shirou and launch themselves like missiles at the THINGS threatening Cortex's rescuers. FWOOOOSH FWOOOOOSH WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!

    And if that wasn't enough... power gathers in Shirou's hands, filling out slowly in a grainy rush into a gleaming blue-silver longsword that erupts with flame. He hasn't charged into action though, but that thing's considerable!

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    As people charge to Cortex's rescue, the Totem remains fixated on him. The body lying before the flaming golem is limp, looking up at him dazedly, mask and head torn. Somehow hanging on. The monster wants to finish him off. But it fixates on a new enemy when Alexis's pokemon attack it. Its wooden body creaks under the damage, deep gouges forming and splinters flying outwards from the sheer force of the vengeance-boosted attacks.

    Spears suddenly fly from the Totem's flaming mouth at the Dewott at high speed, forming from nothing. If they strike, they carry a virulent poison that does additional damage even if the spears don't remain stuck in the body. And it remains focused on the pokemon, already stomping towards him, ignoring the Aegislash that also did such damage to it.

    Xiaomu unleashes her full power, trying to encase the Totem completely, to hold it still, in a bubble of immense imprisoning force. Sadly, Xiaomu discovers what Cortex discovered quite quickly. The Totem is highly resistant to status effects. The immobilization doesn't take. Not fully, at least. It's not completely ignored. But it's lifting one foot and putting it before the other, moving when it just plain shouldn't be, trying to walk right through its containment as it raises its claws again, planning to duplicate what it did to Cortex to Dewott if it can just get close enough.

    The Totem ignores Mjolnir being thrown/tossed to it. It's also immune to Taunts. When the hammer reaches it, it goes... Right through one of the eye holes in the mask, and lodges there. The immense weight of Thor's hammer is combined with Xiaomu's immobilization. Divine powers are stacked on top of divine powers, the rage of at least five Dark Gods who took on all the other Pantheons in the universe at ONCE and nearly WON warring against alien gods and spirits, through a vessel that can not fully access its makers' might. It may be powered by Them, but its actual individual strength is fixed. The Totem staggers to the side and very nearly grinds to a halt, off-balance and yet still trying to shoot poison spears at its target of choice. If the pokemon was recalled, then that likely means the first person it sees. Likely Reiji due to proximity.

    As a rocket slams into it, blasting off the upper half of its carved head and sending flames, smoke, and a shockwave exploding outwards, in all the rage it should be feeling, it instead starts...

    ...Laughing. It's being torn apart. Pinned down by powers that this mere golem can not contend with. It may be powered by gods, but it is NOT one. Its body is only as strong as it was made to be. But the methodical burts of flame coming from its maw cna be nothing other than laughter, in whatever sick Dead God language it speaks.

    It's not winning. Against this many Elites? This many Heroes? With this much POWER? It's definitely losing! Buckshot ruins the designs on the remains of its face. Blades carve into it. Powerful blades meant to destroy things exactly like this. Reiji's power and skill, Xiaomu's spiritual strength and prowess, the human ingenuity and determination of Richard Stadler and his soldiers, the divine strength, courage, and cleverness of Sarah Rogers, the heartfelt retaliation of pokemon who share in their hearts the same feelings as their trainer and partner Alexis... Its core damaged, being destroyed.

    But it's laughing.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    Cortex is pulled to safety by a friend. He seems out of it. Alive, but with a lot of blood all over his face, dripping down the sides of his head, staining his blonde hair, and there's a sickening dark-red gash in the middle of shreddred fabric, where his brain can be seen. His BRAIN is VISIBLE. And there's blood and bone fragments getting into it. That's bad. His mental voice sounds... Disoriented. Lost. Sleepy.

    ((Re... Van? ...My head... Hurts... Did we... Get him...?)) There's a pause as his eyes look elsewhere. Not at Revan. Not a Maya mending his wound with her powerful healing. Not even at the monster. Distantly, he sends to Revan, ((No... Watch out... Don't... Let them... Bring that one... Here...))

    There's not much visibly happening. But some of the Scepter's glow is being drawn off. Just a bit. Threads of stale light. A radiance that is only bright because there's nothing left alive to compare it against anything else. Death and Sterility. The threads cease to unwind from the glowing mission objective. That little? Not enough to awaken Mot...

    Then what...?

    Cortex coughs as his head begins to close up. Pieces of bone magically extracted. He'll need a hospital vital, time to recover. But he isn't going to die.

    But boy does his head hurt... And his brain... Feels alive with skittering darkness that shouldn't be there.

    He attempts to sit up, trying to remember what he was warning the others about. It's gone though. He just watches as Shirou obliterates the last fragments of the Totem, already so torn apart by the others that it's practically splinters attached by nothing more than bones made of pure green flame. Finally Held in place by hammer and barrier and the last traces of Cortex's psychic energies.

    Swords bombard it, tear through it, destroy it.

    And in its final moments, it says something in a language understandable by people instead of Monsters:

    "The dead giant comes for you all."

    Then the flames go out, and only fragments remain.

    Cortex still seems out of it, but manages to raise a hand to point at the bag on the pedestal. "Someone..." is all he can get out.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah's ears are ringing by now, She's vaguely aware of some positive comments regarding Cortex. Maybe things are turning out better than they appeared. She descends slowly through the air towards the spot where the scepter rests. Recalling Mjolnir to her hand through the wreckage of the Totem almost as an afterthought.

Once she lands She just stares at the thing for a moment. and the world seems to snap back into focus. This thing is just wrong somehow. She walks around the Scepter a couple times, trying to get up the courage to touch the thing. and finally decides to scoop it up with her Shield. Even that makes her shiver a bit.

She quickly returns to the group, her gaze focuses on Cortex. "Is he going to be okay?" She asks worriedly. Then offers her Platter of Scepter to anyone who might know better what to do with it.

Alexis has posed:
Taunting may not work, but drawing it's attention through actual damage and proximity seems to work. The Dewott turns and bolts as multiple spears of poison are flung at him, darting back and forth and occasionally using his shell-swords to deflect one. Like a proper samurai he puts the others before himself, using it's aggro to keep focus of the monster on him and give others oppritunity to strike. Though one samurai cannot evade flurry after flurry of projectiles forever, and while avoiding becoming a pincushion several do graze enough to deliver their volatile payload, and after a few evasive maneuvers he starts to tire from the posion and exposure.

But not paying attention to the Aegislash is the first mistake the Totem makes. Because like any good team, these pokemon are trained to work together as one. Being a phantom weapon has its perks too, as just as it looks like the Totem is about to ventilate the tiring Dewott, Aegislash appears right in front of him and uses his King's Shield to switch back to defensive mode and absorb the barrage. Part Steel type, immune to Poison and all that.

It's long enough for Alexis to recall the worn pokemon from under the other's guard. Aegislash just levitates back to her, getting out of the way of the others finishing the monster off.

"Yeah, I don't like the sound of that. Someone grab the thing and lets get the fuck out of this hole."

Maya has posed:
Maya Can not read minds she's doing the best work she can upon him. She sees there's visable brain. She worries greatly for the hero and his wellbeing she's working as she can she knows he's going to need more than just magical healing but right now the spell is at least preventing infection even as Revan also works to save Cortex's life. She contiune with the healing magic and also is now pulling out a crystal it plushes. Revan might sense for lack og a better term the light side is strong with it. It's a soul stone it's basically crystalized life energy and is powerful for healing. Maya moves to focus and crush it lreaing the energy of it into Cortex as she contiunes her world. She's cleary very focued at this point on saving him and might be vunrable to attack.

"Do not give up Cortex stay with me, Thanatos is not calling your name today. You have to work with us."

Reiji Arisu has posed:
    The Totem's laughter echoes in Reiji's ear as Shinra Bansho comes to its ultimate end. He frowns, slinging Gold back into its holster. Whatever that thing was cackling about, it... Unsettles him, somewhat. This isn't over. This doesn't /feel/ over, not in the way that Shinra Bansho usually leaves him. "Xiaomu," he asks his partner, "How're you holding up?"

    His gaze turns towards the others. Reiji rests one hand on his hip, his stance casual- but still quite obviously alert, considering how tightly he's gripping that arsenal of his. "Is the kid alright? We have the scepter locked down?"

Richard Stadler (300) has posed:
Well, this wasn't very good at all. Cortex's injuries, certainly weren't good. And neither was the creature that was simply laughing at their attempts to defeat it. Stadler's people had handled gloating before, though. The general solution was just to continure firing until it stopped gloating. Which they do, until it's nothing but ash's, Stadler drawing his sidearm and sending a few rounds into at close range for good measure. "I've dealt with giant's before." He mutters. More for his people, than anything else. This was supposed to be a quick operation for them. Not something where the dark avatar of something from beyond promised death and destrction. "I don't think we're done here, but this area is secure. We need to pull back; I've got an MH-60 moving in for casevac, and if he's not teleporting out, we can use that." He says, motioning for his people to start clearing the way back.

Revan (414) has posed:
     The Prodigal Knight had seen a lot of gore in her time, and those injuries were definitely in the realm of Not Good. Moreover, the teleporter hadn't kicked in; they had someone critically injured, why wasn't it activating?

     /Almost there,/ she reassured the dazed hero as the Totem began to disintegrate under the combined assault. What he was trying to communicate in his delirium was more than a small cause for concern. If he was having a vision of a sort, as improtant as that was for all of them, she needed to keep him focused and alive. /Just stay with me, all right? Focus on my voice./

     But then, Lowri could feel the lights from the Sceptre rather than see them, the strange and dark energies even as they reacted to that terrible wound. Her eyes were instead on the now-healing wound, and even for a Jedi, that was a lot to take in from anything other than a kolto tank. It certainly wasn't being done by glowing green sea micro-organisms.

     "Looks that way," she told Sarah and Reiji. "But we need to get him to a hospital ASAP."

     The Jedi nodded to Stadler. "Thanks. The teleporter seems to be inactive for some reason." Helping Cortex up, ashe flashed one of her slight grins, though her brow furrowed as if to contradict it. "You gave us quite the scare. Try to keep those down to a minimum, OK?"

     But even as they began to evacuate the caverns once their mission was complete, Lowri looked back over her shoulder with a slight, bothered frown. That Totem. The avatar of a dread god. There was no sign of anything even /remotely/ Light within it.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"I could use about two dozen pieces of fried tofu," Xiaomu replies with a deliberate air of casualness, "plus a couple hours to nap and, oh, a nice long game of Tetris or something. But yeah, I'm all right."

She may be leaning on her staff ... or she may be ready to wield it again in some capacity, whether to assist in spellcasting or to resort to melee with either staff or blade. And she looks more than a little piqued, particularly when her gaze strays towards Cortex - grateful, it seems, to see that he's still alive.

Reiji Arisu has posed:
Noticing Sarah's discomfort isn't hard. It's pretty obvious that whatever is going on with the Scepter, it's not something she wants to deal with. Reiji nods, and reaches into one of the compartments on his vest. He draws from it a rather thick-looking, industrial-scale welder's glove. Said glove seems to have been festooned with all manner of protective, magical wards.

Reiji gingerly reaches for the Scepter's bag with his Shinra Special-Issue Containment Glove, and holds it at a safe distance from the rest of his important body-bits. "We need to get this thing into a lead box, and then bring it to another world to be hurled into an ocean."

He nods to Xiaomu, then smiles ever so slightly, "Alright. It'll be my treat when we get home."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou's more concerned with Cortex than the weird object, so he runs over to Maya and Revan. There's nothing he can do but there's no mistaking the panic all over his face! "Don't die on us. Don't die!" Thankfully Revan seems to have it covered with Maya's help. He breathes a sigh of relief, if a shaky one, and will help haul Cortex out if the others need help.

Demetrios Vasilikos (769) has posed:
    "I'm... Okay. I think. Getting better." Cortex holds his head. There's still blood in his eyes, all over his face and forehead, but the wound is mostly closed up. His life has been saved thanks to Maya, and the Totem has been defeats thanks to everyone else. Everyone except him. The strain of the injury on top of everything else will still likely require bed rest. But he's okay for now, it seems. He looks around to everyone. Everyone here who has done so much for a city they don't even live in. Then he looks to Revan at her gentle admonishment, and just says, "I'm sorry." He knows he messed up. He doen't need it explained to him, but he appreciates someone cares enough to do so. Not everyone gets corrected when they do somethin wrong or foolish. That's what leads them down the path of a villain.

    And as he gazes upon the Scepter's bag and then its new container, seeing it being taken by others, sure that it will be delivered to MAGI if he doesn't intervene... He thinks about someone else who might go down the path of the villain if he doesn't correct him.

    He won't be bringing that Scepter to Dr. Vasilikos. He owes Demetrio's father a lot. But he knows 'wrong' when he sees it. This is a promise he just can't keep.

    "I think I know some people who can put it somewhere safer than even MAGI," he offers. "I'll get the paperwork filed for the transfer of custody with the City Planner's officer at Atlas Park. MAGI does what they can. But for something like this? We need specialists."

    Then, with Shirou's aid, he forces himself to his feet. He tries to smile for the comfort of others, and and says, "Well... Maybe our business with the Banished Pantheon isn't done here. But we've defeated all of them, their leader, and retrieved the Scepter of Mot. I guess this means Mission Complete--?"

    Dun-dun DUNNNN... DUN!

    MISSION COMPLETE!