877/House of the Dead (Apostle)

House of the Dead (Apostle)
Date of Scene:	29 October 2014
Location:	Misaki Town <MT>
Synopsis:	Heroes investigate a house said to contain a Dead Apostle on the outskirts of the Vatican. Bad jokes are also told a lot.
Cast of Characters:	152, 253, 283, Riva Banari, 518, 560, 570, 591, 601, 607

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Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    DEAD APOSTLE
    Noun. Vampire, undead. Typically superhuman and tied to magecraft. Bitten into being one, or transformed into one through use of lifespan-altering magecraft. Bodies quickly degenerate and require constant blood to survive. Weakness to sunlight, and cannot cross water, both flaws surpassable through power. Mild vulnerability to holy. Typically able to achieve tiers of magecraft above that of humans.

    With that briefing out of the way, AOKO AOZAKI stands in front of a large, abandoned manor, on the outskirts of the Vatican. This world's Vatican is much like other Earths', but there are powerful leylines circulating under the territory. The house is located over one of the branches, apparently in a perfect position to harvest it.

    Whether through the Union or the Syndicate people have been asked by Aoko to come help. She's being paid several millions to to get this house back and deliver to the Church a dead Dead Apostle, with significant value attributed to the property which would be deducted from the reward.

    Since Aoko would immediatly throw the reward value into the negative, that's where better people for the job come in. You're getting your share of the money, medical care and housing provided by the Church for the aftermath, and a potential favor to call in from the Church while in this world at any point in the future.

    House looks pretty big, five floors. Only one entrance.
    Nothing supernatural to be felt due to the interference from the leylines, but they already know what they're walking into at least.

Chris Rothschild (283) has posed:
    Chris Rothschild looks as calm as ever at a glance, but those who know him particularly well might detect an edge of nervousness.

    "Should, uh... should we really be here?"

    He stands in a nice, heavy jacket, hands in his pockets, wearing his perpetual 'resting grouch face'. He's brought his PDA, and more than a few of his 'trick coins' and other assorted magecraft goodies, but he still feels he has to point one thing out.

    "I mean... Church's doorstep, and all. Don't they have people for this kind of thing?"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    By calling in Psyber, Aoko has created a paradox. Psyber is getting paid for this mission by the church, but he pays Aoko for missions they do together. Therefore, Psyber is here voluntarily and has agreed to just let Aoko have his cut of the reward money, but he'll keep the favor to use later.

    The half-angel had arrived via an 1970 Buick GSX Stage 1, painted black of course, which he had parked nearby. He had room for like three other people who could have ridden with him, one in the front and two in the back.

    Right now he's standing next to Aoko and smoking on a cigarette, "You know, we really should do less dangerous bonding activities. Like dinner or a carnival or something," He comments before sighing heavily.

    "Any info on what's inside?"

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    EMIYA SHIROU is not actually interested in money. Okay, this kind of cash - even if it's only a fraction of a million by the time he gets his share, that's a lot by his standards - is enough to make anyone double-take. He's not here for the money, although it'll be well received and well spent on more supplies for Dun Realtai and maybe more equipment to use when playing hero.

    EMIYA SHIROU is not here for the money.

    Dead Apostles are monsters who prey on others. They leave ruined lives and The Dead in their wake and little else. Chances are strong this one's no different, especialyl if Aoko wants help taking them down.

    He's standing not far from Chris, scowling at the manor. "The Executioners, I heard. Supposed to be the Church's agents against demons, heretics, and the undead." He does know THAT much, thanks to Kiritsugu. But that's probably all he knows.

    "Man, I never thought I'd encounter a vampire. Aren't they monsters who only go down if you hit them with something special?"

    Well, he has several 'something specials' but who knows, really...

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Aoko answers Chris in the form of putting her briefcase down on the ground and opening it. She shuffles inside, pulls a head-sized object wrapped in bloodied cloth out, and then gently tosses it to Chris, closing her briefcase again.

    It is in fact a head, and a collection of Church Executor badges, some dented, all bloodied. This also answers Psyber's question when she says: "I walked in about five feet and found all this. They told me they'd pay extra if I could find what happened to their Executors, well, here they are. One of them and the others' badges."

    To Shirou: "Psh, a regular Dead Apostle? Nah. I mean, they're superhuman, but a bullet in the head is still a pretty big deal to them. It's the Ancestors you wanna watch out for, but there's no way this one's one of the Twenty-Seven."

Serenity (607) has posed:
    Her first mission with the Union in this Sector. Serenity shows up... and doesn't look out of place. The Maedra is wearing casual, comfortable jeans that appear well-worn, and a t-shirt that states she's a fan of some band that was a one-hit wonder in this world. The flaw in her disguise must be that. She's also wearing sunglasses to hide her eyes, but with everyone gathering here now she doesn't need to hide her sword. For heaven's sake there's a ratman.

    "If they aren't much of a threat, then the preceding ones here to take care of it were very overconfident," she says. "Or there's something else going on."

Teresa (601) has posed:
Teresa has arrived, as well, in time for the little brief. She's not at all adverse to hunting things like this, that are generally much more powerful than normal humans. Though, the need for a group of more 'significant' players is obvious. It's a quarry that won't go down at all easily.

Either way, she seems calm as can be, a light smirk on her lips, at least until Aoko pulls out the remains. "A bit.. foolish, if they had any inkling of what was in there. Though.." She takes a breath, her silver eyes glaring at the house.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva is totally down with dealing with these kinds of problems. Because it's just one guy, right? One vampire-type.

"So, it's like a vampire, right? A wizard vampire." She asks Psyber and Aoko. "I'm fine with this." It's not evil zombies and undead crab people. What she hears about these guys is serious bad news though, so Riva is totally on the case. "There's the whole holy waterthing. Running water. Cutting their head off, stuffing the mouth with garlic and rose petals... I'm pretty sure cutting the head off is what really does it, though. Haven't found anything that survives that yet."

She looks considerably less happy as she sees the head and badges. "Eeew." She summarizes. "So kick this thing's ass and don't blow the place up." She nods her head, and defintively turns away from the head. No need to dwell on decapitations. "Let's get hunting!" She declares.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Stepping out of the same 1970 Buick is a magical girl here. Her name is Shinobu. Her demeanor is quiet and unassuming, though her mode of dress is somewhat less so. She follows a bit behind and to Psyber's side, nodding to Aoko as she approaches, and then taking a moment to place Shirou's voice, having heard him previously, but not seen him in the flesh until today.

    Rewards are things she thinks about only after the work is done. Her job is to kill man-eating monsters. She is here to do that.

    "The badges were all in one place?"

    To Serenity, "Perhaps... only a difference of degrees of threat."

Chris Rothschild (283) has posed:
    Chris is surprisingly calm about catching a wrapped dead man's head. "Oh," is all he can really say.

    He looks up at the abandoned manor, then back down at the head, then up at the manor again, before finally looking at Psyber. And then he walks over and hands the head back to Aoko. "Well, that's encouraging," he concludes. There's a quick glance at Riva, before a more curious look at Kimiko. And after a few seconds of that appraisal, he calmly takes a few steps over to stay behind her.

    "Yo," he greets, already pulling out his PDA.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou's close enough to Chris that the bloody package gets him flailingg a few feet away, stammering out his surprise at HOLY CRAP, BLOODIED HEAD nearby.

    If the Executors were all taken by surprise like this... does he stand a chance? The boy starts grimacing. "... Miss Blue. There's something seriously wrong using the word 'regular' next to 'Dead Apostle.'" He grouches good-naturedly.

    "Trace, on." He doesn't really have time to waste. Against an enemy of this sort, he can't make do with a half-assed trace job, either. Thankfully, he has plenty of time, so he starts recalling and refining a weapon image well in advance. Weak amounts of prana channel through the Circuits in his arms and down toward his hands, but he doesn't project anything yet. The designs are loaded, ready to fly into existence at a moment's notice.

    One day, someone's gonna figure out that's not how Projection's supposed to work, but right now? It's vampire time.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    In response to both Aoko and Chris, Psyber has to make a trip back to the car when Aoko shows those off, sighing a bit, "Be right back." He notes before taking out his keys and opening up the back of the car. And then he pulls up a false floor in the empty trunk to reveal rows and rows of firearms.

    He reaches in and starts loading up, taking out a pistol and checking the chamber before slipping it under his coat. A few moments later of deciding on weapons and he's taking out a Mossberg 500 and about 4 different colored boxes of ammo which are likewise put in his coat. The shotgun is slung across his back.

    "I'd rather be over-prepared than under-prepared," He notes as he rejoins the group. Aoko said guns should do a decent job, so he will load like this was any other mission for him, "I'm good to go when everyone else is."

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    "Yes! Dead Apostles who reach the vampire tier are basically undead magi. Anything before that, they're just kind of slightly superhuman zombies," Aoko says to Riva. "Cutting off its head would work. So would maiming it a lot. Punching it into paste. That sort of stuff. Filling it with lead too. Oh, just one thing, absolutely do not let any of their blood enter your bloodstream or you risk infection. That's how they spread."

    To Serenity: "Yeah. Well, the Church has specialized weapons and they deal with Dead Apostles basically every other weekend. Maybe this one has an ace up that makes it different to deal with somehow. It's pretty bold to come all the way out to the Vatican to tap its leylines, so I'd expect something fishy going on."

    And finally Teresa and Kimiko: "It's their job, they don't have much of a choice. Church says 'Executors, find and kill', they find and kill. Usually works. Didn't here. I'm sure you'll figure it out! And yeah, they were just left a few feet from the door. A warning I guess. Mister or missus don't want no disturbance, yo!"

    Side-glance to Shirou: "Once you get initiated to the magic-side of reality something like a vampire isn't that rare! Sorry, Shirou. Anyway, you guys try not to like, completely crater the house, but I understand if dealing with what's inside becomes a bigger priority and screw the Church. They'll be happy either way the threat is gone, just a lot grouchier if the house is too. Might damage the leylines, I dunno."

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki Kuran is here to help out! She is so eager to help! She doesn't really get the whole issue with a 'Church' and why it's a big deal that a 'Dead Apostle' is hanging out in there causing trouble.

    So, huge dork as she is, she shows up to the supervatican in street clothes, and a nice winter jacket-y thing. She yawns lightly, bringing a hand to her mouth as she does to mask it. And potentially other things.

    "So, we're to stop the rampage without causing too much damage? O-okay. Wait... A vampire?!" She asks, obviously shocked. She looks left and right, before lowering her voice.

    "You have those? I mean, um... Well, okay. I didn't know we were hunting a vampire! You said 'dead apostle'. And... The Twenty Seven? W-well don't mind me. I'll just... tag along." She offers.

    If this were an anime, she would have the most massive of exaggerated sweatdrops.

    Yuuki Kuran is totally not a vampire.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    "Guns should work fine! Especially if you have blessed ammo," Aoko tells Psyber, before looking towards Yuuki and smiling. "Sorry, terminology. Dead Apostle... there's a story behind the name, it goes a long, long way back. There might have been vampires before, but the term caught on. There's not much of a difference. The Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors are basically just the best of the best. Purest, most powerful vampires. You usually become one by, like... eating one of the current ones? Take up its mantle. I don't know what you have to do to become the twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth. They might not be open to applications anymore, haha~."

    Right, that's enough exposition then.

    "So! Any more questions? Oh yeah, I don't want to spook you but tonight's a full moon! And we're the twenty-ninth, if you divide two by one, and nine by three, that's 13! We're Wednesday. That's not really scary though. OoooOoooOooh, middle of the work weeeeEeeeek~."

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko glances over at Shirou when he starts his magic, but--well, she doesn't understand magecraft, anyway. Riva gets another nod of recognition as she joins, having been last seen by Kimiko covered by a Chicago dumpster--something she decides not to mention--and then the Puella Magi is back to studying the house. She holds up one hand, and concentrates on the ring on her finger.

    Which way to the supernatural darkness, oh dousing ring?

    Not really an exact science, but it's what she has.

    Mostly not paying attention to Aoko's math.

Teresa (601) has posed:
    "Clearly, it didn't anticipate someone adept at hunting creatures like them would show. Not very smart." Teresa remarks, as she reaches behind her back and draws her sword. It's a wonder how she even manages that. It's nearly as long as she is tall. "Either way.. ready, for what it's worth."

She purses her lips, "Hm.. supernatural, eh? I see.."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber gives Aoko a nod and says, "I'm locked, cocked and ready to rock."

    "I always have blessed, among other, types of ammo," He adds as a secondary note.

    To Yuuki, Psyber brings a hand down on her shoulder, "It's okay. If you're scared of vampires, you can totally just stay behind me. I'll make sure all the painful things hit me instead of you and you can be my plucky female sidekick that triggers the death traps."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva waves to Chris as she notices his attention. "Hi!" She calls to him. Psyber gets a glance from Riva, who leans over and pokes the shotgun. "Oooooh, nice gun." She say mischeviously, and nods to Aoko. "No blood. Got it." The last thing she wants is to become a vampire. Would that even work? She ponders that for a moment, and then just shakes her head, turning away to glance over Yuuki. She pauses, and just shrugs. "Nothing to be nervous about!" She says with a big grin. "We'll have that vampire splattered in no time, right?"

She comes up beside Kimiko, who /she/ remembers seeing before she ended up in a dumpster during a showdown with an Elder Thing, and waits for Kimoko to get intel. She's all for running in, but that's a big house. Why waste time?

Faruja (152) has posed:
"A dead Church operative..." Starts the voice of one Inquisitor Faruja Senra, the short rat-like male and his companion teleporting in not shortly before the general idea's gone down.

"A substantial reward, and a mission to...God rest their valiant souls...see that whatever slew these Executors is ferretted out, and the undead abomination slain." The large, dark skinned bunny woman behind him, at Psyber's words, pumps her distinctly large double-barrelled shotgun.

"Fire, I assume, works as easily as upon any other undead abomination?" He asks of Aoko. Then, a scowl.

"Lord protect us all, that such evil doth not respect Holy Lands." The Inquisitor spits on the ground, and his companion makes the sign of the cross. Then, he's glancing about, bowing to those gathered.

"Right, short introductions. Inquisitor Senra of the Holy Church. Not this one." There's a smile to those he knows. NOtably, he walks towards Riva. Best to stand with the Templar of the group.

Faruja (152) has posed:
And the tall bunny-woman then smiles. "Acolyte Strawberry! Nice to meet you everyone!" Waaaave!

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko looks up as Chris approaches. "Hello." Then she again focuses on what she was doing. That's about all the reaction most people are likely to get out of her. She won't be paying particular attention to where people in the party are until they get within a more dangerous proximity of the threat.

    At that point, she will be paying careful attention.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    "Oh yeah, fire'll screw up their regeneration big time. I think. The fire I use usually vaporizes when I mean it so I never really paid attention. Probably though!" Aoko tells Faruja, before giving everyone a wave. "Good luck! Be careful. Shout if you need me!"

    Kimiko will feel there is definitely, maybe, PROBABLY the faintest trace of something dark inside. It's hidden between layers and layers of something.

    Right, then, into the front door.

    The manor's lobby is what you would expect. Great red carpet, dusty, creaky door and wooden floors, barred windows. It's fairly large, with a door left, right, and straight ahead. Coat-hanger, with a "please wipe your feet before entering" sign. A nice little rubber mat to put your shoes on.

    No functional lighting.

    There's blood everywhere. Some from a few days ago, some from a few weeks. It trails, ike bodies were dragged around. It smears, with obvious handmarks where someone tried to grab onto a wall, or perhaps got slammed into it.

    There's a red sword hilt on the ground in a corner.
    No blade, just a hilt.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber smiles at Riva, "When you're a hunter, you only use the best~. Love Mossbergs. Same shotgun as the US Army." He croons proudly, taking it off his back and sliding in some green-colored shells into it from his pocket before pumping the action once to ready a round.

    "Nice to meet you, Strawberry." He adds as a second note.

    Psyber looks around the bloodied room and scowls, "This is a mess. This thing has been here for weeks, I guess." He frowns a bit and makes his way over to the bladeless sword, reaching down to try to pick it up, "Wonder what this is."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Do we know anything ABOUT the Dead Apostle? Who it is, their abilities?" Shirou asks, now kinda worried at how easygoing everyone else is taking this. Vampires are scary news. He doesn't feel good taking one on... well, maybe with Psyber here it's no big deal. Doesn't he do this all the time?

    Sigh. Now he's scared. But he's not turning back... this needs to be done, full moon or not.

    So he strolls in with prana flowing through him, in case he needs to resist any sort of spell. With a smooth flicker of energy the weapon he mentally prepared appears in his hands, solidifying out of pure magical energy. It is Clarent, the radiant and dazzling sword wielded by Mordred. Perhaps Mordred's taint it, but perhaps its holy nature will shine through for the use Shirou intends for it. The luxuriously decorated weapon contrasts starkly against the mansion's gloomy atmosphere... and its wielder's entirely mundane clothing and stance. Shirou glances about, squinting and waiting for his eyes to adjust. He finally gets a good look... and almost wishes he didn't.

    "....." His gaze does lock onto the executor's fallen weaponry though... "They were ambushed right upon entering?! ... or ran and didn't make it out..."

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki nods, her 'oh god what' look only being enhanced by Psyber's words and Aoko's explanations. She practically withers when she's clapped on the shoulder, about to raise an objection when it seems like all the decisions are made for her.

    "N-no, it's okay..." She breathes, trying to recover SOME semblance of grace or poise or...

    Nope, she's screwed.

    "I'll leave myself in your hands, then..." She breathes, embarrased beyond all belief. This whole hiding-that-she's-a-vampire thing sucks. It was so much more clearcut at school!

    Also it was more clearcut when she wasn't actually a vampire for realsy-reals.

    So, she toddles in behind Psyber, sticking close and generally being the Sidekick Damsel. "I'm not really going to be stuffed into traps, right?"

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko lowers her hand. Didn't find out much, but she wasn't expecting much. She shakes her head, for the benefit of those watching, and starts walking forward. She considers taking out a weapon to begin with, but--those who came before surely did the same, and that didn't save them. Her armor will have to do, for now.

    Introductions take place over the radio. For her part, she has no visible apparatus, and isn't moving her lips, opting to remain completely silent so far as anyone off the frequency can tell. Either she's got one of those implanted models or she's using magic. (Hint: It's magic.)

    "Kimiko Shinobu. To those who do not know. Hello." She glances to either side, trying to catch any errant detail that could be immediately important. "My magic's focus is defensive. Please make use of me in that regard." Tactical cohesion in newly formed groups tends to go better with some information being up front.

    The sword is too interesting not for her to go over and take a look at. She's seen a lot of swords, if you only count the kind that do make it into history books. (So, not Shirou's weapon, probably.) Enough to be able to tell where one likely came from, if it follows a known style.

Faruja (152) has posed:
"Pray for our success, my Lady." He offers Aoko a bow, then he's off with the others. Reaching into his robes, he pulls out an ornate, antique looking weapon that /might/ pass for a sawed off shotgun. One etched in religious iconography and gold.

Faruja looks to Berri, and nods to the bunny eared woman. She gives the Inquisitor a wink, the pair moving with the solidarity of two people having worked with one another for some time. The Inquisitor limp-walks over, /after/ wiping off his feet.

Particularly, he ends up at some of the bloodied handprints. The Acolyte stands a foot or two away, shotgun leveled down the hallway, one bunny-ear perked. Her face is cheerful, but there's alertness to her, the woman a coiled spring.

"Nice to meet you Mister Psyber! Faruja...I mean the Lord Inquisitor has said much of you!"

Then, time magic flares around the rat, and he attempts to peer into the past to see just /what/ caused so much blood and death. Blue light further lights up the room as the rat closes his eyes and concentrates.

Serenity (607) has posed:
    "A sword hilt," Serenity surmises. It's not a snarky answer, either, because she's looking over it as well. It might be more! Since it's already being analyzed she turns her attention to the walls and room.

    "For a vampire, quite a lot of blood," she states. "You'd think they'd have better things to do with it. Unless it has to be fresh... I have no idea what vampires in this world are like." She draws her sword, approaching the door on the left to take a quick look inside. The sword has a faint sheen, not quite glowing so much as catching any ambient light.

Chris Rothschild (283) has posed:
    "...I need night vision goggles," Chris decides as they step into the lobby.

    Strangely, once they've taken that first step and they are firmly In Danger(tm), he finds it easier to focus and stay calm. Still nervous, of course, on high alert, but far more steady about it. Standing on the precipice is always more frightening than actually making the jump. And now they're inside, greeted with a bloody, dark lobby.

    The magus is careful to stay behind Kimiko, and rather glad he made the right choice. For the moment, he restricts himself to information gathering. Specifically, using his PDA to take a sweep of the surrounding area, checking to see if there's power anywhere in the building - and if so, which direction. It's a fairly simple trick, but one that could be useful in finding their quarry.

Teresa (601) has posed:
    Teresa nods in turn, to each of her fellow hunters, the woman's trademark smirk reappearing briefly as she nods to Psyber. She's not staying behind anyone, if she can help it. She walks into the building, and her silver eyes seem to.. not glow, but looking at them, it's hard not to see the color rather plainly, even in the dark. "I have a feeling it knows that it has guests."

Either way, she reaches out with all her senses, trying to see if there's something she can pick out with them.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Before you head in:

    Shirou receives an answer from Aoko, who shakes her head. "Nope. Don't even know their gender. No witnesses. No logs. No journals. Just bodies," she says. "Could be anything."

    The bladeless sword hilt seems vaguely blessed, and like it's made to have magic poured into it.

    If Shirou tries to analyze it (oh who am I kidding, he does that passively), it is a Black Key. Insert mana, receive blade. Vaguely holy, but not overly so. Can stab people's shadows. Psyber experienced that first-hand already, so he might recognize it.

    The blood trails don't seem to have only a single direction. Some were ambushed on their way in, others on their way out. And pretty violently, from the look of it. No graceful killer here.

    Faruja receives a glimpse of the past. A Church Executor, a man in dark blue priestly robes, enter the lobby and scans the area. He spots the blood, the badges on the ground left as a warning. He looks into the right room, sees nothing, closes the door. He looks into the left, sees nothing, closes the door.

    His flashlight flickers, and in the single moment the manor is dark again, a figure about six foot and a half with a blank white mask stands behind him. He reaches for the red sword hilt in his coat, but the massive man crushes his hand, sending the weapon into the corner.

    The murderer's other hand produces a large knife, and with superhuman speed shanks the priest about a dozen times, and then lops his head off with it.

    The head rolls to the entrance, while the lumbering killer starts dragging the corpse by the broken write he's still holding into the third door.

    Serenity checks the left door!
    It leads into a small room. There's a couch and a bookcase. No blood here. There's a dusty teacup on a table in front of the couch. Does she proceed inside?

    Chris will find the building is not even wired. Candles! Candles everywhere. None lit some still large enough to be. Whoever lived here didn't like technology. Not a surprise, considering magi.

    Teresa can spot mild magical remnants in the air, the kind caused by something like a ghost or a spirit being materialized for a short period of time, several days old.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva gives Faruja a wave as he draws near. "Sup thou to thee, Inquisitor Faruja." She says with a smile. "Ready to stab evil?" Psyber's explanation causes her to nod. "Remind me to get one if I branch out." She says, pulling out a pair of Ingram MAC-10s. They begin glowing with a flow of Anima through the circuits etched inside the slides, and heads in with the others. She stops at the bloody room. "Ugh." She wrinkles her nose at the smell and moves around a little gingerly, taking in details. She moves carefully, as if expecting to possibly be attacked at any moment. "Spooky mansion ahoy." She mutters. "This place is going to need some scrubbing once we're done, looks like." The fallen object is being investigated already, so Riva settles for looking around some more, putting on a hard hat and turning on the light so she can see properly... at least, where she's looking. She picked it up back in Kingsmouth. Mining town, yanno?

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber picks up the hilt off the ground and then twirls it in his hand. When everyone has had a good look, he slips it into his belt, "This might be useful later." Psyber says aloud while he puts it away.

    Lifting up his shotgun again, Psyber grips the weapon in both hands, looking around. Strawberry gets a slight smile, "Glad to hear he speaks highly of me." He quietly notes before starting to creep his way towards one of the doors.

    Psyber tries to open the DOOR THAT GOES STRAIGHT AHEAD while Serenity investigates the left one, "Try to avoid straying off too far while we get our bearings. It could try to target stragglers."

Faruja (152) has posed:
In a vaguely awkard fashion, Faruja goes for a thumbs-up to Riva. Except his hand is flat, and his thumb is sideways. See, the medieval Inquisitor can keep up with the cool kids!

"Another day's work in the Lord's Service! May He see us through!" Riva, especially, seems included in that. She has his respect, and she's a Templar, after all.

Faruja winces all throughout the vision, coughing and twitching. There's rage on his muzzle when he finally stands.

"Our opponent is swift, and deadly. That poor Acolyte hardly had a moment's notice. He was investigating the place, much as we, and found the badges of those whom came before him. The lights went out, and what I can only assume to be the Dead Apostle struck from behind. Faster than any human, and sadistic. That door there..." He points to the third door.

"Dragged the body that way." Comes the rodent. Then, he speaks more over the radio.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    "I would be surprised if even one of us could enter without it noticing. I can't sense it, though. Maybe... hidden."

    Kimiko looks away from the sword hilt.

    Blood stains and directions are noted. "I imagine... it will strike when it is ready, or when we force it, by finding what it would have us not find." Slow, careful speech. Still silent, outwardly. "Being ready for an immediate attack with lethal intent from the worst possible direction... would be wise." Faruja's vision confirms as much, when explained.

    She takes a moment to get everyone else's positions firmly in mind, then checks the door to the right, if someone hasn't already opened it.

Teresa (601) has posed:
    "Hm. So, it hunts, and isn't foolish enough to simply attack head-on, when it has a clear advantage doing otherwise." Teresa remarks, "But I'm not sure our friend will be so easily dealt with. I sense a presence here, but it's not a physical one. Not corporeal, it would seem. And.. I am certain it knows we're here. If it doesn't, that's of little consequence. Assume it does."

The blonde woman continues moving forward, into the house, sword held at her side.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Chances are it already knows we're here. They're probably a magus, so this place would have an alarm boundary field." Shirou points out. His own house has such protection, though that's ALL it has.

    He hears Faruja's explanation and grimaces... "...Yeah. let's stick together. Nobody wander off alone or show your back where someone else can't see it."

Chris Rothschild (283) has posed:
    No wiring in the house, at all. Lovely. Chris mutters under his breath about having stepped into the dark ages, and then immediately begins prepping a few things. Taptaptap goes the magus, beep beep goes the PDA, and then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a roll of coins. Quarters, to be exact. Two of these he plops into his hand, before thumbing a button on the PDA; both of them crackle briefly with little electrical jolts. "Uh, Shinobu. Teresa. Catch." Each of the women is tossed one of those quarters, which almost seem to 'hum' in their palms, though it's purely a physical sensation rather than a sound. He looks Psyber's way, as if debating whether to make one for him as well, then apparently decides the angel has more than enough firepower already.

    So instead he dumps a few more into his hand, and loads them with a different spell. As he does, he murmurs into his radio, explaining his gifts to the two women.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki's intense 'welp' at Psyber has one small side effect. She doesn't actually notice all that blood. But, as she hangs out behind Psyber while she listens to the others, most notably Faruja and his description of the killer, she sort of sniff-sniffs, and then claps both hands onto her nose, screwing her eyes shut.

    "U-ugh, so much blood..." She groans, the whole room hitting her full force. It wasn't just one person but more like dozens, blood seeped into cracks and along the walls, old and potentially mildly rancid.

    Shakily, she reaches into her coat, before withdrawing a pair of sunglasses. Which she puts on. They are the kind that are opaque and shiny on the outside, and are heavily tinted. She continues to breathe through her mouth for a while, trying to calm down, though she isn't really sucking in air, just... Trying to calm down.

    She is also wearing sunglasses in the dead of night in a totally dark building for some reason.

    "Sorry... I... Have a reaction to blood. I'm fine, really."

Serenity (607) has posed:
    "Nothing very interesting in here," Serenity admits, closing the door. "Might have some papers or records, but I don't think we'll be finding our killer unless there's a secret passage to the conservatory in there." That was why she closed the door, so it would need to be opened first if there were an exit there.

    Sigh. "I'm not much for doing the sneak around and sniff things out." Even saying that, she sticks close to the group as she takes a quick look in the right hand room, just to make sure it's all clear before she joins the others at the third door.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Riva's flashlight reveals... the room! A bit better lit. Nothing appears to be stalking the shadows here. There are still three doors; left, right, and front, facing the entrance.

    The RIGHT DOOR leads into another small room. This one has a fireplace that hasn't been used in years, and a couch. There's a small table. It is otherwise fairly featureless. Does Kimiko proceed inside?

    The front door leads into another room the size of the lobby, with yet another door left and right. No stairs up, despite the fact this building is five stories tall. It seems to be a trophy room. There's a big dusty bear and tiger. A few assorted animal heads on the wall. A moose with large, sharp antlers, and a beheaded human body on it. It's rotting. A few days old. A trail of blood indicates it was dragged here from the entrance and just tossed on there. Church robes.

Teresa (601) has posed:
    Teresa likely runs into that body, in short order. "Hm. Our church hunter. Or, what is left of him." She doesn't seem bothered by the smell, at least. "I really hate it when they play with their food." The blonde sighs, sidestepping around the body, and looking around the trophy room. Again, reaching out with her senses. Something has to be here, with no visible way upwards..

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber frowns as he spots the body. Now the killer is just showing off for the sake of it. The half-angel carefully steps back and away from the room, letting Teresa take point when she heads in. Instead he turns around to look at Yuuki and ask, "Are you 1984 Canadian New Wave sensation Corey Hart? Because otherwise I don't see a reason for you to wear sunglasses at night."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva ends up following Teresa around, kneeling next to the corpse to poke at it a bit. However, she is no Sherlock Holmes. Or even a Monk. If there isn't something obviously out of place (besides the missing head) she isn't going to notice it. She looks up to Teresa, perhaps accidentally blinding her for a second as she comments, "Yep. He's dead." She sounded like she wanted to add something there for a second, but she stands up and looks around the trophy room in more detail. "Hmmm... If I were a crazy mage vampire where would I be hiding?" She says out loud as she pokes at the bear.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko catches the coin, giving back a curious look before slipping it into the palm of her glove, with the intended use explained. Though, given what Aoko said... "It sounds like swords will work. But if not, it may be useful." She'll get it out quickly enough, if need be.

    She is too polite to ask why someone with a bad reaction to blood stepped into a house knowing it contained a vampire who had recently murdered people, leaving bits of one in the entrance hall. She doesn't even stare. She's just thinking it.

    After the three doors have been opened, "Odd. No stairs?" The building is too tall for this. People actually living here wouldn't want it to be a huge hassle to get from one part to another. So she thinks, anyway.

    Briefly, she considers poking at the fireplace or the couch, but it doesn't seem possible that anyone could be conveniently hiding up one or under the other. There's not even anything on the table, so she closes the door again, as Serenity had its opposite, and carefully proceeds in the direction of the trophy room. If nothing catches her attention on the way, she'll go ahead and check the right door from there, in the same way.

Faruja (152) has posed:
Listening to the reports, Faruja follows the others into the main room with the trophies. His attention almost completely goes to the dead man. Soon enough, he takes off his robes and drapes them over the body after Berri helps get the man on the floor. Hands crosses, the nezumi takes out an extra cross, and places it on the body respecfully. He kneels,and Strawberry keeps an eye out.

"Oh, Heavenly Father, bless this valiant and righteous soul, and take him into Your arms, that he never again know pain, weariness, or suffering. Ajora be praised! Amen." Says the rat. He then talks into the radio.

Chris Rothschild (283) has posed:
    "Think of it as 'added cutting power', or, uh... a way to make sure it kills him, or something," Chris replies. Never hurts to have insurance, right?

    But the room they just investigated seems to have nothing particularly suggestive of a hiding vampire at first glance. When Kimiko steps back out and closes the door, Chris stops and considers something for a moment... and then tosses a couple of coins right down in front of the door, so they'll be out of the way of anyone passing by, but right IN the way of anyone going through.

    And then he palms another couple coins to replace them in his little handful, loading up the same spell on them.

Teresa (601) has posed:
    Well, Teresa is no detective, either. It's clear the head was cut off, but that's about all she can tell. She continues around the room, brushing her off hand against the walls as she does, looking for.. something. Anything. Perhaps another trace, or something similar. She even closes her eyes, blocking out a sense that really isn't going to do much, and focusing on her 'sixth' sense, instead.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki has a lot of reasons for doing what she does. Part of her goal is, in essence, to help people. Especially to help people who are being preyed upon by monsters. The fact that she has a reaction to blood usually doesn't come up quite so much - she's been somewhat made used to the scent, but the fact that it was buckets and buckets took her off guard.

    But she doesn't have an opportunity to explain that! Because Psyber is instead bugging her with obscure song references.

    "O-oh. My sunglasses? I'm wearing them? Ha-ha-haaa... Don't worry about it. I have sensitive eyes. Also, I can still see totally fine!" She offers, looking PRETTY SKETCHED OUT. So, instead, she just sort of awkwardly heads for one of the un-opened, un-explored doors. "I'll go find us a staircase!" She announces, before pushing her way forward.

    She is not savvy at all.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    The person who seems the most freaked out is the one worth most of Shirou's attention. he's pretty nervous here too, but nobody should be going off alone. "Wait, don't go it alone!" The redheaded magus, with the unusually royal sword, dashes over to follow along with Yuuki.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is, likewise, trailing along after Yuuki when she heads off. Might as well stick with her like he promised to.

Serenity (607) has posed:
    Serenity sighs, but since several are hurrying after Yuuki, she will probably be all right. They won't be far, and they aren't splitting up into ones or twos. "I'll stay with Shinobu," she volunteers. Maybe she doesn't know Kimiko can take care of herself, since she's doing the trace evil thing. Or maybe she does know and wants to stick close for protection.

    She's keeping her sword out, though, and now she removes her sunglasses to tuck them away. Her eyes aren't human, and catch the light oddly, but they're just about her only strange feature.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Kimiko opens the FRONT RIGHT door.

    She uncovers a bathroom.

    There is blood everywhere in there, and what's left of a badly torn apart body. Shreds of dark blue robes and another one of those bladeless sword hilts indicates it's probably another Executor. He got in, but never out. Proceed inside?

    Teresa checks the wall. There are more traces, dried blood, but nothing of note. You'd think a magician of any kind would stuff his domain full of runes, traps, circles, but really there's just... nothing. Like they rely entirely on brute force to off intruders.

    CHRIS has fallen behind the group, if only briefly to lay his trap. The shadows twist behind the coat-hanger and everything on it, and a Clock Tower Enforcer, surges from behind it; a man in regal red and black clothes, a mix of mage robes and a formal suit. He's using spiked gauntlets, and the obvious logo of the Enforcers (though few of them wear it out obviously because it's too much of a hindrance) is present on them. He surges in, and tries to slam the young man into the wall.

    His speed is downright inhuman, and so's his strength, but there does not appear to be any skill behind the attack. It's not martial arts, it's brawling.

    The FRONT LEFT DOOR reveals a guest room. Bed, bookcase, closet. Proceeding inside causes the door to slam shut behind Yuuki, Shirou and Psyber. Supernatural senses can finally see something; the conceptual existence of that room suddenly becomes linked with the one of a room upstairs, and then nothing else happens. From Yuuki, Psyber and Shirou's perspective, nothing seems to have changed. Leave the room?

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber can't tell EXACTLY what just happened to the room, but he knows SOMETHING changed about it, "Something's not right." Psyber says to Yuuki and Shirou, looking around the guest bedroom.

    Of course, his first instinct isn't that the concept of the room shifted, but that something just came into the room. So he makes his way over to the closet and forcefully throws open the door, aiming the shotgun inside.

Teresa (601) has posed:
    Teresa hears Chris, and senses that other presence with him. Not friendly, it would seem. She's also quite fast about it. Inhumanly so. This attacker soon finds the blonde woman swinging her sword at him, aiming at his side with the flat part of her blade. Another thing, considering she's using the non-lethal alternative to the edge of her huge sword. "Now, what would a human be doing, in a place like this, alone? And maybe more importantly.. how are you still alive? Or are you human, at all?"

She takes a step back, and looks totally ready to take another swing, with the sharp edge, this time. "You'd better answer quickly, unless you're able to talk with your head lopped off your shoulders."

Chris Rothschild (283) has posed:
    Chris is a trained magus. He is at least philosophically at peace with the concept of dark and scary things, and working with the Union has given him practicall experience in not freaking out, either.

    He does not, however, have a fighter's reflexes.

    When a superhumanly swift Clock Tower Enforcer leaps out at him, his only reaction is to jump with completely unconcealed alarm and try to leap out of the way. "SHITSHITSHIT-!" He is not nearly fast enough to avoid it entirely, and while he's not going through the wall, the spikes on the gauntlet catch across his shoulder and tear open a painful gouge.

    The fact that he releases his grip on his coins and flings them into the air in front of himself is pretty much pure reflex, but it is still at least enough to put them between himself and the mystery man... which means that every single one of them will instantly magnetize themselves to any metal whatsoever on the Enforcer's outfit.

    Only once he's flopped unceremoniously to the ground in his failed attempt to dodge does his brain catch up with everything. He taps a button on his PDA, then holds out his right hand and mutters something in German, and a crackling bolt of electricity fires off... and immediately leaps for all those coins, and whatever they might be stuck to.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Psyber is assaulted by a bunch of old shitty suits.
    They're absolutely horrible. Like, beige and brown with green ties.
    They make you want to rip your eyes out.

    There is nothing else in the closet.

Faruja (152) has posed:
With the radio comments of Chris filling the air, the Inquisitor and his companion rush off into the lobby!

"Ser! What is...?" A motion to the good Strawberry, and Faruja castes a Haste spell.

The leggy viera is swiftly making her way over to Chris' attacker, even as Chris uses his pda! Strawberry will try to land a haste-speed swift smack to the back of the head. With her shotgun's butt.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko would like to know what the executor thought he could find in a bathroom, but Chris's yelling indicates that an oversight has occurred. About to enter, she instead slams the door shut, confirms that Teresa is on her way and that Serenity was watching her own back. After Faruja and Strawberry leave, this means that only the two of them are now in the TROPHY ROOM. This could also be a problem. Sadly, there isn't much time to think about it. Her instinct tells her to rush to the source of the disturbance.

    She resists. She is now in the least populated group.

    She watches for another ambush.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "OH MY GOD!" Psyber shouts as the suits fall out of the closet, "They're so tacky. You don't wear green with a beige suit. You wear a middling blue and a darker blue tie with an accent color like pink or off-red."

    Psyber shouts the shotguns across his shoulder, "Apparently besides the murder, there's also serious crimes of fashion here." A joke to lighten his own tension and the nervousness he feels about not being sure where the attack is gonna come from.

Serenity (607) has posed:
    Serenity barely has a chance to see what's in there before the attack hits. She whips around, sword held up and her stance battle-ready, as if she's about to leap to Chris's defense. "Tch...!" She has all the look of someone ready to stab the attacker then and there!

    But she hesitates. The woman balks, staring and squinting, with her sword tip wavering as if she's having a hard time seeing where Chris's attacker /is/ at all. A half step forward, and her sword comes up in a defensive posture instead, her eyes definitely staring right at the stranger going after Chris, but also through him.

    "I'm... having trouble seeing him. He's not... he doesn't belong here."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva looks up at the noise, turning to look at the others. "Action time!" She barks. "Come on!" She levels the MAC-10s and lunges towards the exit. If she's lucky, she won't get her face plastered into a wall or closing door!

What she's not expecting to see if that strange outfit. "HEY! WHAT'S UP HERE?" She yells, pointing her guns at the new guy. She grimaces, hesitating a moment as she tries to get a good angle, but finally she lunges, throwing out her hands and spraying magical gunfire for the legs of the invader. It's not /immediately/ lethal...

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Locked in a room, Yuuki practically jumps as the door slams behind her. Thankfully, two people came with her!

    One of those people is assaulted by TACKY CLOTHNG! Oh god, barf, those clothes are horrible.

    "On some level, I don't feel sorry for at least one of the victims..." She jokes, with a little half-hearted 'ha ha', before sniffing, turning towards the slammed door.

    "We're in a different place... The smell of blood isn't so strong." She notes, before pushing her sunglasses up her nose, grinning. "Well, at least we're all together. Do you have a plan? Otherwise, we can keep exploring..."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou steps into the room and... his expression turns rather scrunchy. "Did anyone else get a weird feeling? Something's odd about-" And then there's Psyber investigating the closet. He tenses a bit but... thankfully nothing comes out of it but bad-looking clothes. "S-sheesh, you nearly gave me a heart attack, Psyber!" The young man verbally lashes out. "Hrmph, if there's nothing to see here let's look somewhere else."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber looks to Shirou, "Sorry, trying to lighten it up a bit. Too-tense nerves means jumpy, which increases the chance of a friendly fire." He explains, heading over towards the door, "I agree, though. We should keep moving." He wants to open the guest room door and see what's outside. He looks to Yuuki, "Less blood and you being less queasy is at least a bonus of wherever we are now."

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    LOBBY:

    Chris gets a whole bunch of magnetic coins stuck on the Enforcer's gauntlets. They make a good path for the electricity to take, which jolts the hunter and sends him back a few feet-- but overall, it barely seems to have left a dent. A grunt, and he's advancing again.

    Teresa comes charging in, and will find it easy to overpower the man. He's strong, but he's not on her level of physical might. She slams the blade into him, and he hits the ground, rolling a few times before getting back up-- another grunt. He doesn't seem to want to speak.

    Riva fills him with lead, finally prompting something akin to a retreat. It's less a retreat and more that the repeated bullet impacts, which don't all penetrate the skin but still bruise and tear, cause him to slam into the left door and then through.

    The door slams shut behind him.
    He does not come out.
    The teleportation effect can't be felt activating, either.

    TROPHY ROOM:
    Serenity and Kimiko are still there! As Kimiko turns her back to the door to look at the activity in the other room along with Serenity, the door suddenly bursts open and the massive man with the grey jumpsuit and plain white mask is trying to stick a large knife into her back. He is, surprisingly, strong enough to pierce her armor, if she isn't careful, with just that mundane knife.

    Serenity can tell this is the exact same entity that attacked Chris moments earlier. It doesn't appear injured at all anymore (visually, that is, so maybe that's less obvious to her than Kimiko). Looks like it's changing its appearance and location instantly?

    GUEST ROOM:
    There's a rune on the floor, now visible. Teleportation magecraft, very limited use, needs time to recharge. Leaving the room reveals a large hall. There's about a dozen doors on this floor, which is just one big hallway.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva doesn't even wait. The guy bailed through those doors, she's giving chase! Chris is clearly alive. "Come on! We have to keep that guy on his toes! Keep the pressure up!" She calls as she heads for the door and lunges through it, guns first.

Did anyone ever mention she is bad at planning?

Chris Rothschild (283) has posed:
    For most of the brief scuffle afterwards, Chris is left lying on the floor breathing heavily, not even feeling the injury to his shoulder. Not until the 'Enforcer' is driven off does he take a moment to gather himself... and then grimaces, as the pain hits him. "Gnh..." Carefully, he shifts from lying there to sitting up, then pushing himself to his feet with his uninjured right arm. "...the hell is the Clock Tower doing here...?" he mutters, as much to himself as anyone else. But it sounds tense, moreso than is normal for him.

    He gives Teresa a thankful nod, and then... watches Riva go running off. Well. She can enjoy that. He's going to stay by Teresa and take out some more of those coins. More than half are gone already, but now he's loading in an entirely different spell on this set.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Indeed, Psyber's right it seems... they've all been moved somewhere else. Shirou notices the magic circle, but its meaning eludes him beyond that it's apparently about teleportation... and not because he knows what it's for.

    It's just hard to imagine anything else, when the room they leave isn't where it was before! "Why would you put a teleport there?" he ponders aloud, and decides to go for the first odd-looking room... its door seems used quite a bit. He does have the sense to just peer in through a crack before opening it fully though!

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber answers Shirou easily, "Standard protocol for a team formation is to split and investigate. From the foyer we were just in, a three man team would send one left, one right, one center." Psyber hoists up the shogun, aiming it at the door as Shirou goes to push it all the way open.

    "Sweeper walks into an innocuous room and you've already split the team. It's all to build isolation and advantage," He's mostly guessing at this point, but it's what he'd do if he were going to deal with a team hunting him, "You don't wanna check the other doors?" He asks to Shirou, motioning to the long hallway lazily.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    And then Riva moved, and Serenity was at the door, and there was no one watching Kimiko's back. This is unfortunate. Trying to keep her eyes on everything not already covered becomes difficult when she's the only one still looking in the room, and as she backs away from the bathroom door, she only has the time it takes something inhuman to burst out of the door on the opposite side of the room and rush at her to react.

    Her armor does not wait for conscious reaction. Its magic is such that it appears as necessary, which means that it's a collection of chain and plate that the misleadingly mundane knife penetrates rather than tasting *only* flesh. Her armor is convenient, but not intelligent in a way needed to determine what it will take to stop something. She gives off an obviously pained noise kept to more a grunt than a cry as her left shoulder is stabbed, all before she can finish turning around aim a strike with the gauntlet on her right. There is, naturally, a heavy force behind that blow, though Chris' extra will have to wait until she has time to summon a weapon.

    Her left arm is raised in a warding stance, though the injury clearly slows it.

Serenity (607) has posed:
    Again? The bursting door has Serenity whipping around, but again, she can't see clearly. All she can see is the vague shape of a humanoid, no details. Frustrating. On the other hand, that very blankness means she can attack without much fear of doing something wrong, and she /can/ clearly see Kimiko.

    This time, Serenity move. A quick dash forward brings her... nowhere close to the problem. But the slashing motion of her sword is unbelievably fast, and it makes a shrill whining note in the air as the blade cuts the air itself. The sharp vacuum cut arcs toward the vague shape, though it probably slices the wall behind as well... especially if he dodges it.

    Wasn't that room clear?

Teresa (601) has posed:
    Teresa is staying put, for the moment, with Chris, in case the Clock Tower enforcer decides to push his luck.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
TROPHY ROOM:
    Kimiko does not take kindly to being assaulted. At least, she can tell if she was a normal human, she'd have been torn to shreds by now. Fortunately she's anything but. Punched back, the killer seems incredibly sturdy, and only falters a few feet back again. It's more than enough to create an opening, which Serenity uses to cut into the conversation.

    The killer has his entire chest torn open-- and with the wall behind him cut, too, he falls through the hole in the awful, aged wood. This leads him into the left room that Psyber, Yuuki and Shirou had disappeared into, the door now kind of pointless. Unfortunately, it also puts him completely out of view.

    By the time Serenity or Kimiko can peer into the opening or even step through, the killer is already gone. There's only a puddle of blood left where he would have fallen. Seems he got up the moment he was out of view, and then out.

    Dreadful silence falls on all floors.

    RIVA:
    Bursting through the door, it slams shut behind her. The same teleportation effect occurs. The room doesn't seem to change, and is as empty as when Serenity first checked it, aside from that bookcase, table, teacup and couch. If she leaves, she will emerge from a door next to Psyber & crew.

    UPSTAIRS:
    Shirou opens the worn door. There's stairs leading up. Lots and lots of trails of blood, like someone dragged corpses up without care for the bumps and stairs. Seems to go up to the top floor. There's a burnt rune on the wall. Seems to be intended to make people ignore that door, but it's been strained too much.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Doors. That's what they get. Doors! All sorts of doors, as Yuuki continues to ~sniff sniff~ at the air. She follows Kirito, though, and seems to be drifting through the hallways, drawn to the door by the scent of... something.

    "Through here, it's..." SHe begins, before Shirou opens up the door, revealing... More blood. Fresher blood? She steps into the room, not quite as put off as in the lobby. "I think this is the Killer's room... No other room smells like this up here." Yuuki offers, looking around.

    She would have tasted the blood on the floor, but there were other people around.

    "U-um... Maybe there's something important in this room?" She asks.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Right. So closing a door means there may be a killer behind it. Breaking the door *doesn't* stop the killer from escaping. That could be more trouble.

    Kimiko stays right where she is, though she backs up enough to be able to catch sight of either doorway, right or left. That's all she thinks she can do for now.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Killer is still loose," Psyber says, scanning around behind them with the shotgun. He looks about ready to blast anything that comes into view that he's not expecting as he backs into the room with the others.

    "Check around for ID or a journal or something?" He suggests, "Serial killers and crazy murderers keep journals, right?"

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva rummages around the room, slamming around in it as she frantically looks for The guy. "WHERE ARE YOU, YOU ASS?" Riva yells, looking and rummaging everywhere. Psyber and everyone else up there probably hear her, before she turns and busts out of the room dramatically, pointing her guns around as if expecting to see the guy.

And then she looks confused. "Um." She blinks, and looks over to everyone there. "Hi!" She sounds real confused. "Did any of you see a weird guy in church robes run past?" she asks.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "...Crap, so it was to separate us?!" Shirou blurts, pulling away from the room in case it's worse than - oh... just a bloody staircase. His breath quickens and he glances at Yuuki, who previously freaked at the sign of blood. Why would you pull sunglasses out for it, anyways? This house is dark enough... huh.

    "... I'm going for this one because it seemed the most used. I don't need you freaking out at more bad clothes." Shirou lightly snarks out, not too seriously... but yeah, he's just trying to lighten the mood too.

    Because now, it's time to head up those stairs...

Serenity (607) has posed:
    Serenity frowns. "I don't like this situation. The killer is on his home ground, can move around at will, and has unknown and unanticipated powers. He isn't what we thought we were going in for. We should stick together and look for more information so we can have a confrontation on our terms."

    She doesn't sheath her sword, keeping it steady and ready, she just looks at Kimiko. "Are you able to walk and fight? Do you need healing? I don't know all the profiles of the people here, but I'm not aware of any healers."

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    Regrouping, it turns out, isn't too hard. The rooms teleport to the same fixed locations-- it's as easy as following after Riva or Psyber, into the rooms they used. We will, as such, assume that everyone is able to find their way, after whatever healing and side-things are taken care of.

    There is one detail. The blood disappears before Serenity's eyes, as she attempts to take it. It shimmers out of existence in a blue-ish haze of magic, as if it weren't meant to remain behind after being there longer than a moment. The magical signature is unique enough it could be used later, if Serenity can lock on to that at all.

    The blood of the victims might do too. The Dead Apostle will smell like his victims for a while, without drastic measures, if it drank at all.

    MOVING ALONG!

    The group finally reaches the dreaded last floor. It's an attic. There's a few alchemical instruments here and there, and a large crystal in the center of a circle that traces the whole room. A young girl, maybe thirteen or fourteen, with brown hair, amber eyes, obvious vampire fangs and an elegant beige and white dress, bends over to pick the crystal up, which shines a bright white. It's holy. Oh boy is it holy. It's like a piece of the Vatican and its leylines, stuffed into a crystal. The girl stuffs it inside a pocket, and the magic falls completely inactive around the room.

    "Hello, hello! I'm sorry for not tending to you myself, I had to finish this and not let it go to waste. Won't you introduce yourselves before trying to kill me? My name is Dorothy Matveyeva. I'm the one you came here to find."

    Three more Church Executors are stuffed into a corner. Their corpses are dry. There might be a tiny bit of blood left, but it's rotting, so it'd be hard to tell. The smell certainly doesn't bother the Dead Apostle, though for others it might be a bit strong.

    And yes, her presence is obvious now. Dead Apostle, vampire, whatever you want to call her. Undead. Vaguely human, or at least there are still remnants of her humanity. She belongs here! None of that weirdness with the killer.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Well as long as it's an uneventful trip up to the attic, Psyber slowly starts to relax a bit more. He still looks unhappy to see more Church Executors in a corner. The half-angel says, "Dorothy Matveyeva? I'm Psyber. You wanna explain, you know, the murders, why I shouldn't kill you, and the attacks and all that before I just, you know..."

    Psyber waves the shotgun at her vaguely, "Give it to ya? Knock knock, open up the door, it's real. With the non-stop, pop pop and stainless steel? All that jazz." He shrugs a bit and levels the shotgun towards her.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Well, here they are. The Dead Apostle... Who's... much younger looking than Shirou expected. The boy's stunned by this development. She looks ever so slightly his junior... but. Vampirse don't really age, do they? And her behavior hardly seems teenaged...he fearfully glances over the corpses, expression grim. There's something weird happening in this mansion, but he doesn't know what.

    Hopefully someone else does.

    He's thrown off-balance by Psyber's strange demeanor though. What kind of way to regard a vampire girl is that? Sheesh.

    "Emiya SHirou." The redhead announces. He has pretty much nothing to hide. "I can't fault someone for defending themselves... the Church is just as brutal as I heard." He's still bearing Clarent. It's lasting a remarkably long time, thanks to extra care in its creation.

    The boy's eyes narrow down... "...However, you're not just doing that, are you?" It's an honest question, surprisingly enough. There's no sarcasm in it at all, nor does it sound rhetorical.

    He is extending some hope that, despite appearances, this Dead Apostle is just in bad circumstances and not actually a willingly awful person. It's a hope, but he's not investing too much in it.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva follows Psyber and the others around. She looks over her shoulder, super spooked as she expects the guy to pop out of a shadow or doorway at any moment.

He doesn't! Shock. The tension rises in a Hitchcockian style nonetheless. "Ugh... Maybe I do miss the zombies. At least they didn't use /tactics/." Riva grumps tensely.

Finally, they reach the attic, wherein Riva looks over the surroundings and frowns, nose wrinkling. "Okay guy, now you're..."

She pauses. "Hey, you're not a crazy stabby guy at all." She introduces herself, and Riva sighs, lowering her guns. "Riva Banari. Nice to meet you." She pauses again and gestures to Psyber. "What Space Dad said."

Chris Rothschild (283) has posed:
    "Chris," the magus replies, eyeing the Dead Apostle warily. He doesn't have much to say at the moment, largely due to his shoulder still being injured. However, he's still got his handful of coins, all but one of which he's shifted to his left hand.

Teresa (601) has posed:
    Teresa has never made a habit of offering her name to those she's been tasked or hired to kill, and it's a habit that is facing a very slow end. She's silent, though her sword is sheathed, with her rather intense stare leveled straight at the Dead Apostle. If nothing useful comes out of her mouth, she seems all but ready to put her sword into it, and then some.

Serenity (607) has posed:
    "No blood after all," Serenity says. "I might be able to track the magical signature later, but..." She doesn't say more. Explaining the details of how her powers work would be difficult, in a short time, so she just leaves it be.

    And then... vampire? Okay. Serenity shrugs, then states calmly, "My name is a matter of public record if you know where to look." She doesn't sheath her sword, either.

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    Kimiko doesn't seem to be paying attention to the Dead Apostle at all. Probably very rude of her, but they'll deal. She's watching the back, waiting for a teleporting guy with a knife to show up, or just anything else at all. By this point, she a short blade in her hand, a good eighteen inches of steel ready, along with Chris's coin, to stab into whatever shows up.

    If they need to kill the girl, who is probably a horrible monster (and therefore does not qualify, in Kimiko's mind, for politeness anyway), Psyber's already got a gun pointed at her. It'll be handled.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Yuuki Kuran (filled with delicious, delicious blood) falls into the pack of others, looking curiously out at the scene with the 'Vampire' (who smells like a lot of different people all melted down to fill up one person, go figure), and the scent of decay. Amusingly, she does sort of wrinkle her nose at the stench, though since they were more or less exsanguinated, she doesn't have too terrible a reaction to it. It's just gross.

    She was going to ask why she killed these men, but she fears she'd get the same sort of response as Uncle Rido would give - 'because I was hungry' or 'because I was bored'. So, instead, she just sort of stands there, awkwardly shuffling her feet and being TOTALLY NORMAL.

    A rather large part of her has its hackles up and is ready to get into a catty territory fight with this other Vampire, but she tries to tramp down the horrible animalistic part of her with reason and also the mortifying thought of getting outed in front of all of these people.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    "I can explain, of course. I was hungry, and they came looking for me. They were delicious! Executors are the best. The amount of magic in their collective blood will probably sustain me for a few months without need for more."

    Her fangs show in her grin, and she taps the pocket she stuffed the crystal in. "As for that, I'm sure you can analyze my work once I'm gone. I don't have time to get rid of it and escape, it's one or the other. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll meet again, and I'll be able to show you the fruits of my labors!"

    She takes an elegant bow. "It was nice meeting all of you. Even those who're stuffy," she teases, towards Teresa, Kimiko, Serenity and others who refuse to say hello. "I should really get going now. I'm certain the Church will be happy to have their house back. Maybe you can even tell them I'm dead and save us all the trouble of finding me. It's not like we vampires leave a corpse behind, who'd be the wiser?"

    She raises her left hand, until now out of view. Three red marks are upon it; one vaguely trances a hand, another the knife it is holding, and the third set forms a vague pumpkin appearance around it all.

    "Assassin~! We're leaving."

    A red flare of light consumes the pumpkin marks, fading them to dull grey-red. The masked man appears in front of Dorothy; his eyes peer out the mask towards Shirou, and his appearance shifts, taking on the traits of a burn victim instead of a masked killer. One of his hands sprouts large metallic claws, like a glove for gardening, and he swipes it violently, unleashing a trio of bright red slashes against the whole group. He also roars, as if extremely angry.

    With the same motion he used to make the attack, he spins to face Dorothy, snatches her with one arm, and then just straight up leaps to the back of the room and plows out a window. Bright blue lasers attempt, and fail, to intercept them in the air.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Almost as soon as Assassin's attack comes out, Psyber fires the shotgun. The green shell, for people who saw him load it into the weapon, is now established as one of his custom rounds. With the click of the trigger, the shell explodes inside the shotgun and sends its payload directly forward. There's a trail of fire in the air as the shell's inner workings are sent forward. Those with careful ears can hear the crack of glass amidst the boom of a shotgun as a heavy wad of salt, soaked with oil from the small glass pellet mixed in with it, is sent flying forward! Holy salt coated with blessed oil. It has an effective range of ABOUT 20 feet, so she and her servant probably have no actual threat from it, but he would feel bad about not firing.

    In response to the attack, though, Psyber brings up the shotgun and steps directly in front of whom he perceives as the most vulnerable member of the group: Yuuki. He tanks the slashes as they cut the shotgun into three easy pieces and leave somewhat deep slashes across his front. He winces and grunts in pain as some of his own blood falls to the floor in front of him. The pieces of shotgun clatter to the ground with metallic thunks as he just lets them go, the weapon basically useless now.

    "Damnit. She got away."

Teresa (601) has posed:
    Teresa is able to protect herself, and anyone behind her, from the Servant's sudden attack. His concealment, however, was problematic. She hardly sensed him at all, until he actually revealed himself. "Tch.. how disappointing." She remarks, at the Apostle's sudden departure. She turns to Psyber, and smirks, "Next time, then. She seems to have left us enough to pick up her trail, that is for certain."

The swordswoman looks around the room, and sheathes her weapon again. "Something here that can help, perhaps?"

Kimiko Shinobu (570) has posed:
    The killer shows up again, though not from behind. Since no one is stabbed in the back, Kimiko will still take this as a small victory. The power of a Command Seal is--not actually something Kimiko knows very much about. She's heard about it, at least, counting another Master among her friends. She knows it's a trump card and that the vampire is using it to escape, so there's an extremely good chance that charging straight out the window after her wouldn't be the best option.

    All of that is only consciously thought through afterward. Her immediate act is to spin, grab Chris, and yank the man by his shoulder quickly and roughly to the floor behind her, tanking the attack with her armor and a narrow shield to guard her face.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    As the vampire spoke, Shirou felt increasing dread fill him. Enough so that he began preparing blueprints. It would cost a dreadful amount of prana, but against this person... it was gonna be needed.

    At about the same time that Psyber takes action so does Shirou - the instant those Command Spells are in view, in fact.

    "Trace, off. Full barrage!"

    The air around him fills with sword hilts. The same hilt that Psyber pocketed earlier.

    Just as Assassin comes in... Shirou lets the barrage fly. The Black Keys fly like missiles, blades manifested out of prana bearing the potential to harm even a Servant - and certainly do a number on a Dead Apostle. But not that much on the Servant in comparison, unfortunately...

    Most of the blades are scattered by Assassin's slash, and Shirou only barely escapes getting cut in half by the grace of Clarent. The Noble Phantasm moves practically on its own accord - he parries on reflex. The mighty blade absorbs the impact - most of it. Though Clarent shatters, Shirou's thrown into the wall in one piece instead of two.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva immediately opens fire, the Anima-infused shot striking at what is now revealed to be a Servant. "Assassin!?" Riva yells. "What do you mean... oh." The Assassin undoubtedly tanks like a champ, since he was more than capable of it earlier, so she's not entirely surprised that he sweeps up the Dead Apostle and gets the hell out. "Damn." She mutters. "Welp. That's going to be a thing." She says as she spins the guns and holsters them inside her coat.

Serenity (607) has posed:
    Serenity's sword lifts to block the outgoing burst of prana(?), though it isn't complete. A shallow cut opens along one shoulder, blood seeping through. The woman doesn't seem to notice it as she frowns, sheathing the blade. "That was odd." She doesn't even try to shoot after them, despite her earlier use of ranged attacks.

Chris Rothschild (283) has posed:
    Chris is left to gape as what appears to be a fake Servant is summoned forth. This would probably get him badly hurt, perhaps even killed, given the events of the subsequent moment or so. Fortunately, he is being protected by an armored magical girl about a foot shorter than him. This results in another alarmed sound, and a rather unceremonious thud.

    But at least he's alive, and able to report his findings on the faux Assassin to the group.

Aoko Aozaki (591) has posed:
    The Assassin doesn't get away unscathed; shotgun shells and blades from Shirou pierce flesh and draw blood. Sadly, it's gone, but it's proof enough it can be hurt. It's been getting hurt pretty much everytime it appears, so it's not the sturdiest defender. Must heal pretty fast, though.

    That leaves the house; examination will reveal five full floors of a teleportation maze, and some runes set up around specific doors which would, if they were active, and against weak-willed targets, cause them to ignore those doors, and possibly get lost long enough for Assassin to murder them if they got that far.

    The magical circle and equipment seems to have been designed to grab a chunk of the land and its leylines and stuff it into a crystal. Most of the materials used were consumed by the experiment and some notes are missing, but it's pretty clear the purpose was to have a crystalized piece of the Vatican. For whatever reason. What a vampire would want with a crystal so holy they'll probably burst into flames if they try using it, that's anyone's guess.