Scene #7741: Terror Time Again

Owner	Pose
Trudy Grimm	The Kingdom of Agincort, located somewhere generally in Fall, has a problem. One of the old abandoned forts on the border has developed a reputation for being Super Haunted. People who get near it disappear. The plants are all twisted in the forest around it. Recently the moat's water has turned black and villagers have been disappearing from their homes, nowhere near the fortress itself. Trudy Grimm, self-proclaimed Wretched Wizard, has extended a request to help put a stop to that. She's already shared that she thinks there's a cult in here somewhere and suspects an upcoming blood sacrifice. Probably some corrupted artifact or demon is involved. It's bound to be messy business. Finding the place is fairly easy, as is finding the warlock herself. A dark-skinned girl with white hair is easy enough to pick out, especially alone on the road in front of a run-down old fortress. The Grimoire hangs from her arm by its strap, buckled closed and yet somehow seething while the girl prods at the blackened water's surface with a long stick. Drawing it back up, she watches the 'water' cling to the pole's end, smoldering with a faint acidic hiss. Mostly killing time while folks gather, by the look of it.
Candy	The buzz of a four-stroke, single-cylinder engine grows gradually louder as Candy approaches. It's not going to win any awards for speed, but the bike has a noticeably more archaic appearance than most Multiversal offerings--though it looks brand new, many aspects of its design suggest that its world of origin is still figuring a few things out. Candy's most flamboyant articles of clothing today are a set of riding goggles, a newsboy cap, a vibrant red neckerchief, and a longcoat that screams either 'if I trip they'll have to redraw the maps' or 'what are you buying?' Knowing him, he probably intends the former. Beneath the longcoat, there's a white tank top, and the straps of his suspenders, not that they're necessary with how snugly his pants seem to fit. When he steps off of the motorcycle, another archaic feature of its design is made apparent--the unusually rectangular kickstand, which extends behind and swings beneath the rear tire, necessitating that he lifts the very thin-wheeled bike up to do so. Hands in the pockets of his coat, he grins as Trudy busies herself with watching that stick dissolve. "Trudy, yeah?" He removes them, to stow his riding goggles, brushing a lock of raven hair from his face. Candy extends a callused hand. "Candelario--but Candy is more than fine, ah? Good to finally meet you." After a handshake, or the lack thereof, he points at the fortress. "You had a chance to give the place the once-over?" It does seem like the kind of place they write about in stories--where the ramifications of some battle long since waged come home to roost after some artifact or tomb is disturbed. Worth asking about, anyway.
Gareth	Hearing about a potential kidnapping cult and being given a location to mount a rescue is more than enough to get Gareth out and about to join the efforts. Instead of showing up like a knight in shining armor, however, she's opted for a far plainer getup. Instead of her armor, she's wearing a brown button-up shirt, a gray vest and slacks, and topped it all off with a cap that makes her look less like... Well, her, and morelike a newsboy straight from the early 19-somethings. Naturally, when she sees Candy, she laughs and raises her cap briefly. "Same hat!" And then she squats by the moat to peer into the water briefly, then gets up to greet Trudy with a confident smile and quick bow. "Good evening! I am Gareth, Se-" She pauses, and then she lowers her voice. "Seventh of the Knights of the Round Table. Do you think the kidnappers still actively looking for people to grab? If they are, I should be able to get in without them realizing who I am." She suggests, then glances back at the fort. "... Or are we planning on a more direct approach? That would be just as good, too!"
Blemishine	A supposedly gigahaunted, old and abandoned fortress in the middle of an equally spooky fortress. Even without hearing a bit from Trudy ahead of time, there's no doubt a place like that would be the first place to direct attention when people start suddenly vanishing. With or without the pitch black moat. If anything, she thinks something entirely supernatural afoot would be less disconcerting than a cult abducting people with the intention of sacrificing them. One is demons and monsters being responsible for what's going on. The other is people doing it. Undoubtedly people being influenced, given the cult deal, but still! Nevertheless, one addition to today's party is a blonde-haired girl stepping down the road with her golden eyes aimed up at the looming fortress, the second set of ears atop her head twitching and the expression on her face somewhere on the 'awed' spectrum of things. "It fits the run-down old castle look to a T..." And with her slim, white armor topped off with a long, fur-trimmed cloak, she herself fits the appearance of a knight just as well - if the shield and sword resting on her arm and her hip respectively didn't add to it enough. Her slower approach gives her the chance to give the first arrival's ride a quiet gasp and a way less subdued look of astonishment. It's not the first time she's seen a motorcycle, of course, but she wasn't expecting one that looks as old fashioned as it to show up here. And apparently, something about that is enough to put a grin on her face as she also joins Candy alongside Trudy. With a small, friendly wave of greeting as she does so. "Hello, Miss Grimm! You're already one step ahead of the curve, huh?" To Candy, and also Gareth, she puts a hand on her breastplate and gives a nod. "You can call me Blemishine! ...Or just Maria, if that's a mouthful," she adds on a little cheekily. "I'm starting to think I came overdressed." Though she gets a bit more serious as she approaches the edge of the moat and peers down into it with a frown, then towards Trudy. "If you were doing preparations before, does that mean you already have an idea for handling this in mind?"
Trudy Grimm	"Apprently the fort was abandoned during some hardship a long time ago," Trudy admits, eyes not drifting from her sizzling stick, "They never really moved back in after things got better. It's got a reputation for squatters and bandits, folks only started calling it haunted recently." She at last glances towards Candy, offering him a wide grin with sharp shark-like teeth, "Also, nice to meet you in person!" The witch stands, tossing her stick into the moat completely. Like this it's rather easy to pick out her own fashion choices; a dark green coat with enormous fuzzy sleeves being the most prominent piece. Pleated skirt and knee-high fuzzy boots, all accessorized with strings of beads and charms on her legs and arms and from the bound grimoire she carries. "Gareth... Ah ha, that knight from last night!" Her eyes close, that same grin widening a touch, "That kind of sneaky trickery is appealing, but I don't think we have the luxury of time to make it work this time. I'm afraid the plan is markedly more direct today." When Blemishine asks her, the witch nods once. The book at her side jerks suddenly, shaking. The buckle holding it shut slips, then unfastens, the tome lifting even before she's placed her hand on its spine to support it when it opens. Pages flip wildly, stopping suddenly, and she raises her free hand with the palm held out towards the fortress gate. A sickly green light forms, then splits, separates, and extends outward in the plane of her hand, drawing itself into unnatural shapes and intertwined runic knots of seething, unhealthy energy. Nested within the circles of runes and knots, a five-pointed star which begins rotating, turning clockwise with the sound of a poorly oiled hinge. At one-half turn, it stops with the sound of a great key turning an immense and rusted lock. The entire sigil vanishes immediately, melting away. Something metal snaps on the far side of the wall. With the sudden rattle of chains, the drawbridge releases, descending out of control to slam into the road bed and bridge the moat. The chain that once held it fast clatters to stillness across the surface, corroded, rusted, and snapped. Trudy closes her book and it buckles itself once more, her free hand turning to present this solution.
Trudy Grimm	Within the fortress courtyard, people mill about silently. There's a dead look to their eyes and they're pretty unresponsive with spoken to or jostled. Even shoving one over just results in the thrall gathering whatever they dropped and resuming the task they were involved in. It's all menial things. One could call it busy work. Most of the buildings one would associate with the interior of a castle or fortress are destroyed with age. Collapsed and uninhabited, with mindless people working slowly on trying to repair them. Even the central keep is in serious disrepair. What appears to have been the first structure to be brought back to livable condition is the church, though all of the symbols and stained glass windows have been torn down. This church also has some different folks around it. While the workers are dressed presumably in whatever they were kidnapped in, these are clearly cultists, dressed in religious-inspired fineries and feathers all in rich dark red colors. The bridge going down has them on edge, stopping midway across the courtyard when intruders appear. One draws a sword, the other produces a staff, while the third must be a Rogue because he turns and runs for the church as fast as his legs can carry him.
Gareth	"Ser Blemishine or Lady Maria... Ah, it's reassuring to be working with a fellow knight!" Gareth chimes in reply to Blemishine's introduction, letting out a confident noise while resting her hands on her hips. "You're not overdressed at all. Lady Grimm's confirmed that we're to move quickly, so a frontal assault on their keep means undressing will have to wait for later!" On that note, Gareth widens her stance a fair bit as her newsboy getup shimmers with rather obvious magical energy, being quickly replaced with a full set of armor complete with a visored helm that she keeps up for convenient visibility and facial-recognition purposes. She does it just in time, too, as the drawbridge comes down with a loud bang that has her jumping slightly at the noise. The surprise is quickly mitigated by the sight of so many people in the courtyard. Heading in right away, she hurries over to the first person she sees to try and jostle them from their stupor. "Hey, wake up! You're free from this nightmare! Just head over that way and..." That's probably not going to get her anywhere fast. She still tries, of course, but her approach has her coming face to face with the cultists drawing their weapons, casting implements, and running feet respectively. "Trying to get away? Stand and face us!" Gareth shouts after the rogue as she breaks into a dead ass sprint, moving way faster than someone should be able to even without considering all that armor she's wearing. A shield and lance materialize in her hands as she charges forward, fully intent on just barreling right through the swordsman and mage on her path to ramming into the fleeing rogue shield-first. The only people that have her changing her path, in fact, are those shambling workers, but only for a moment to actually get past them.
Blemishine	"Being called 'ser' and 'lady' is a little embarrassing, ahaha..." Blemishine replies to Gareth with the air of someone who's not addressed by titles like that very often, right before she goes back to another of those surprised looks from the other knight's sudden armoring up. "Wow, you can just.../do/ that? That must be the most useful thing in the world! But the feeling is mutual, so I'll be counting on you, Ser Gareth!" Trudy's gate unlocking spell is equally impressive by her standards, and she's not entirely sure if the sound of much-too-old mechanisms being made to move is from the drawbridge or part of the magic's aesthetic. Or both. She likes to imagine it's both, and the witch gets a nod and a grin as she also hurries forward across the way. It doesn't last too long given the sight that's waiting for them, though. All things considered, she was expecting it to be much emptier - but the sight of all these people shuffling around like zombies more than anything is even more worrying, all the more when Gareth meets no success. A quick glance around at what they're actually doing tells her a lot. "This place is a mess...but they're are trying to repair it? Are they using these people to make the place livable again?" But it'd be impossible to miss what can only be the cultists, which has Blemishine grimacing as she dashes in right behind the other knight. "And that must be them! Hold it--!" Her sword is brandished as she goes, and the shield already on her arm is braced ahead of her as she sprints. It's the swordsman that she goes for as Gareth attempts to blow through, following up whether they're sent flying or not - though one of those will make things a whole lot easier - with her own charging shield bash into a turning slash of her own weapon, aimed specifically to disarm them and send the weapon flying from their grip.
Candy	!! "Same hat," says Candy happily to Gareth, lifting his as well. That same hat is doffed amiably to Blemishine. "Maria! Shouldn't be too hard to remember. That's part of my first name!" He smiles brightly at Trudy, twiiiirling a lock of hair around his finger and bouncing slightly on the heels of his work boots. The sharp teeth might alarm or unnerve some--but not him. So it's one of them places. Forgotten, bad reputation 'cause it's been left alone so long, and 'cause people in trouble come here to hide. Good place to get up to some sneaky shit like kidnapping, then. Anything could happen, when that drawbridge goes down. Candy's hands are held out as if he's expecting to be handed a rifle. Wouldn't you know it, a cloud of smoke does appear there, with strange lights dancing inside it. When the drawbridge lands and air is displaced, the sudden gust blows the smoke away to reveal a pump-action with a wooden stock--archaic and unassuming, like his motorcycle, but it will certainly get the job done. What he sees on the other side is... not what he was expecting. "Whoa. The lights are on," he says, watching a few of the repair crews work, "But nobody is home." Some people -are- home, though. People that look very much like they're going to put up a fight to keep these mindwiped laborers working. Candy shoulders the weapon, lines up a shot at the mage, and pulls the trigger. He's using slugs, having imagined there might be bystanders present, and so there's no spread of pellets to risk hitting them. When you're fighting mages, you want to stay moving--and so after his first shot, he's on the run. Several of him, in fact, diverge from one central location, attempting to frustrate the caster's attempts to draw a bead on the 'real' Candy. Each of them save the original has some flaw or discrepancy in their appearance, a fast-paced shell game playing out in the courtyard. Some of them even open fire, several of them making rapid blink-style teleports to further confuse the issue. The real one blinked across the courtyard to try and get behind the mage--back pressed against the wall of the church, he'll pop out to blast that caster from a blind spot the moment he sees the opportunity.
Staren	An abandoned castle surrounded by a twisted forest.... It would make Staren nostalgic for another time, almost, if it weren't for the reports of disappearances and the ...excuse me did Trudy say there's a blood cult? Yikes. Okay, nothing like that other forever-untamed forest at all. For this FANTASY ADVENTURE, Staren's combined the outfit she wore to the Arcanimirium with her recent 'battle labcoat:' The first thing anyone would notice about the outfit is the matching dark red cloak and pointed, slightly floppy hat with a wide brim and holes for her ears and a matching cape; there's a truncated Concord Orange stripe in the brim of the hat, and a few stripes on the shoulders of the cape for accent. A pair of goggles sit impractically atop the brim of the hat for looks, and beneath, Staren's hair is in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. The second thing is of course THE COAT; like before, the upper arms have ornamental black belts with silver buckles, two on the left and one on the right, matching a belt that hangs loose from about thigh-level. There's a Concord-orange stripe around the waist and strips of leathery lamellar attached to the coat, although perhaps more for accent than for actual protective value given the lack of complete coverage. The forearms are partially covered by bulky metal-looking vambraces that must contain some kind of gizmos, although just what is unclear besides some Ominous Panels and holes that could be missile launch ports, or cooling vents, or just Looking Cool. Her trusty blue messenger bag hangs at her side, and under the coat is a plain red shirt, and baggy, greenish pants that are bloused into the steel-toed leathery boots which, together with matching gloves and a pair of belts around the waist, complete the outfit. Oh hey, apparently they get to skip the whole 'horrible cursed forest' because there's a road? That's handy. Staren flies in on a broom, following the road at about treetop-level. She hurriedly lands during Trudy's unlocking spell, but she can't really hide that she's late; She tries to interrupt any conversation about said lateness with a compliment of "Oh hey, nice hats!" accompanied by a fingergun gesture at Trudy, Candy, and Gareth. Staren doesn't take the lead, trying to stay near the middle of the group. "Zombie-but-maybe-not-actually-dead servants? Messed up. Wonder if any of these are the kidnapped people..." Oh hey, NON-zombied people! "Hey there! We're here about-- hey, rude! Don't run away!" she pulls some kind of energy pistol from her bag and fires stunbolts at the fleeing rogue.
Trudy Grimm	Swordsman and wizard are sent reeling in different directions when Gareth charges between them, with the sword-weilder recovering more quickly by planting his feet and lowering his stance. The wizard, by contrast, takes a right tumble and has to take a moment to regain his feet. The runner glances back, spying a knight with a shield charging right after him, far faster than he can move. He lets out a fearful shriek right as he's bowled over, sent sprawling by a masterful shield bash. As he tumbles to a stop, numerous knives scatter across the courtyard bricks, dislodged from the holsters within his outfit. He scrambles, snatching one and throwing it haphazardly at Gareth as he resumes his retreat, "Master-- Knights! Intruders--!" is about all he gets out before energy bolts hit him. The man staggers and collapses after a few steps. The swordsman, still on his feet, moves back into place between the gate and the rogue, prepared to meet Blemishine's sword with his own. When she ducks behind her shield, there's a brief moment where he must have realized his mistake before she slams into him. The blow clearly winds the guy, staggering but not quite dropping him. It's enough of a stun for her strike at his sword arm to hit true, slapping the weapon out of his hands. As the wizard regains his feet, he's straight up shot straight through the arm. Letting out a shout, he snaps his staff in Candy's direction, loosing a lightning bolt just as the magician scatters his afterimages in all directions. Lowering his own stance, his eyes dart in multiple directions, trying to follow the various images. So distracted is he that Candy gets effectively a free shot-- through his other arm. Forced to drop his staff, the cultist wizard can't exactly raise his arms now. Spying his compatriot's condition, the swordsman opposing Blemishine takes a step back, then raises his hands in surrender. Both he and the wizard glance at one another, then towards the church doors when someone inside screams. "Isn't it too early?" "The Master's hand is forced, I suppose." "Will it be enough?" "Believe in the Golden Lord."
Trudy Grimm	While the two knights and wizard enter the castle with the drawbridge brought down, Trudy Grimm remains outside. She glances upward in thought, the dimming light bringing out a faint glow behind those green eyes. Her hands spread to either side, a pulse of sickly green magic rippling out from her feet. Almost immediately, the mists rise, enveloping the fortress and the forest around it in fog. Shapes begin moving, lurching out of hiding, shifting and shuffling human figures in the mist. A man clad in dark armor steps up beside her, his metal shell corroded and broken in places. Green crystal emerges from breaks and cracks, from the seams in the plates protecting his left arm, from the left side of the narrow eye-slit of his helmet. She lifts her gaze to him, simply commanding, "Form a perimeter. Apprehend but don't kill anyone trying to escape. We don't want to murder the kidnapees, now, do we? We can sort cultist from victim later." The crystal-bearing knight simply nods once, raising his sword and making a rallying gesture to the soldiers emerging from the fog the sorceress summoned. With her new allies forming a perimeter, Trudy follows into the castle proper, having missed the initial excitement but taking a moment to examine the workers-- who have thus far entirely ignored the scuffle. Her attention is drawn away only when that scream pierces the night.
Gareth	"Oh, certainly! Servants get to cheat that way a little, so it's really useful for meeting with someone and still being armed." Gareth replies to Blemishine as she brings the shield forward to slap that hastily hurled knife away, pausing briefly to raise her lance for dramatic effect. "Or other such uses!" "Nice hat!" She then mirrors to Staren, doing a sick flip as she notices Candy's many hims moving around to throw off the mage's aim. Even Gareth's finding herself a little confused by the maneuver, but she doesn't need to worry too much on that end as she turns her attention back to rogue after Staren blasts him to the ground with those stunning bolts. "Stay down, and remain silent. We'll-" Gareth looks up and over as Blemishine and Candy force the swordsman and the wizard to surrender, looking mildly surprised. "-Oh. Wow, that was faster than expected! And with that area secured, let's keep going!" She glances back towards the outside where Trudy's got something up her sleeves that she can't quite determine from here. There's shouting from the church, and Gareth turns her attention that-a-way. "Golden Lord...? We'll have none of that, kidnappers!" Leaving the rogue alone, she goes into another sprint to get right into the church, already prepared to bowl into anything in her way before she can actually see where she's going. "Instead, we'll be forcing your Master's hand even faster!"
Candy	All around, Candies disappear, save the one who'd downed the wizard. "No, no, no," he says, shaking his head and setting the raven hair not bound by his newsie cap to bouncing. "No lords! I hate lords, me." Candy works the pump, ejecting a spent shell, then marches over to the wizard. "Sorry, my friend, but I don't got a gentler way to do this." He spits, then grins, looking down at him. "Or maybe I do, and I just don't like what you've done, ah?" Candy's boot thwaps into the downed wizard's temple. Even with the arms bound, some of these guys can still get cantrips off if their thing is 'magic words.' He's not trying to kill the guy--but he doesn't want any static while they handle what's in the church. One hand is off the shotgun, dipping into his coat to retrieve a card--the Jack of Diamonds. Back against the wall of the church, left shoulder adjacent to one of the broken windows, he flings the card in. The moment it strikes something solid, it explodes into a dazzling illusory lightshow, full of hisses and pops just like fireworks. A distraction. Candy blinks in at the opposite end of the Church, and quickly dives towards whatever cover is available--pews, lecterns, idols--anything that'll break up lines of sight towards him while giving him the opportunity to scan it and see where that scream came from.
Blemishine	With the swordsman relinquished of his weapon, Blemishine keeps her blade at the ready only for as long as it takes him to surrender, at which point she slowly lowers it with a stern stare and a nod. If he's no longer a threat and the others - now with Staren added to the party! - have dealt with them, then they have more important things to worry about. She doesn't have to wait long to know what that is. Because halfway through a momentary back-and-forth with her companions, her attention also immediately snaps over to the church. It stays there for a second before she side-eyes the disarmed cultist. "Will /what/ be enough--?" It's rhetorical because she doesn't have time for an answer, grimacing and dashing towards the repaired building as fast as her legs will carry her. Which is pretty fast! "Hold on, we're coming!" One of the open windowsills would be a convenient entrance, but she pruposefully barges right in past the front doors alongside Gareth in order to go in loud and fast. Attention grabbing, which combined with Candy's little lightshow right before, should hopefully disorient any more enemies standing by on the inside. She stops only a short way inside however, shield lifted ahead of time and eyes going over the room quickly - to pick out how many enemies they'll have to deal with in here, the 'Golden Lord' included...and also the one they just heard. Did they already try to make a sacrifice...!?
Staren	Nice hat! Staren smiles back at Gareth! "Considering the quality of the guards, I wouldn't have too much belief in your Golden Lord." Staren observes after the initial opposition surrenders so quickly. A scream from the church. Staren flips open a panel on her left vambrace and types on a keyboard underneath; camera drones, floating metal orbs with obvious lenses and antennae warp in and spread out, some covering the perimeter while some approach the castle and some approach the church, flying ahead to scout out without exposing Staren to attack from whatever's going on inside just yet.
Trudy Grimm	Gareth and Blemishine smashing through the church's front door is met with a mob of people in the same cultist garb as the three defeated outside. There's perhaps a dozen, or not quite. But none of them are interested in fighting; rather they're interested in being Not Inside. Whether urged to vacate the building by Candy's stunt or motivated by the source of the screaming, they don't want to be inside anymore. It's Candy who gets the first real sight of what happened. A man in more ornate robes and headwear, in the center of a ritual circle where the church alter used to be. Large portions of the ritual runes are gone, washed away by a truly prodigious amount of blood pouring from the wound in his own chest; because he has stabbed himself with some manner of artifact. Only the spherical end of it is visible, lodged in his breastbone. Holding bloodied hands to either side, he calls to the heavens. "Oh this day the moon is not yet full; please accept instead this sacrifice of your most devout servant, Golden Lord! Claim this flesh and enact your terror upon this land!" The crimson blood glimmers, washing out to a golden color. When the priest coughs, it's gold that spills forth. He staggers but does not fall, laughter escaping that gradually grows more resonant. When at last he recovers, his eyes have likewise washed out to the color of polished gold. "My new world shall have no room for the non-believers! Be crushed!" From around the golden priest, light erupts into a pillar, smashing through the church's roof, prompting Trudy to step back when she spies it from outside. Resolving itself into a rounded shape, the pillar curls, arcing downward and smashing through the roof again. While Blemishine and Gareth aren't terribly close to Candy's cover spot, the end of this digit is large enough to threaten all three of them. Outside, Trudy and Staren are only menaced by flying debris as the church structure takes the brunt of the force. Staren's camera drones give her a good picture of the ritual going off; but those positioned further away can also give a bigger picture view of what's happening when what can most easily be described as a Giant Finger tries to squish those who threatened the priest.
Gareth	Shiny things. Candy's arrival has Gareth momentarily distracted, too, but it's thankfully a brief one as she's soon looking towards the altar when one of the cultists stabs himself for some kind of ritual. More worrying than that, however, is the fact that he's still very much alive and spewing gold instead of blood. Also, talking like he's become someone else entirely. "You revealed yourself already, Golden Lord? This world is not yours to claim!" Shielding herself from the burst of light as the priest becomes a pillar that becomes a giant finger, Gareth pulls her visor down over his face as she takes a position besides Blemishine and raises her shield. "Brace yourself. This might suck!" Despite those ominous words, Gareth still sounds as cheerful as ever as she presses the side of her lance into the back of her shield, using both arms to push upwards as the finger comes down. It doesn't take long for Gareth's armored boots to crack into the ground already, but she's apparently adamant about holding her ground beneath its might. "Keh... Oh, wow, this really sucks!" It's a lot more force than she was expecting. Still, she's not going to bail on that spot if it means keeping the Giant Finger occupied. "Do any of you have a plan? Ser Blemishine? Sir Candy? Lady Staren? Lady Grimm? I... Uf, I don't think I'm in any position to strike back, but you have my moral support!"
Blemishine	All the cultists file out, and Blemishine isn't going to stop them. She's much more focused on what she can see at the other end of the church, much too late to stop what had happened. The fact it wasn't one of innocent people they came here to rescue is only a small comfort when faced with the sight of what she can only imagine must be their leader after the exchange outside, freely bleeding out. "He used himself--!?" She barely gets out while frozen in place, only perking when the changes begin happening. Gold...? She immediately raises her shield up to partially block out the shining golden light, wincing past it and turning her attention up as the roof is blown through. "This is bad! You two, watch out!" For as good as that warning does with an attack this massive descending on them, but she's not going to back down so easily either. Not when Gareth is working so hard right next to her. The fact she can hold it back at all is incredible. Any other time, she might be complimenting the fact, but there's no time for any of that. Having lifted her shield higher to protect herself, but having to brace herself against considerably less force thanks to the other knight, her eyes go back to the source of it. "Ngh...! Thank you, Ser Gareth! Maybe...!" Trusting in Gareth's durability, Blemishine sprints forward and around in an arc to get around the oversized finger, raising her sword as she does so. Light of her own shines from within the guard, then covers the edge in brightly glinting radiance. A blade of light for the Golden Lord. "If I had to guess, we should aim around where he impaled himself!" Whether it's actually a weak point or not, she imagines aiming for center mass is the quickest way to do the maximum amount of damage anyway. Closing the distance as quickly as she can, she rears back for a heavy downwards slice the moment she gets close enough to swing, to carve through his torso just above the artifact stuck in it! She'll even try to rend through the pillar if it's in the way, if she has to. To flesh, it'll be like a hot knife through butter.
Candy	"Oh, shi--" The end is clipped by the splintering of so much pews, floorboards, roof and walls, all of them crushed by the gleaming finger of light. Candy dives from the window, narrowly avoiding the first pass at the cost of his weapon. The force of the impact has him stumbling as stone and wooden splinters zip past him, causing his shotgun to slip from his grasp. It's crushed to bits by a falling section of wall. So, too, is Candy-- Just nearly. Time stops, with the pillar of light still struggling against Gareth's shield. He rolls out from beneath it. The light is nearly blinding, this close up, and he ends up rubbing his eyes blearily to banish the spots. A halved pew, mid-flight, would have finished off whatever the pillar couldn't. He grins, pushing its flight path a little out of the way with both hands, just for fun. Gareth is frozen, holding back the golden finger--no answer came from Candy about any plan. His plan is simple enough. A spread of five playing cards appears in his right hand. An obsidian-toothed macahuitl appears in the left. Pacing slowly around, he makes five deft flicks of his wrist, in a half-circle pattern around the frozen figure of the exultant priest. Time resumes. -One,two,three,four,five cards fly towards the priest from his left, behind him, and his right. -Candy appears beside Blemishine, running alongside her with a toothed club in hand. -Two cards are razor-sharp, but those aren't the main attraction. The tree cards thrown behind the priest angle downwards, exploding at his feet to try and throw him off balance. Candy lifts the macahuitl threateningly, blinking around the priest. It's a feint--he lets Blemishine get her licks in first, then darts quickly in to clean up with cheap shots aimed at his neck and back.
Staren	Oh. Staren's world has lots of stories about this kind of thing, although usually the one calling the supernatural being tries NOT to die in the process! Staren may be able to make certain kinds of portals and extradimensional spaces, but she's not really a master of manipulating portals created by others. It sure would be nice to have a leyline walker here so she could take readings of their attempt to close the connection... (presumably there's a connection to this thing's home realm, as it doesn't seem like a divine being has manifested wholly.) Staren shakes her head. Don't get distracted by research opportunities (but, do have drones take readings anyway), focus on the task ahead! Debris is raining down -- Staren gestures dramatically with the cape while activating a spherical amber forcefield, because showing you don't have to MOVE to deal with mere debris is a basic power move. Also: Oh right, Trudy is here and SHE is something like a leyline walker! Research opportunity regained! Also, a local expert is always invaluable. The body (reinforcement: unknown) needs to be hit as hard as possible, huh? Seeing Blemishine charge into melee, Staren opts NOT to deploy the explosives yet. While trying to get a better understanding of what she's fighting, she opts to just make precision shots with energy weapons for now and see how this thing responds. Panels open on the right vambrace, metal barrels of some weapon sliding out positioned parallel with her wrist to the left and right. Drone targeting data and sensors in the weapon make sure she can't fire when Blemishine is in harm's way -- Twin beams of firey light shoot out, blasts of subatomic particles which have had a significant portion of battery power concentrated into a tiny sliver's worth of actual matter and thus are EXTREMELY ANGRY, tending to transfer said energy on contact with solid matter. It's like sandblasting a target except you atomize it into high-energy physics rather than whacking it really hard with angry grains of sand. "Hold in there, Gareth! I can build pillars around you if needed!"
Trudy Grimm	Gareth's shield stops the Golden Lord's Finger, held at bay by her strength and resiliance. It seems to lean in, sinking her boots into the stonework floor somewhat, unrelenting. Blemishine takes that chance to strike, her sword glancing off the golden artifact embedded in the priest's chest and impaling just left of center. Rather than blood, as before, it's liquid gold that spills out in abundance. Time Chicanry goes unnoticed; as Candy is the only one present who might perceive such a thing even took place. To someone like Trudy it merely looks like a teleportation, the magician relocating himself to safety. His explosives blow the priest off his feet and subsequently, off of Blemishine's sword in a spout of gold. Hacking him with that obsidian-edged macahuitl draws more, though the man simply laughs. He slides backwards and rises to his feet, losing an arm to Staren's particle beam as he rises. Striking the sphere at the start of the engagement, at least, caused the finger to reel back and off of Gareth. The response is similar to what one might expect from getting pricked with a needle, though attacking the priest through his pillar of golden light is quite easy. The finger only seems to grow solid further up, leaving him vulnerable for now. It demonstrates this when it shakes, then twists and bends, sweeping across the church's upper level and smashing down all of the walls higher than four meters or so. This scatters stone and wood in all directions, even injuring the priest himself with splinters of wood and debris. Outside, Trudy makes some deliberations. Her soldiers have begun entering the castle compound, though continue to pursue her orders of detaining people including the fleeing cultists. Reaching a decision, her smile has completely disappeared. The Grimoire rattles, unbuckling its binding once more. As the girl draws the book up, her shadow expands and she sinks into it. When she reappears, it is inside the walls of the destroyed church, from the shadow in some dark corner, most noticeable by her green eyes and the emerald she now holds; its own glow casting a faint reflection on her face, hair, and hand. Her other hand raises the Grimoire, now opened to a new page scrawled with skittering, shifting runes. Closing her hand over the gem, it cracks, then shatters. Bands of green-tinted light rise up around Candy, Staren, Gareth, and Blemishine all at once. Renewed vigor and might! "Use it! Rip that thing out of him!"
Gareth	"Maybe to get back up!" If nothing else, Gareth's footing is never lost throughout this ordeal as she keeps getting pushed deeper into the church in the most literal way possible. Thankfully, between the sphere getting attacked and the priest getting chopped up, exploded, shot from every which way, the fairly short knight actually gets an opportunity to pull herself out of the ground, moreso if Staren provides that little extra boost to get out of the ground. "Does this Golden Lord not even care for his people or his own house?" Gareth asks of nobody in particular as the giant finger bashes the church's upper level apart just to get at them all, rushing besides Blemishine and Candy to batter away some of the oncoming debris at least from one side. Green light shimmers around everyone, and Gareth looks down briefly in surprise at whatever it is she's looking at. She's not sure at first, but she can feel its effects well enough to guess. "THank you, Lady Grimm! Now that we're properly going on the offensive..." Blue light glows around the base of her lance at first, slowly moving towards the tip as she darts around the priest to his side, then his back, then the other side, and so on until she's circled around him a few times in some kind of effort to confuse the priest and Golden Lord all at once. That, or it's just to buy her time to finishes charging that energy into the focal point of her lance. "Now! Arondight Overload!" Gareth lunges forward, stabbing that oversized weapon right at that golden artifact with all of that built up mana bursting on contact. It doesn't need brute strength to work, but she puts all of hers into jamming that lance in anyway.
Candy	Laughing. Either he's lost it, or we need to be working a hell of a lot faster. Candy winds up for another swing, only to catch a falling section of wall right between the shoulders, sending him sprawling past the priest, and his weapon clattering to the ground. He rolls over to avoid a jagged length of wood, struggling to get to his feet after being winded. Trudy's magic comes just in time, revitalizing him. With a grin and a thumbs-up shot her way, Candy charges back into the fray, fully intent on using it. He'd taken some time to study Hibiki's fighting style, using his own particular brand of magic to cheat one of his own into his brain, for a time. Now's as good a time as any to make use of it. Like one of the heroes from those pulp adventure stories he likes so much, Candy attempts to play the priest a little chin music. Fists up, he makes a left-left-right flurry of jabs, bobbing and weaving to throw off attempts to read. It isn't the main attraction, and with the way he leans to the right, one could be forgiven for thinking he's about to throw a hook. He doesn't. He dips forward instead, and one might again understandably think he's about to throw an uppercut, the way he leans back at the last minute. Instead, he vanishes, just as Gareth makes her callout. He has no idea what it means--but he's friends with several people who yell their attack names, after all.
Blemishine	Fortunately, Blemishine doesn't stay directly in harm's way for too long, between Candy's assault after her own and Staren's particle barrage, making a quick backstep after the priest is removed from her blade so she doesn't risk being in the way of anything. When he gets back up so easily even despite losing an arm though, it really does sink in that this will be even harder than she thought. "Ngh...! He's practically just using his body like a puppet!" Flicking the golden blood off her weapon, she moves fast as debris rains down, running to stay ahead of the finger bringing everything down as best she can. It can't last forever, and eventually she has to use her shield and sword both to keep back the worst of the rain of material. It's a lot easier when she has help, at least! This is a time it's nice to have a friend (or three) to go back to back with. Four, when Trudy also shows up, glancing first at her and then at the light rising up around them. She doesn't need to ask to know what it is, she can feel it! "We'll put it to good use, Miss Grimm! Now...!" She doesn't need defense, she needs offense - so her shield is temporarily cast aside so she can use a two-handed grip on her weapon. It's reared back over her shoulder in a thrust-ready stance, tip aligned forward. She dashes right in, leaving Gareth and Candy to strike from all angles while she goes straight for the front! Rather than a string of attacks, she puts her all into a straightforward stab, aiming her light-coated blade straight towards the very same wound she made a moment ago. To embed it back in there as deeply as possible, and then twist the blade and slash with it off to the side - carving around the breastbone in an arc, to loosen the artifact's support inside his chest and inflict some serious internal damage at the same time! And external, as she separates at the same time as Candy with a final rip out of the Golden Lord's side, outright leaping away to get clear. "Go ahead, you two--!" Gareth and Staren will seal the deal!
Staren	The gem is clearly a target. Staren tries to dodge but a chunk of stone slams into her, knocking her to the ground and leaving her a bit shaken (though not significantly hurt, thanks to magical defenses.) She lifts her head, looking at the priest? in the distance, pondering whether to summon a ballistic firearm or use the gyrojet pistol... When Trudy's magic light fills her with energy! She sits up, then crosses her legs for a quick stand. Magic. That's right. This is the manifestation of a god. How could she forget? Of course, now that her mind has latched onto the idea, she has to Do The Flashy Thing. Staren raises her hand. "GOLDEN LORD!" she shouts. An enchantment-circuit in the coat whips up the air around her, making her clothes and hair billow dramatically. A staff warps into her hand. It looks like a magical girl wand as built by a mad scientist. It's pink with gold and jade bits and a copper section near the middle, and the head of the staff, above a couple of diamond-studded rings, is a goddamn golden STAR with fire opals set in the center of either face. It looks half-finished -- elegant circuit traces near the copper part connecting to a mess of wires that threaten to tangle horribly and in turn connect to the various gems. "You won't take care of your own followers, and you think you can steal their lives and then take yet MORE?" Staren shifts her stance, holding the staff as if she's making a thrusting attack in the direction of the ex-cultist. An aura of electric-blue light shines softly where Staren's hands touch the staff, and motes of similar-colored energy are sucked into the staff from around Staren, traveling through wires into the diamonds and lighting them up like a progress bar. "OUR world has no room for something like you! If you're going to take a form of flesh, then be subject to its weaknesses!" On the radio, Staren calls for Gareth to get clear, then projects her voice as loud as she can as she calls out the (nick)name of the spell: "DE·SIC·CATE!" The glow drains out of the diamonds and into the fire opals over a split second, and then Staren's clothes billow out behind her as if from a backblast as A BIG FUCKOFF BEAM OF PURE WHITE LIGHT slightly wider than Staren is tall shoots out, straight for the body channeling the Golden Lord, the edges of the beam flickering and pulsing as over the course of five seconds, it tries to blast all water out of the cultist's flesh, as Staren's device tries to turn it into a withered husk that will crumble with any further disturbance or attempt to move! And then it fades, and Staren is grinning eagerly to see how well it worked! There's just something so satisfying about getting to DO that, you know? Hopefully she didn't hit Gareth (no one else here would be affected by the spell.) That would suck.
Trudy Grimm	It is the laughter of someone who thinks they have more leverage than they actually do. It's a laughter that is stopped rather promptly when Candy simply punches him in the face. Given his reactions to being injured so far, it must simply be the shock of being punched that stuns him. Or the fact that there's more than a single punch pummelling him. Candy skips away unchallenged, with Blemishine impaling the priest once again. When she rips free in a gout of gold, he releases a resonant roar of frustration, the finger above him curling. Gareth's windup is about done at this point, spearing the man from the other side with a blast of magical energy that skips across the relic's surface, scoring dark marks before it buries itself into his flesh and blasts out the other side in a messy golden spray. Then Staren just blasts the mangled figure with pure light. It envelops him immediately, bores into the remaining back wall of the church, and after a moment punches out through that and into the castle wall before the five second duration has run out. A golden skeleton collapses in a heap of gold-tinged viscera, thankfully unidentifiable, while the relic hits the ground with a noisy thud and rolls a few paces away. A perfect golden sphere with a single black spike sticking out, dripping with golden liquid. The lingering finger of the Golden Lord simply fades away like a bad dream. "Secure that," Trudy requests as she clambers down from the debris she emerged on top of, "It looks pretty super-cursed from here, use tongs or something." Her route however is directly to the remains of the priest, which she circles once with her Grimoire open, flipping wildly through pages. The skeleton begins to shake, and in response she produces a gemstone. The Grimoire settles on a page and she pulls a wispy green mist out of the bones and into the crystal, only ceasing when the bones stop trying to move. The book snaps shut, its buckle fastening on its own. "I'd call that a success!"
Gareth	A bright light shines from the side, and that's Gareth's cue to get the hell out of the way. The recoil from the explosion of concentrated mana doesn't actually exist, but it certainly looks like it should, and she's all too eager to let the illusion of recoil carry her back (even though she's really just hurling herself backwards really hard and really fast). "It's... Over?" She peers out from around the safety of her shield as the lights die down, things stop burning, and the priest is little more than the skeleton and golden chunks along with the ominous artifact on the ground. "Haha! Good work, everyone. And with everyone... More or less safe, things should return to normal here! Probably." Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, she looks towards Trudy as she recommends securing the thing, and Gareth does that in the only way she knows how: Oversized lance in one hand, kite shield in the other. She angles each one as she tries to delicately pick up the thing as though she was wielding a set of tongs, but it's kind of hard considering the end of the shield is too pointy and the lance doesn't really have a flat enough surface to provide a stable enough grabbing point on either side. Someone else might have to get the tongs for this. Or just tell Gareth to use her shield like a scoop instead.
Staren	(The spell LOOKS cool, but doesn't actually carve a swath of destruction across the forest, fortunately -- half the point is doing something this cool without colatteral damage! Clearly what's left of the wall chose RIGHT THEN to give up the ghost.) Staren beams. She throws up her fists in victory, staff still clutched in them. "YES! How cool was that?!" She jumps for joy, spinning around once. "Did you see that?!" After a moment, she calms down slightly. "I mean, um, great job everybody! I'm not trying to downplay everyone else, I just always wanted to do that." She sets her staff against a piece of wall, then hurries over to where Gareth is awkwardly picking up the thing, detaching her goggles from her hat and securing them on her face before warping in a large pair of tongs. She's already wearing gloves! She'll take the device and bring it to Trudy. "Is everyone okay?" She looks to Trudy as she gets close, curious how the witch will contain this relic. "Does this kind of thing happen around here often?"
Blemishine	With Staren's actually absurd blast putting paid to the Golden Lord, Blemishine is left looking at the wake of the attack from a safe distance, watching the gaudy skeleton left behind collapse and stay unmoving. A silence hangs over her part of the now-very-much-re-trashed church as she goes to pick her shield back up without taking her eyes off where she's looking. "Wow...that was crazy!" That's what she finally gets out with a glance to all of them present, and especially Staren for the way too dramatic finisher. "Was that from something that wasn't even finished yet!? Or are the exposed wires a design decision? Does it draw power from those gems sort of like how Miss Grimm broke what looked like one just a moment--" Apparently realizing what she's doing, Blemishine trails off and lightly knocks herself in the side of the head with her fist and laughs it off. "Actually, I'll save all of that for later! We should wrap everything up first, shouldn't we?" She glances back towards the remains of the Golden Lord, and the artifact that's fallen free. Honestly, she'd rather not touch it, so she's very much fine moving to stand beside Gareth and allowing Staren to take it. What their resident witch does with the body catches some obvious interest from her, and there's a sigh of relief as the skeleton finally falls entirely still. "Ahaha...a success is right. It looks like it's finally over. You really did come prepared!" Her attention finally goes up beyond the walls, where the fog around the castle is lingering. She figured that must also be Trudy's doing, all things considered. "So all the people here should go back to normal again, right? And the rest of the cultists...without their leader or /that/, they shouldn't be able to do any rituals like that again! Right? ...Right?"
Candy	'Use tongs or something.' If Trudy's spooky friends need, Candy can certainly provide a sturdy enough pair of tongs--the kind you'd see in a foundry, used for handling hot moulds and the like. The kind that'll let you hold something at arm's length. It looks like Gareth has it handled, though! Or, well... she'll figure it out. Staren is patted on the back. "It was pretty good," Candy says, giving her a thumbs up with the other hand. He's a little scraped from getting socked by falling debris, but he'll be fine--he says as much, when Staren asks. "I'm okay!" "Trudy, what's gonna happen with the people they took?" He doesn't bother hiding the concern in his voice--does she have a way to deprogram them? Are they going to be okay? He'd go and peek out the window, but... He can really just hop over one of the smashed walls. Now that there's no avatar of this lord, are they free from his control? He wanders over to where one of those crystal-knight guys is and waves a hand before one of the laborers. "Hello? Anybody home?"
Trudy Grimm	$ Trudy tosses the gemstone up, then catches it and tucks it away inside one of those voluminous fuzzy sleeves of hers, "Not quite yet, Sir Blemishine. There's still the curse to sort out-- Ah," It's about here that Staren presents her with the artifact, "Just in time!" She had been so focused on dealing with the golden bones that she missed out on Gareth's more amusing attempts at collecting it safely. Completely heedless of her own warning, though, Trudy simply accepts the artifact with her bare hands, turning it over a few times, "Oh, yeah, this is a nasty one. Curse of obedience, it looks like, mingled with a few other things. The perfect kind of artifact to drop in the human world if you want someone to open the door for you." Her eyes close as she runs her fingers across the surface, "It's kind of gross, actually. But every curse has loose threads... Ah ha!" She pinches something unseen, prompting the surface of the golden sphere and spike to become awash with intricate, densely written runes. When she tugs, the runes unravel into a mote of light in her pulling hand. She releases it once the scrawled lettering is completely gone, dispersing it into glittering motes that fade away. "It's safe now, just inert metal..." The artifact is then tossed to Blemishine, "Think fast!" Outside, both townsfolk and cultists detained by Trudy's soldiers start regaining their senses and the din of conversation starts up amidst the ruined fortress walls, mostly confusion, but some elation. That should answer Candy's first question. When he accosts one of Trudy's knights, the figure simply turns to look at him. It doesn't answer. Knocking on the armor produces a very hollow, rattling noise. While it apparently cannot speak, it doesn lean somewhat over Candy as an indication that what he did might have been a little rude.
Staren	Someone is ACTUALLY CURIOUS ABOUT STAREN'S CREATIONS? Staren is just happy to talk shop with Blemishine! She looks briefly annoyed at the exposed wires being called out. "It's not finished yet, I still need to make sure the battery works in field conditions." She shakes her head. "I charged it with my own mana, but it takes most of my reserves. The diamonds," Staren picks up the staff and points, "are able to store enough for one shot, though, and this," she opens a panel in the copper part, exposing a cylindrical hollow space, "takes batteries that should be good for about four shots." She's grinning with enthusiasm "I don't mind, I'm happy to talk about it!" But then, her focus is taken by Trudy disarming... disenchanting? The relic. "Oooooh.... fascinating. Do you get knowledge from that, or energy, or anything? Or is it just sort of like... pulling a knot apart?" Although, Candy brings up a good point. Staren's ears twitch and she smiles at the distant cheering. The townsfolk will keep, though! Eyes shining, Staren looks to Blemishine to see if she has more questions!
Blemishine	"So that thing still has power over them, even when that Golden Lord is gone..." Blemishine muses during Trudy's explanation. That makes sense now that she thinks about it. There's a brief 'did you actually just??' look on her face when the witch takes the thing so casually, followed by her leaning in just a bit where she's standing with a tilt of her head. And it's gone, just like that. The curse, not the ball being chucked straight at her. "Eh!? ...Aha!" She swipes a hand up through the air to catch it while neatly avoiding that nasty spike, planting a hand on her hip and throwing it up and down a few times like a ball. Now who's treating it casually? "That door is going to stay closed for him for a real long time, I hope. Though it's a little scary to imagine that he might actually succeed one day." She gives the thing one last look mid-toss before letting it settle in her palm and looking back to Trudy with a smile. "And if it wasn't for you finding out what was going on, it might have happened for real. I'm glad everything worked out!" And then Staren pokes the bear. Through bringing this up, she has sealed her fate, as the blonde is more than eager to turn back towards her with an oddly similar sparkle in her eyes, giving off an impression much more like an overexcited schoolgirl or something more than anything else. "Oh, so that was kind of like your first field test? I had no idea gems could be used like that! Storing power like a battery...that works a little differently from the Arts I'm used to, but it must be really handy not having to draw on your own resources! What would you use that's good for four entire shots if diamonds are only worth one? Do you just put more in, or is there something even higher quality? Oh, and I'm actually really curious exactly how you transfer that mana through the machinery--" She's probably going to be at this for a while.