Plotlogs
The Salem Witch Museum Massacre Sr Tabitha 240121
The tale unfolds in the Salem Witch Museum, a foreboding cathedral converted into a museum, where something sinister has been stirring, evidenced by the unsettling quiet of the evening. Savannah, arriving at the scene expecting to offer her assistance, is soon joined by Antwon, Tabitha, and Deacon. The group, after a tense encounter with a local police officer, decides to venture into the museum to investigate the cause of recent disappearances and the eerie chanting heard from within.
Upon breaching the museum, they're immediately struck by the chilling atmosphere, with shadows dancing ominously against the walls. The chanting stops, signaling perhaps that the group has been detected. Despite some initial hesitation and a jarring moment where the ghostly wolf-like form of Antwon howls and undergoes a violent transformation, the team presses on, led by Tabitha, whose knowledge of the situation drives them forward.
In a sickening revelation, they discover a macabre ritual in progress. A woman lies mutilated upon an altar, a gag stifling her cries as she pleads through her eyes for the safety of her newborn, who is in the arms of a satanic figure, Miss Eliza Moreau. The infant is adorned with a glowing pendant, seemingly the focus of the evil chanting.
Chaos erupts when gunshots echo through the stone chamber. Savannah attempts to soothe the aggrieved mother, while Tabitha clutches the pendant, knowing its potential significance. Antwon, consumed by a bestial frenzy, tears through the cultists with primal ferocity. Deacon, after delivering an accidental but fatal strike to the infant, is caught in a violent confrontation with Moreau, who manages to wound him before succumbing to her own bleeding injuries.
Amidst the violence, Tabitha manages to offer some semblance of peace to the dying mother by returning her lifeless child to her arms. Deacon, with a grim resolve, performs one final act of mercy for the mother, ending her suffering swiftly. The team, dealing with their own shock and injuries, make an escape as the museum quivers on the cusp of conflagration, with Moreau's last words chillingly promising devastation.
In the aftermath of the horror, as they gather themselves, the group is faced with the haunting reality of the carnage, a situation that Savannah pledges to report for the sake of justice. Antwon laments being shot by an ally, and the group prepares to leave the ghastly scene, each member undoubtedly carrying the weight of the night's dark events long after they step out into the silent streets of Salem.
(The Salem Witch Museum Massacre(SRTabitha):SRTabitha)
[Sat Jan 20 2024]
In The Salem Witch Museum
An old Catholic Cathedral built of cold brown stone, rises above and stands tall and proud against the backdrop of a modern townscape. Thick and heavy wood arched doors look like they creep and moan on open and close but are heavy enough to still air flow. Beautiful lead glass windows cast a myriad of purplish colors against the sidewalk when light hits it just so. The street is lined with mature trees and tall streetlamps that come on as the sun sets, casting an eerie glow and shadow.
It is about 50F(10C) degrees.
After a while of driving, Savannah would arrive at the Salem Witch Museum area, that Cathedral it seems, built on up. Perhaps she had been brought on by someone asking if she could help. She steps out of the vehicle, closing the door quietly behind herself and she looks around to see if anyone that might be coming along has arrived yet.
It is a chilly night in Salem. The street, given that the business that was the main draw along it, is quiet. Ominously so. There's not much of a peep or chirp, or rustle to come from animals. The only rustle is from the trees, and the dead leaves that their gnarled branches are clinging onto. Savannah would notice this, on getting out of her police vehicle. The quiet.
Antwon's beat-up Audi has made the trip out of Haven before, though never so far as Salem. He's driving, with Tabitha as a passenger, and while he has his on her knee, there's a grim set to his face. "I ain't never been to Salem," he says. "I ain't like a place where they burn motherfuckers," he tells her, scanning the streets as he pulls towards the museum. "And I ain't like it especially if they burning motherfuckers who look like my woman." Dark eyes flick from face to face. "White bread fucking town. Always got fucking secrets," he says, shifting with some glance back at his backpack. On the way north, there was a stop, some hand-to-hand transaction with a man on the street in Dorchester, seemingly arranged in advance. Whatever was in the brown paper bag had some weight, and it's in Antwon's backpack, now.
That quiet is something she does notice now as Savannah takes her phone out, checking it. It does not seem like she is going to proceed anywhere for now, perhaps waiting on others. She listens, though, to that quiet, her eyes looking around as she lingers there, taking in the cathedral in the distance.
is listening to Antwon rant a little about the town. "They burned people everywhere, though, Antwon, not just in Salem. And they built this place as a way to ... I don't know. Make recompense." She shrugs. "I don't know. I was here with Jack and it's got a lot of gimmicky things along with the educational." She sighs, watching the scenery go on past. "But when it came to the witch trials, it was a lot of women who looked like me. But not all." The car rolls to a stop where Savannah is now waiting. She steps out of the Audi and waves to the woman. "Sav! Oh, I'm glad to see you."
Tabitha is listening to Antwon rant a little about the town. "They burned people"
Tabitha is listening to Antwon rant a little about the town. "They burned people everywhere, though, Antwon, not just in Salem. And they built this place as a way to ... I don't know. Make recompense." She shrugs. "I don't know. I was here with Jack and it's got a lot of gimmicky things along with the educational." She sighs, watching the scenery go on past. "But when it came to the witch trials, it was a lot of women who looked like me. But not all." The car rolls to a stop where Savannah is now waiting. She steps out of the Audi and waves to the woman. "Sav! Oh, I'm glad to see you."(fix)
"I seen it in history," Antwon tells Tabitha. "At least one or two that look look like my sister." Then they're there, and he's out of the car, backpack slung over his shoulder. "Lot of recompense out there," he says, cryptically, but then he's seeing Savannah. "Hey," he tells the Deputy. "Sup." It's a smile, tense. "This shit -- it nice to see you."
Savannah waves towards Tabitha and Antwon when they arrive in that vehicle and she calls out to her, "Hey, Tabby!" There is a faint smile on her face, at least some reassurance of others joining her in this endeavor. She steps closer to the woman now and takes a look around, raising a brow, "I'm hoping you know more about what we're doing here tonight? I was told to show up, that you all needed some help, figuring I could maybe?" She nods to Antwon, lifting a wave as well, "Hey, Antwon, good to see you, too."
"That's actually not true" Deacon says, stepping out of a shadowy path out of nowhere. "No witches were actually burned at the stake here in the United States. Strictly a Europe thing." His grin comes large, and his chin lifts toward everyone he spies, all of them known by name. He doesn't even cover the sudden appearance.
Deacon says "Mandela effect. True shit. "
The Cathedral turned Museum is a sight to behold, cold grey brick, cold dark lead windows. There appears to be some light, likely emergency lights to keep burglars at bay. The doors are thick, arched things. They look like they would creak and moan if opened.
"Twenty people or so here in Salem alone were convicted though. Probably a lot more that were unaccounted for, Deacon." Tabitha says to Deacon, without questioning as to why he might suddenly be there, either. "Doesn't really matter if they were actually burned, really. It's still a nasty part of history, especially since so many of them were innocent." Were they?
"Well. On record anyway" Deacon murmurs as his eyes turn to gaze upon the old church. He gives a slight breath, instinctually crossing himself (the true sign of a former catholic). He gives a more ready salute toward Tabitha in particular, but includes everyone. "Takin' orders, boss. I'm here to help however I can" he offers before turning his head toward Antwon and Savannah for quick inspection. "Yeah, totally fair. Just one of those things I find interesting" he says after a beat to the woman he's speaking to with another quick-fire grin. "And you ain't wrong there. There's bound to be a lot of bad mojo tied to this place. Tied to this land, and all that oui?" He shrugs, but the coat he wears doesn't do much to hide the bulk of the arm and shoulder piece that the soldier's become accustomed to wearing in dangerous situations.
"I wish that Father Francis was here," Tabitha reiterates. "He has the diary of Prudence. I never even got to take a look at it so I can't say whether she was innocent or not, but her mother sure seemed to think so." She, like Deacon, makes the sign of the cross about her body, then crosses her arms under bosom with a furrowed brow. "I just wanted to see if I could find out some more information. Her mother was killing people, I think because they had ties to the families that stood there and watched, and did nothing. Its a real long time coming, if you ask me. But Father said that grief can warp the mind."
Savannah waves towards Deacon once she spots the man coming out of the shadows, that's an easy way to get places. She looks off to that cathedral once more and she says, "The problem was they don't have someone like myself everywhere to try and keep things a little bit more peaceful between the public and not, wonder the circumstances about what happened here and other places like it?" She looks between Antwon, Tabitha and Deacon, nodding in agreement with the man, "Yeah, let us know how we can help, I don't know exactly what is going on here, so I'll just need to follow other suggestions."
"I think they burn plenty of people in America," Antwon tells Deacon. He looks over at Tabitha. "What you mean, her mother?" he says to Tabitha, curious. "And --" A look at Savannah. "No disrespect," he says, which of course means he's about to disrespect the woman. "But I ain't sure what those people needed was mo' police. They all convicted in a court, ain't they are? Shit the same no matter what the time."
There is a car that passes by, its lights shining in the eyes of Antwon, Deacon, Savannah and Tabitha, causing them to squint, perhaps. It is driving slow, suspiciciously slow for a while, like it was going to stop and park. But with people standing outside, the car speeds off.
When the car passes, Antwon slips his hand inside his partially unzipped backpack. For Savannah, a cop of some experience, and Deacon, with similar background as a veteran, it may be the obvious sign of someone jumpy putting a hand on a weapon. Whether Tabitha recognizes the significance is perhaps less clear.
"Well, there's that" Deacon says to Antwon without missing a beat as he flashes the man a smirk. "Give me a quick cliff's notes on the situation? I meant to be here for your last foray out this way but you know. Any case .." Deacon frowns but he's shrugging and with nobody else more suited he'll take point for the group at the very least. Walking toward the door. "More importantly ... our objective is to .. cleanse the church? Try and contain whatever's causing these disturbances?"
"I mean like her mother." Tabitha says. "She didn't really fight us at all when we snagged the book, but I think she actually wanted us to have it. Not the Museum." She puffs her cheeks out. "It just sucks because Father wouldn't let me see what the book had in it, so I'm running on the blind." She smiles, sheepishly to Deacon, Antwon, and Savannah. She watches the car pass, stepping in a little closer to Antwon. "I've been reading stories here and there, you know? About more disappearances. So I figured she hadn't stopped her retribution. Even though, these people are centuries removed."
"The difference would have been someone being a buffer between public outrage and internal workings of witches," Savannah says to Antwon as she looks towards him, shaking her head, "There needs to be a buffer, like in Haven, it helps things not spill over into the masses, and then you have torches and pitchforks, but the modern kind." She looks towards the vehicle in passing, furrowing her brow some before moving up towards Deacon to follow along, "So what are we looking for here?"
When Deacon gets closer to the door, though it is thick and the walls are thick stone, he might catch that there is some murmur. Some voice. Voices. Nothing can be made out, and it doesn't seem to be coming from the upper levels of the reverted Cathedral. Do they make a loud booming entrance or do they try to find a way to sneak in and provide some element of surprise?
glances towards Tabitha. "I weren't here either," Antwon tells Deacon. "And so I ain't sure. Tabs, this woman -- what we supposed to do?" he asks her.
Antwon glances towards Tabitha. "I weren't here either," Antwon tells Deacon. "And so I ain't sure. Tabs, this woman -- what we supposed to do?" he asks her.
"On the plus side, liason to the dead happens to be in my skillset. If we can find the spirit we can always ask direct" Deacon remarks, though he doesn't give his usual smirk. "Just no Anite Blake jokes, hrm?" He pauses at the door. Turning his head, he lifts a hand to put a finger to his lips in a gesture of quiet. He keens his ear toward the door, trying to make out just how many their might be. It's uncertain but then he's holding up two fingers, then four fingers. He shrugs, turning the volume of his voice low. "What do you guys think? Boots to asses on whatever's inside, or a more discreet aproach?"
Savannah steps up closer with Deacon now and she looks between the man near the door and Tabitha, along with Antwon, "Could try to see what is going on first, make sure it is not something putting boots to asses might make worse?" She begins to look around the entrance now, glancing up towards any other entryways, "Up to you all though."
"I'll do whatever you guys think is best." Tabitha says, starting to pull out a few things from her tote. "Is someone in there? Maybe it's Eliza... I think she's like some head curator there. I think it surprised her to find that diary..." She is quiet then, listening. She doesn't hear anything.
"Who Anita Blake?" Antwon asks Deacon. "That a witch who got burnt?" He looks at Tabitha. "What we tryna stop? Bodies stacking up?" He pauses, studying the museum, and then says in agreement with Savannah, "Maybe we go in and see."
"Hard to say how many voices, but more than one or two" Deacon murmurs, before nodding toward Savannah. "Chanting ..." he adds, before shaking his head. "Judgement call but if they're performing ritual it's better to interrupt. Unless it's someone trying to cleanse the place?" He narrows his eyes before glancing at ther rest of the group. Making the choice, he turns and tries the door. He doesn't try to barrel through it, but to see if he can open it without too much fanfare.
"Chanting?" Savannah asks Deacon and then she seems to agree with his method and motive for trying the door. She waits for him to see if it does open or not, and if it does not, she might contribute in another way to get the thing moving forward as she reaches into a pocket, waiting while saying, "Perhaps they are doing something nefarious enough, interruption might be best, finding out what is happening afterwards."
The door is locked, and Deacon is barred from entering so easily. There is another car. The same car? It slows and it stops. Down goes a window as the lights of a police vehicle turn on, flahing red and blue. "You kids got a reason to be loitering around here? It's getting late here, yah?" The cop is leant over, peering at the group. "We get a lot of lookie loos around here with all the .. disappearances. You all just best be on your way."
With a mild glance toward Savannah, Deacon nods his chin at her keeping his voice low. "See if you can talk to him, badge to badge? Feed him some bull, drop my rank if you have to?" He requests, even while he's trying to subtly test the overall strength of the lock that keeps the front door to the church closed.
"Chanting make me think someone oughta stuff a sock in it," Antwon tells Deacon, grimly. When the look is barred, Antwon looks at Savannah. "You got like lockpicks or some shit? Or..." The cop rolls up, and somewhat wisely, Antwon shuts the hell up, looking to the HSD deputy to handle this problem. All the same, his hand goes back in his red Jansport backpack.
Deacon hates attempt it's weird.
Savannah looks like she was going to nod to Antwon and begins, "Serving warra-..." Then she is cut off by the arrival. She makes her way, stepping forward, gesturing towards her badge on her waistline as she calls out towards the vehicle and the potential officer, "Evening." She moves along closer to the vehicle in the distance now, gesturing off towards her own car, "Not being looky-loos, was just waiting for a friend to show up and give us a tour of the place, not this building, but the town around. She was speaking about something as a guest lecture at Brown, and has the topic being some of this town's history? She wanted to make sure she had an escort though, given the nature of things sometimes these days, so I've got myself and those people over there are just some of her friends that are coming along, apologies for making you stop, though."
Tabitha says to Deacon, Savannah, and and Antwon, "Can't any of you pick a ..." She stops and turns to the cop and smiles prettily at him, combing her hair behind her ears. She does, atleast, let Savannah take charge here. But when she is mentioned, she waves and hops on her feet softly in the cold, "Hello, Officer."
The door would give under enough pressure against it with Deacon's strength, its just a door, afterall. But it would also not be very quiet or stealthy. It creaks on a good day.
Sotto-voice, Antwon says, "I jimmied a lock or two when I was a kid." He's looking at the cop, though, deciding that B&E needs at least a little distance. His whole attitude is suspicion, with some tense muscled worry that makes lines across his shoulder. Slowly, he moves to put himself in between Tabitha and Salem P.D., even as he lets Savannah take lead in trying to talk down the fuzz.
The Officer eyes Savannah, in a manner that would suggest he's checking the woman out in a manner that would be an 'undressing' of sorts. "Very well, Miss, but if I come on by here in the next five and your all..." He flicks a finger to Deacon, Antwon, and Tabitha are still out here, I'm taking you in. You hear me? This is not the time of night to be out, really. We got a curfew afterall. If I see your face in the paper and a missing person, I'm going to be sad, its a pretty face.""
The Officer eyes Savannah, in a manner that would suggest he's checking the woman out in a manner that would be an 'undressing' of sorts. "Very well, Miss, but if I come on by here in the next five and your all..." He flicks a finger to Deacon, Antwon, and Tabitha "are still out here, I'm taking you in. You hear me? This is not the time of night to be out, really. We got a curfew afterall. If I see your face in the paper and a missing person, I'm going to be sad, its a pretty face." (fix)
Savannah tilts her head as she watches the other officer give her an 'undressing' of sorts. She seems to take it with enough of a smile on her face to not raise suspicion and she says, "Oh, don't worry, I think we'll be heading out soon, our friend should be showing up here in a few moments, alright? Now you be a darling, and don't worry so much, mm?" She puts on some of that wild-country in her tone before giving the officer a wave and then she begins to step back towards the group, her voice lowering as she says, "I can probably get us in there quietly, once this guy leaves, but I imagine he's staring while I walk away so we might need a minute."
With a quiet sigh as the conversation heads over to his ears, he nods while doing his best to just look like he's standing around in his winter coat and loitering. "Same, but yes let's definitely let the man have his look - sorry not sorry it's a nice view" Deacon retorts in Savannah's direction with a faint chuckle as he makes a show of moving around in the cold and being overall 'inconspicuous' which can be a tad difficult for a man as tall as him, he often stands out (pun intended).
There's a look at Savannah because if the officer is checking her out, there definitely is something worth Antwon taking a look at. Just to make sure she's a good distraction, of course.
The cop can be seen talking into a radio at his shoulder. He doesn't leave right away, even. He's looking between Savannah and Tabitha, shaking his head. "I'll take you word for it when I see it." The car begins to roll away, and before the window rolls up. "Curfews in effect until five a.m. Better remind your friend of that."
Savannah looks over a shoulder towards the officer once more before coming up back to the group as she says to Deacon, chuckling and shaking her head, "You're just as bad as he was, Deacon. Now..." She looks on to Antwon, brow raised briefly before scooting closer to the door once the officer has left, "We have about five minutes, but I can get us in there, I think." She reaches into her coat pocket, interior one, and out comes a little zipped up kitbag. Then she is lowering down onto a knee in front of the door as she says, "Give me a little cover?" It seems she is going to go about trying to get the lock opened at least, even if that door might creak when someone opens it later, if she is successful.
"You're probably better than me" Deacon assures, and he takes an easy stance to provide some 'cover' of sorts by blocking the view of her from the street. "Work magic and fast. That chanting has me nervous."
"Let's go," Antwon tells Savannah. She's better than him, too, and like Deacon, he goes to take a spot to block the view. There's a look at Tabitha. "You know what that shit is all about, babe?" he asks her, his voice pitched low against the New England night. "And..." He looks to the shorter man next him. "I ain't like it. Something about it makes my skin crawl," he says. "Like -- like I can taste something in the air."
Tabitha steps up the few steps to the door to stand by Deacon, as if she were just sheltering herself from the wind. "I don't know. I told you all that I know. Prudence Crugott was executed as a witch ... I am assuming a long time ago. Her mother is still alive and she was initially killing off some of the members of the Museum. Numbering them. Father and I came out here because they were up to thirteen." She bounces on the balls of her feet. "But with the curfew now and the paper having more stories of missing persons? I don't think she's stopped. There was a door leading somewhere that she was kind of putting herself between the entire time. Maybe there's an answer there?"
There is absolutely something in the air that tingles at Antwon's nose, and his suspicions against the use of magic. It hangs heavy at the door. It may be why there are no animals in the vicinity. Though the streets are rolled up for the night, animals do not pay mind to the constructs of humans.
Nostrils flare, as Antwon looks over at Deacon. "More bodies," he growls -- and it is a growl, something animal and low. "A door?" he asks. He looks. "Some doors meant to be closed," he concludes. "Others meant to be knocked fucking open, you feel me?" He looks at Savannah. "Can you get us in?"
Doors are no issue to Savannah, at least this one. There is a click. It sounds so much louder than it actually is, given the silence of the place around her. The door creaks if pushed open, whether trying to do so slowly or quickly. But there is the opening into the space, and she, Tabitha, Antwon and Deacon had better be quick before there is another car passing by.
Savannah nods to Antwon when the sound of the lock opening is heard. She presses the door open, slowly, enough to just slip herself and others through without widening it too much and she takes a few slow, quiet steps inside to see what she could observe. She lowers a hand, as if to signal to keep quiet and proceeds a little inside, giving some space for others to follow, "Close the door behind us, quietly if you can."
And just like that, Deacon is slipping past Savannah albeit not quite as quiet as she is in the interim.
Silent steps are taken by the group, with the exception of Deacon, big, strong and sturdy Military man he is. He's quiet enough. On entering, those with acute hearing might note that the chanting has stopped. Have they been heard? Maybe the ritual is over? Maybe one is just starting? Whatever the case, the Museum is dim and quiet. Eerily so, to prick at the hairs at the back of each neck.
Savannah steps forward now, moving along with Deacon and the others, keeping herself quiet though the eerie silence is enough to make even breath perhaps be heard. She looks through the museum itself, trying to see if anyone is there, or what it looks like might have been happening, moving forward with the steady determination of someone who might have done this a few times before in tense situations.
"I don't like this," Tabitha whispers out, not able to let her thoughts still in her head. She pulls an athame ritual blade from her tote. "I'm very glad that you all came out here with me. I wouldn't want to be a statistic."
Definitely not liking the situation, Deacon has to slow himself down enough to be quiet as they make their way into the museum itself. Between him and Savannah it seems like they can cover the scouting but something tells Deacon to move cautious and slow. He's feeling what everyone else is putting to words and he doesn't like it one bit. He reaches behind himself almost in a self-comfort gesture, checking for his pistol.
"You ain't gonna be no damn statistic," Antwon tells Tabitha with a low voice. His hand is in his backpack, now, but it's almost as if he's ignoring his fingers on whatever he has inside there. Instead, he's looking around with some low, worried concern, his dark eyes gleaming almost golden in the light out. When he exhales, it sounds almost like an animal growl.
Shadows coalesce in corners, creating figures against the darkened stone walls like the spirits of lost and dead souls, captured and held prisoner in this space by all the little relics the curators have collected over the years. It does not feel like multiple, but one. One power. One entity. And it is trying to form into something. But this could just be a trick of the mind. The unknown of what may actually await. But one thing can be said, something is up.
There is a quiet moving forward towards some of the outer edges of this place now as Savannah looks around herself and sees if there is anyone still within, despite the chanting being finished. She looks to Deacon now and shakes her head, giving a faint shrug before walking closer and keeping her voice low, "Tabby? You know what might have gone on here?"
Antwon breathes out, his skin crawling, "Fuck..."
Unfortunately for the rest of them, while he may have ties to the occult Deacon is no magic user himself! All he can do is peer about as they investigate and move further into the meuseum. "You said something about a door, right Tabs? You're up front now, chop chop. Lead us to it" he calls quietly then once the group is together. "We need to be on the move, and I mean like now." His jaw clenches, the muscle bunch at the back corner flexing and bulging as he grits his teeth.
"I think that Prudence is here." Tabitha whispers out. "I think she wants to tell us something, but I never got to know what." She looks suddenly terrified at the thought of being upfront. "M...m... me?" She finds herself there, and she is again digging around her bag for other objects. A smudge stick is lit. "I don't know what exactly is happening, but that's my guess..." Its all high pitched hissing for her.
At Tabitha's words, Deacon grunts softly but he nods. Taking a breath he kind of pokes his head up and about looking around more thoroughly. His eyes pierce through the darkness, searching for the voices and the sight of the dead or at least those with a strong enough presence here to be potentially seen or heard!
Who doesn't have ties to the occult? Antwon is tied to one because he's dating her. He looks at Tabitha, worried. "Who the fuck is Prudence?" he asks, shifting, searching: smelling. He inhales, searching to see if he can find the trail of something hidden, something that shouldn't be here. Some secret place, perhaps, that holds the relic that this entity is bound to -- or the living, breathing person who invokes it. After all, if they breathe, they have a throat that can be ripped out.
Chanting again. It grows louder as Tabitha, Deacon, Savannah, and Antwon creep through the empty Museum, past the exibits revealing real hangings and burnings, exibits displaying Puritan clothing and other artifacts of those long dead and buried. The oppressive feeling lingers. There is, however, no immediate visage of some woman. Just shadows with no form. They dance between dark corners and spaces, toward a large door, very similar to that of the front door.
The chanting is back, and Savannah begins to approach the direction that it might be coming from, letting Tabitha take the lead for now, and moving to the side at least in a way that gives more vantage points and cover should something really go down. She looks uncomfortable though, her eyes drifting to the shadows in the corners every so often.
"Prudence?" Deacon calls out quietly. "If you here, cher .. if you ain't got no intent to hurt me or mine, I won't fight you if you need a vessel .. but your time be short, girl!" He looks almost silly talkign to the air to the others, but perhaps there's some method to his madness. He nods toward the door once they've got themselves a new goal. "Sav .. you wanna check it? If it's locked you're opening it, eh?" As his hears perk up, his nostrils flare and his head tilts. His lips purse, as if he wants to say something but he remains silent.
"Shiiit," Antwon says, his voice low. "Behind that fucking door is all kind of bad," he says. "Like fucking dead shit: like Johnson Mortuary smell in the summer when they ain't pay the power bill." He looks up, between Tabitha, Deacon and Savannah. "I ain't know if we got time for lockpicks," he says. He's looking for something heavy, something he can pick up: the young black man rippling, unnatural strength, and he means to knock that door right down.
Smoke at the tip of Tabitha's smudge stick wavers, it forms something that of a finger. Beckoning. Then it is gone. The shadows form into a massive blob, and it goes right through Antwon before it seeps beneath the door and through the lock.
It seems like quiet might not be an option for now as Deacon suggests to check things out with Antwon deciding to bust the door down, potentially. That action causes Savannah to flank up towards the sides of the door, as if ready to press inside should it actually bust open, watching that massive blob of shadows go right through the door first, "Shit, seems like something is happening, Antwon might be right."
There is plenty to pick up and use to batter against the door to open it, but nothing that is huge and heavy. But Antwon does have brute force to push against it if he wants. The chanting has stopped and there is more talk now, worried, unsure, angry, even. And then the wail is heard. A baby, lungs full of fire and fear. Some words to pick up, "Do not stop!" It is female.
If Antwon is busting through that door, then Deacon is following right behind the guy. As he approaches behind him he drops a hand onto his shoulder, his other reaching behind him to pull out his pistol to bring it to bear. "Move forward" he says to the man close enough for him to hear and kind of uses the man's momentum to keep him on the move forward, leaving Tabitha and Savannah to bring up the rear for now. "They're mid-shindig!" He's calling out over his shoulder!
BOOM! Shake the room! That's Antwon, who is an extremely subtle and careful person. He's a basketball player, not a football player, but he hits the door like a linebacker, tumbling through it with some athleticism. There's a wince. "Fuck," he tells himself, feeling the bruise on his shoulder. "Coach gonna be fucking pissed." Mid-shindig? Now his hand is going into his bag, coming out with a black handgun that is definitely illegal.
Tabitha takes up the rear now, but she's also slicing through her hand for the blood and the power in her blood. She starts to chant. The tongue is Latin, the expertise is terrible. But her tone is full of fright, which can't help. She closes her eyes, and tries to calm herself. "I'll start a banishing."
Deacon wonders if we should move to the basement?
It seems like the action has started now as Savannah brings up the rear with Antwon and Deacon coming into the room after that BOOM! She would stay near the entrance though, ready to act if needed, but with Tabitha being alone, that might not be good. She chooses the in between, able to back up the other two heading the front while also covering Tabitha in the rear, "Come closer, step inside, start here so I can keep guard but also help them out, Tabby!"
Shouts now. "Get the child! My Prudence!" There's shuffling and disorganization. There is also the putrid scent of death. Of bodies bloated and releasing their gases. Of skin glooping and organs oozing. There is crying. Not just of a child, but of a woman. Pained, scared. She's screaming through some kind of gag. You can just feel her pain and sorrow. If one listens hard enough, you could maybe hear: "My baby."
Antwon falls back: he's on Tabitha like white on rice, that ghost gun in his hand. He's got terrible trigger discipline: they teach you in the military to never put your finger on the trigger unless you plan to shoot, to always take a stance to control the firearm with both hands, and he does neither, the gun held sideways with his finger on the trigger. "All y'all motherfuckers stop this CRAZY MAGIC SHIT right now!" he bellows.
Suddenly it all kind of clicks for Deacon as he runs ther gears through his head. "I think they're .. trying to do some freaky soul-swap shit with that baby" he calls out as they come upon the scene. With a soldier's training, the taller man is looking for anyone who stands out as an immediate combatant or enemy - those chanting or the ring-leader whomever is is trying to snatch up the baby. His eyes scan as quick as they can, and then he's taking shots wherte he thinks he can. He's only got the pistol, but he's a hell of a shot. The report of his gun might even get lost among the roar from Antwon as they start rolling in.
In the center of the pentagram is the naked body of a woman. Her stomach is cut wide open, her muscles loose and her belly extended as if there was once something within it, now vacated. She is the one crying and trying to scream, muffled, about her baby. She clings to life, her placenta a bloody blob on the floor beside her. In the arms of what can only be a Satanist is a small baby, newborn, around its neck is a golden pendant, the ruby stone within it glows, preternaturally. The shadows seem to be drawn to it.
Deacon is going to wait for everyone else's reply to that before he goes!
Tabitha says "emote "I can't stop, Antwon!" @me says, frantic. "I can't! I have to save that baby." She makes a fist to let the blood pool in her palm, and she turns to write sigils onto the stone walls. "I have to free Prudence." Though it looks like she may not want to be freed."
Savannah had waited for Tabitha, but it seems like Antwon might be taking that over and so, with Deacon sounding off shots, the Deputy springs into action as well. She has her pistol being drawn as well, looking for targets and perhaps if there are really obvious kid-ritualing-mother-killing people to be shooting, she'll do so, as long as it does not seem to put an innocent in danger. She presses the opposite side as Deacon, giving two targets and less chance of focusing on them both or getting cover or angles to keep away from their combined efforts.
"I can't stop, Antwon!" Tabitha says, frantic. "I can't! I have to save that baby." She makes a fist to let the blood pool in her palm, and she turns to write sigils onto the stone walls. "I have to free Prudence." Though it looks like she may not want to be freed. (fix due to 'say button')
There is some terrible horror on Antwon's face, staring at the vivisected woman and the baby in the center of the pentacle. It's a moment, the smell of the place, the curling sensation of magic, and then he pauses. He leans his head back, and he howls: it's something visceral, torn from his lungs, and as he howls he begins some awful, terrifying change.
Savannah had waited for Tabitha, but it seems like someone might be taking that over and so, with Deacon sounding off shots, the Deputy springs into action as well. She has her pistol being drawn as well, looking for targets and perhaps if there are really obvious kid-ritualing-mother-killing people to be shooting, she'll do so, as long as it does not seem to put an innocent in danger. She presses the opposite side as Deacon, giving two targets and less chance of focusing on them both or getting cover or angles to keep away from their combined efforts.(re)
Savannah had waited for Tabitha, but it seems like Antwon(wolf) might be taking that over and so, with Deacon sounding off shots, the Deputy springs into action as well. She has her pistol being drawn as well, looking for targets and perhaps if there are really obvious kid-ritualing-mother-killing people to be shooting, she'll do so, as long as it does not seem to put an innocent in danger. She presses the opposite side as Deacon, giving two targets and less chance of focusing on them both or getting cover or angles to keep away from their combined efforts. repost
There's a long moment while Deacon watches everything go down, and then he's raising his gun ... but it's Tabitha's voice that makes him stop. Then he's whirling about to glance toward Tabitha as he grunts in aggrivation. He steps closer to the woman in a protective manner, waiting now. "Always the hard way ..." he mutters to himself.
"Guns! You bring guns!" one woman says, likely to find herself shot by either Antwon(wolf) or Deacon to even dare to speak. One of a half dozen. Soon to be eviserated, it seems, instead, by one very angry and wolfed out Antwon(wolf). It's not a huge group, but there is no telling what their combined power is. Or if they are all human followers to the one Miss Eliza Moreau, who holds the bloodied child in her arms. She is even cooing to it, kissing it's forehead. "You are too late, Tabitha," she says. "My daughter is home. Do you really want to risk this child? She lives, too. A shared soul. You rip my child from her, you rip her too."
Always the hard way, indeed. Antwon(wolf) leaps on the nearest cultist, and there is a howl: to the woman who speaks, of course. His jaws are looking for her throat, hurling at her with terrifying, muscled fury: attempting to silence whatever she says with a bestial howl for blood. He is all awful violence in some black-furred bulk.
Seeing Antwon(wolf) starting to shift and chance Deacon nods and then he's shifting his sight toward the woman holding the baby. No, not just guns. A wolf ... and him. He's moving to step through those shadows with a sudden movement to put himself right up close and person to that woman who's holding that baby. His officer's sabre in his hand, he'll try to run the woman through with the element of surprise! He's not the fastest man in the world, but he pushes himself to his limits.
The weakened mother looks to Savannah, eyes wide and stained red by tears as Antwon(wolf) tears through one of the cultists. She's screaming ragged through her gag, each time she tries tensing her muscles and causing the blood to spurt. She's on the brink of death.
Savannah is only human, and she does not have powers to vanish and reappear, or teeth and claws to rend flesh. She has a gun though, and she does fire at a nearby cultist, trying to take them out with a quick double-tap towards the chest, but she is moving towards the woman there with those eyes wide. It might be hopeless to save her with such injuries, but it seems like in the midst of the chaos, she might very well try. She starts to assess over the woman's dire circumstances now, taking some cover at the altar she might be upon and then she reaches out to grasp her hand, "We'll get the baby, don't worry." But her eyes, they're sad, sympathetic, and she's trying to see if there might be anything that can be done to relieve the trauma, and potentially save her life.
Oh, the taste of blood: the feeling of it in Antwon(wolf)'s jaws, as the titanic wolf howls again. He leaps again, to the next cultist, full of awful, thrilling violence. As he he rips his mouth from the throat of the cultist he just killed he shakes off blood, spraying it in an incardanine line across the walls. The next cultist he fights he lunges at, seeking the soft flesh of her belly with the intent of hauling entrails out through the terrible, bit-open wound that impossible jaws leave behind.
Other cultists begin to scatter, seeking to find a way out as havok breaks out. There is an element of surprise by Deacon's pathing and his sabre sinks into baby and Miss Eliza Moreau alike. The crying of the child stops, a sabre pierced through its neck. It is replaced by a shriek, from the mouth of Moreau. The woman reaches out quick and grasps his throat, attempting to axphixiate him. "Give me one reason why I should spare your life?" Around her, another is ripped assunder. To Deacon, it might seem like it moves in slow motion.
Deacon was not aiming for the baby!
Deacon means he WAS, but decided not to at Tabitha's word, if that was confusing sorry!
Deacon is also okay if that's how it goes! He was considering it so however people want to play it!
While it's not his intent in the moment, his sword aims a little too true and the blade slices through. His hand reaches up to grab at the woman's wrist as she shrieks, choking him and he's trying to claw her off of him. "Because you don't have the bullet with my name on it!" He seethes at her, lashing out to try and strike the woman in the face or anything he can really to get that death-grip off of him! The surprise of the reaction almost makes him forget to be shocked that she wasn't phased by the sword going through her either! Deacon gurgles and fights back at that grasp, while the others witness the atrocity intended or no.
A leap, again, to whatever cultist is next. Antwon(wolf) has entrails in his jaws, and they trail behind him, hauled from the dead woman's belly like so many sausages until he shakes his jowls to get rid of them. Whatever chanting, culty figure swims in front of his eyes next is the subject of 350 pounds of unnatural wolf grabbing hold of their upper body in his jaws, shaking their figure with terrifying force in an effort to snap their neck.
Tabitha is bereft when the child stops crying. But she still chants, seeking to at least try to set it and Prudence alike free. Ish. She gets splished and splashed a couple times when bodies are torn apart, and her words are hoarse from emotion, the desires ripped from the bleeding mother.
That mother might need to be helped another time as Savannah looks mournful towards her cries and pain. She rises up and steps forward, moving towards Deacon now to try and assist him as he is being choked out by this woman, or thing, it is hard to tell when someone ignores a sword like that! She moves up towards him and attempts to grapple to assist him with getting that hand from about his throat!
Moreau squeezes Deacon's neck to pinch off his air, then throws him away from her. The entry of the sabre may not have initially shocked her, but when it slides out, she falls to the ground, her hand holding where the wound gapes and bleeds. The crimson seeps through her fingers and dark clothing. The child is dropped from her arms, still. The ruby red light is fading from the pendant as the child's skin turns to blue. The mother is sweating and is pale as Savannah rushes to her, but when she departs to assist the now thrown Deacon, which also had pushed her back, the mother wails behind her gag.
Whatever remorse Deacon may have for missing his target (or hitting it), he can't express it right now as he can only cough and try to gasp in air into his lungs as he's thrown backward by the woman. His sword clangs against the ground as he hits the wall and slides down it, out for at least a few moments while his only perogative in the world is oxygen.
It seems once Deacon might be free at least to defend herself now of the woman who is falling towards the floor, that delayed reaction to realizing you just got stabbed definitely taking a toll. She turns back to the mother on the altar, stepping back towards her to try and resume medical attention, wolf-bites sending blood splatter, Tabitha trying her best to banish things. Savannah tries to find a spot she can assist and reaches out in an attempt to remove that gag from the mother, while also, trying to shield her from the vision of that dead child for now.
Antwon(wolf) just shakes the cultist in his jaws to and fro, like a terrier with a squirrel: except this terrier is enormous, and the squirrel was a human being.
Eliza stumbles as she tries to stand. There's no one left to stand beside her. Her cultists have either escaped in all the madness or have been ripped to shreds by someone. She falls to a knee again, fingers balling against the cold stone. The stone begins to grow hot. Extremely hot. Where her fist is, it starts to glow.
Eliza stumbles as she tries to stand. There's no one left to stand beside her. Her cultists have either escaped in all the madness or have been ripped to shreds by Antwon(wolf). She falls to a knee again, fingers balling against the cold stone. The stone begins to grow hot. Extremely hot. Where her fist is, it starts to glow.
Dropping the person shaken in his jaws, Antwon(wolf) turns to look at Eliza. There is a moment -- a long, low, angry growl, something basso that reverberates through the basement -- and it leaps, all dark-furred violence given four-legged form.
Raising up a mildly unsteady hand, Deacon still has that pistol on hand. He tries to take a shot at this Eliza as he can FEEL that head eminating from the stone - stone can absorb a LOT of heat, if there's glow it's bad news! He fires off the round toward her head, but he's still trying to feed air into his brain and his eyes are blurry and watery. He might hit Antwon(wolf) instead!
"Get that pendant!" Tabitha calls to Savannah, urgently, her fingers shaking against the stone walls as she writes one last rune. She pulls her fingers back as the heat climbs the stone to her hand. She starts down the rest of the stairs to the scene of the crime, feet quick and in movement as the warmth continues to spread.
Once again, Savannah has to leave behind the mother with an urgent call from Tabitha, but at least she could speak now, gag removed, breath a little better. She steps forward, trying to find the baby. The scene is one that brings her to grimace, reaching down to try and find that pendant that was once around the newborns neck earlier, wasn't it? She searches, to try and get hold of it and if she does, she would run it on towards Tabitha as the woman joins them down the stairwell.
Antwon(wolf) is hit in the shoulder! Tis a flesh wound. At least he didn't take it to the knee. And, no, it is not good if the stone is turning fiery red. In fact, Eliza's fist starts to burn, it turns to flame. Savannah is clutched onto by the mother, sobbing as she is, and she drags along with Savannah as she leaves the mother's side, her fingers like frantic claws. The Satanist claims, "The world will burn." Her words are ragged, pained, as she continues to loose blood from the sabre's wound. It sizzles on the stone. Lets hope Deacon is a better shot next time.
Taking up his second hand, he takes a two-handed grip on the gun and then he's taking a single breath. "You first" he says before pulling the trigger. The click and the report of the gun is LOUD inside the basement room here and the stench is starting to finally get to the man who's been sucking in the air like a desparate man for several moments now. "Oh god" Deacon retches, but doesn't lose his lunch as he tries to keep his stomach together from all the smell of rot and death in the air.
There's a howl: it's something animal, ripped out of Antwon(wolf)'s lungs, wounded, when Deacon shoots him. He falls down, but then, bloody, he is rising again, all a snarl. If Deacon's shot doesn't kill Eliza, the wolf will: he is going to snap his jaws around her wrist, to sever whatever connection there is between her body and that stone.
Deacon's blessing steadies his hand, and the shot is true. The woman crouches there on the ground for a while longer before the wound in her forehead starts to bleed, the crimson trickling down along her nose and over her lips, which are curled into a snarl of her own. She falls forward onto the stones, still blazing hot from her attempt to see the Museum burn with all of them inside. She lands on a cheek and there is a clear scent of burning flesh and hair to mingle with the putrid rot of a few bodies that have been in the basement far too long.
Tabitha takes the pendant and holds it to her chest, clutching it there. There is surely some decursing needed to be done at some point, but it is not now. She stares at Eliza, her skin burning and grilling on the stones, for a while, before she is soon helping Savannah, not with the mother, but with the child. She picks it up and cradles its little, premie body.
There's a moment, breathing hard, as Antwon(wolf) stands -- on four legs, with those dark-gold eyes, panting and growling. There is still a man's mind inside the wolf, but it is feral.
Savannah releases the pendant to Tabitha's custody, and if the mother is nearby, still trying to cling she would attempt to support her as she watches Tabitha cradle that little body. She makes a sound, groaning, perhaps the searing flesh, the pungent odor of dead bodies, it is enough to make her eyes water. She almost gags some, clearing her throat before trying to really set in to work on the mother now, "Anyone have anything more than just regular medical attention?" Her words come out with soft sounds of disgust mingled in, she can't really hide how things are hitting her now.
The tall soldier is slowly stumbling up to his feet, watching the woman for a good long moment before he's stashing the gun. "Sorry - I truly am. But it was act or watch something bad go down" he says to nobody in particular, but probably for Tabitha's benefit. He does sound a little remorseful in tone at least but he's still pulling himself together and trying to move briskly. HE glances toward the stone and reaches to pick up his sword before he's starting to focus his thoughts on the pathway home. "We should go before this place catches. No way to dissipate that heat it's gonna end up burning this place to the ground I think. We shouldn't be here when that happens, non?" He grunts, looking around at the bodies around them. "Savannah will have to call this in, when we get back. These people deserve justice" Deacon murmurs. If that woman does still cling to life? Deacon will glance to Savannah. "Give her mercy" he says to her softly.
A low growl, again: some reluctance, and then once again Antwon(wolf) is man, shifting back in some bone-crunching movement of gore.
Tabitha walks over to Savannah and the woman as the dead woman's body does, in fact, start to flame, her clothes catching fire from the lava hot stone she bakes on. She kneels and offers out the child to the mother. "I am sorry, ma'am." she says, soft, mournful, weary and sympathetic. She looks up at Deacon and there's something in her gaze. Like she knows this, she understands this. Mercy.
Naked, Antwon looks up at Tabitha, Savannah and Deacon, stalking over to his clothes. He's still bloody, and the thing in his eyes? It's still not quite human.
As Tabitha hands over the baby, Savannah looks mournful from Deacon to the woman, shaking her head. She turns towards Tabitha and the man both as she mouths, "I can't..." It does seem like those injuries might be the death of her regardless of what she might do, considering the state they found the poor woman in tonight. She steps back though, not seemingly able to be the one to deliver mercy in this situation, "I will call it in though, they do deserve justice."
He can only nod at Tabitha and Savannah and when the latter says that she can't .. Deacon steps foward. And with a quick motion he lets the sword blade finish the job, putting the woman out of the pain and misery she must be feeling in those last moments - if Tabitha doesn't do something about it first. "No reason for her to suffer.."
Antwon reaches up, rubbing at the gunshot wound in his shoulder. There's a look at Deacon "You motherfucking shot me, bro." Some hurt.
Tabitha looks away from it. She looks away and down. But then she rises, a sadness deep in her expression. She says to Savannah, offering a hand. "Come on..." she says, voice wracked with emotion.
"I wasn't trying to?" Deacon says off-handedly, his attention shifting over toward Antwon. "Your timing was just ..." he gestures then, and when he does ... that path opens up in front of them. Stretching into infinity that shadowy path lined with dark ominous trees loom over it from either side. "Time to go" he concedes with a stoic expression, now.
"My car here," Antwon points out, pulling on a frankly shredded pair of chonies. "So Savannah's."
Thank you all for joining tonight. Please feel free to leave feedback, and I hope that while the subject was heavy that you enjoyed. Please let me know where I can drop you off and what you'd like as award.
Savannah takes in a deep, shuddered breath when that sword finishes the job. She looks towards Deacon for a long few moments before she nods to Tabitha, reaching out to take the woman's hand into her own and giving it a squeeze, trying to head away from what is going to be a burning basement soon enough. She leans into the woman some, attempting to escape on out.
Upon breaching the museum, they're immediately struck by the chilling atmosphere, with shadows dancing ominously against the walls. The chanting stops, signaling perhaps that the group has been detected. Despite some initial hesitation and a jarring moment where the ghostly wolf-like form of Antwon howls and undergoes a violent transformation, the team presses on, led by Tabitha, whose knowledge of the situation drives them forward.
In a sickening revelation, they discover a macabre ritual in progress. A woman lies mutilated upon an altar, a gag stifling her cries as she pleads through her eyes for the safety of her newborn, who is in the arms of a satanic figure, Miss Eliza Moreau. The infant is adorned with a glowing pendant, seemingly the focus of the evil chanting.
Chaos erupts when gunshots echo through the stone chamber. Savannah attempts to soothe the aggrieved mother, while Tabitha clutches the pendant, knowing its potential significance. Antwon, consumed by a bestial frenzy, tears through the cultists with primal ferocity. Deacon, after delivering an accidental but fatal strike to the infant, is caught in a violent confrontation with Moreau, who manages to wound him before succumbing to her own bleeding injuries.
Amidst the violence, Tabitha manages to offer some semblance of peace to the dying mother by returning her lifeless child to her arms. Deacon, with a grim resolve, performs one final act of mercy for the mother, ending her suffering swiftly. The team, dealing with their own shock and injuries, make an escape as the museum quivers on the cusp of conflagration, with Moreau's last words chillingly promising devastation.
In the aftermath of the horror, as they gather themselves, the group is faced with the haunting reality of the carnage, a situation that Savannah pledges to report for the sake of justice. Antwon laments being shot by an ally, and the group prepares to leave the ghastly scene, each member undoubtedly carrying the weight of the night's dark events long after they step out into the silent streets of Salem.
(The Salem Witch Museum Massacre(SRTabitha):SRTabitha)
[Sat Jan 20 2024]
In The Salem Witch Museum
An old Catholic Cathedral built of cold brown stone, rises above and stands tall and proud against the backdrop of a modern townscape. Thick and heavy wood arched doors look like they creep and moan on open and close but are heavy enough to still air flow. Beautiful lead glass windows cast a myriad of purplish colors against the sidewalk when light hits it just so. The street is lined with mature trees and tall streetlamps that come on as the sun sets, casting an eerie glow and shadow.
It is about 50F(10C) degrees.
After a while of driving, Savannah would arrive at the Salem Witch Museum area, that Cathedral it seems, built on up. Perhaps she had been brought on by someone asking if she could help. She steps out of the vehicle, closing the door quietly behind herself and she looks around to see if anyone that might be coming along has arrived yet.
It is a chilly night in Salem. The street, given that the business that was the main draw along it, is quiet. Ominously so. There's not much of a peep or chirp, or rustle to come from animals. The only rustle is from the trees, and the dead leaves that their gnarled branches are clinging onto. Savannah would notice this, on getting out of her police vehicle. The quiet.
Antwon's beat-up Audi has made the trip out of Haven before, though never so far as Salem. He's driving, with Tabitha as a passenger, and while he has his on her knee, there's a grim set to his face. "I ain't never been to Salem," he says. "I ain't like a place where they burn motherfuckers," he tells her, scanning the streets as he pulls towards the museum. "And I ain't like it especially if they burning motherfuckers who look like my woman." Dark eyes flick from face to face. "White bread fucking town. Always got fucking secrets," he says, shifting with some glance back at his backpack. On the way north, there was a stop, some hand-to-hand transaction with a man on the street in Dorchester, seemingly arranged in advance. Whatever was in the brown paper bag had some weight, and it's in Antwon's backpack, now.
That quiet is something she does notice now as Savannah takes her phone out, checking it. It does not seem like she is going to proceed anywhere for now, perhaps waiting on others. She listens, though, to that quiet, her eyes looking around as she lingers there, taking in the cathedral in the distance.
is listening to Antwon rant a little about the town. "They burned people everywhere, though, Antwon, not just in Salem. And they built this place as a way to ... I don't know. Make recompense." She shrugs. "I don't know. I was here with Jack and it's got a lot of gimmicky things along with the educational." She sighs, watching the scenery go on past. "But when it came to the witch trials, it was a lot of women who looked like me. But not all." The car rolls to a stop where Savannah is now waiting. She steps out of the Audi and waves to the woman. "Sav! Oh, I'm glad to see you."
Tabitha is listening to Antwon rant a little about the town. "They burned people"
Tabitha is listening to Antwon rant a little about the town. "They burned people everywhere, though, Antwon, not just in Salem. And they built this place as a way to ... I don't know. Make recompense." She shrugs. "I don't know. I was here with Jack and it's got a lot of gimmicky things along with the educational." She sighs, watching the scenery go on past. "But when it came to the witch trials, it was a lot of women who looked like me. But not all." The car rolls to a stop where Savannah is now waiting. She steps out of the Audi and waves to the woman. "Sav! Oh, I'm glad to see you."(fix)
"I seen it in history," Antwon tells Tabitha. "At least one or two that look look like my sister." Then they're there, and he's out of the car, backpack slung over his shoulder. "Lot of recompense out there," he says, cryptically, but then he's seeing Savannah. "Hey," he tells the Deputy. "Sup." It's a smile, tense. "This shit -- it nice to see you."
Savannah waves towards Tabitha and Antwon when they arrive in that vehicle and she calls out to her, "Hey, Tabby!" There is a faint smile on her face, at least some reassurance of others joining her in this endeavor. She steps closer to the woman now and takes a look around, raising a brow, "I'm hoping you know more about what we're doing here tonight? I was told to show up, that you all needed some help, figuring I could maybe?" She nods to Antwon, lifting a wave as well, "Hey, Antwon, good to see you, too."
"That's actually not true" Deacon says, stepping out of a shadowy path out of nowhere. "No witches were actually burned at the stake here in the United States. Strictly a Europe thing." His grin comes large, and his chin lifts toward everyone he spies, all of them known by name. He doesn't even cover the sudden appearance.
Deacon says "Mandela effect. True shit. "
The Cathedral turned Museum is a sight to behold, cold grey brick, cold dark lead windows. There appears to be some light, likely emergency lights to keep burglars at bay. The doors are thick, arched things. They look like they would creak and moan if opened.
"Twenty people or so here in Salem alone were convicted though. Probably a lot more that were unaccounted for, Deacon." Tabitha says to Deacon, without questioning as to why he might suddenly be there, either. "Doesn't really matter if they were actually burned, really. It's still a nasty part of history, especially since so many of them were innocent." Were they?
"Well. On record anyway" Deacon murmurs as his eyes turn to gaze upon the old church. He gives a slight breath, instinctually crossing himself (the true sign of a former catholic). He gives a more ready salute toward Tabitha in particular, but includes everyone. "Takin' orders, boss. I'm here to help however I can" he offers before turning his head toward Antwon and Savannah for quick inspection. "Yeah, totally fair. Just one of those things I find interesting" he says after a beat to the woman he's speaking to with another quick-fire grin. "And you ain't wrong there. There's bound to be a lot of bad mojo tied to this place. Tied to this land, and all that oui?" He shrugs, but the coat he wears doesn't do much to hide the bulk of the arm and shoulder piece that the soldier's become accustomed to wearing in dangerous situations.
"I wish that Father Francis was here," Tabitha reiterates. "He has the diary of Prudence. I never even got to take a look at it so I can't say whether she was innocent or not, but her mother sure seemed to think so." She, like Deacon, makes the sign of the cross about her body, then crosses her arms under bosom with a furrowed brow. "I just wanted to see if I could find out some more information. Her mother was killing people, I think because they had ties to the families that stood there and watched, and did nothing. Its a real long time coming, if you ask me. But Father said that grief can warp the mind."
Savannah waves towards Deacon once she spots the man coming out of the shadows, that's an easy way to get places. She looks off to that cathedral once more and she says, "The problem was they don't have someone like myself everywhere to try and keep things a little bit more peaceful between the public and not, wonder the circumstances about what happened here and other places like it?" She looks between Antwon, Tabitha and Deacon, nodding in agreement with the man, "Yeah, let us know how we can help, I don't know exactly what is going on here, so I'll just need to follow other suggestions."
"I think they burn plenty of people in America," Antwon tells Deacon. He looks over at Tabitha. "What you mean, her mother?" he says to Tabitha, curious. "And --" A look at Savannah. "No disrespect," he says, which of course means he's about to disrespect the woman. "But I ain't sure what those people needed was mo' police. They all convicted in a court, ain't they are? Shit the same no matter what the time."
There is a car that passes by, its lights shining in the eyes of Antwon, Deacon, Savannah and Tabitha, causing them to squint, perhaps. It is driving slow, suspiciciously slow for a while, like it was going to stop and park. But with people standing outside, the car speeds off.
When the car passes, Antwon slips his hand inside his partially unzipped backpack. For Savannah, a cop of some experience, and Deacon, with similar background as a veteran, it may be the obvious sign of someone jumpy putting a hand on a weapon. Whether Tabitha recognizes the significance is perhaps less clear.
"Well, there's that" Deacon says to Antwon without missing a beat as he flashes the man a smirk. "Give me a quick cliff's notes on the situation? I meant to be here for your last foray out this way but you know. Any case .." Deacon frowns but he's shrugging and with nobody else more suited he'll take point for the group at the very least. Walking toward the door. "More importantly ... our objective is to .. cleanse the church? Try and contain whatever's causing these disturbances?"
"I mean like her mother." Tabitha says. "She didn't really fight us at all when we snagged the book, but I think she actually wanted us to have it. Not the Museum." She puffs her cheeks out. "It just sucks because Father wouldn't let me see what the book had in it, so I'm running on the blind." She smiles, sheepishly to Deacon, Antwon, and Savannah. She watches the car pass, stepping in a little closer to Antwon. "I've been reading stories here and there, you know? About more disappearances. So I figured she hadn't stopped her retribution. Even though, these people are centuries removed."
"The difference would have been someone being a buffer between public outrage and internal workings of witches," Savannah says to Antwon as she looks towards him, shaking her head, "There needs to be a buffer, like in Haven, it helps things not spill over into the masses, and then you have torches and pitchforks, but the modern kind." She looks towards the vehicle in passing, furrowing her brow some before moving up towards Deacon to follow along, "So what are we looking for here?"
When Deacon gets closer to the door, though it is thick and the walls are thick stone, he might catch that there is some murmur. Some voice. Voices. Nothing can be made out, and it doesn't seem to be coming from the upper levels of the reverted Cathedral. Do they make a loud booming entrance or do they try to find a way to sneak in and provide some element of surprise?
glances towards Tabitha. "I weren't here either," Antwon tells Deacon. "And so I ain't sure. Tabs, this woman -- what we supposed to do?" he asks her.
Antwon glances towards Tabitha. "I weren't here either," Antwon tells Deacon. "And so I ain't sure. Tabs, this woman -- what we supposed to do?" he asks her.
"On the plus side, liason to the dead happens to be in my skillset. If we can find the spirit we can always ask direct" Deacon remarks, though he doesn't give his usual smirk. "Just no Anite Blake jokes, hrm?" He pauses at the door. Turning his head, he lifts a hand to put a finger to his lips in a gesture of quiet. He keens his ear toward the door, trying to make out just how many their might be. It's uncertain but then he's holding up two fingers, then four fingers. He shrugs, turning the volume of his voice low. "What do you guys think? Boots to asses on whatever's inside, or a more discreet aproach?"
Savannah steps up closer with Deacon now and she looks between the man near the door and Tabitha, along with Antwon, "Could try to see what is going on first, make sure it is not something putting boots to asses might make worse?" She begins to look around the entrance now, glancing up towards any other entryways, "Up to you all though."
"I'll do whatever you guys think is best." Tabitha says, starting to pull out a few things from her tote. "Is someone in there? Maybe it's Eliza... I think she's like some head curator there. I think it surprised her to find that diary..." She is quiet then, listening. She doesn't hear anything.
"Who Anita Blake?" Antwon asks Deacon. "That a witch who got burnt?" He looks at Tabitha. "What we tryna stop? Bodies stacking up?" He pauses, studying the museum, and then says in agreement with Savannah, "Maybe we go in and see."
"Hard to say how many voices, but more than one or two" Deacon murmurs, before nodding toward Savannah. "Chanting ..." he adds, before shaking his head. "Judgement call but if they're performing ritual it's better to interrupt. Unless it's someone trying to cleanse the place?" He narrows his eyes before glancing at ther rest of the group. Making the choice, he turns and tries the door. He doesn't try to barrel through it, but to see if he can open it without too much fanfare.
"Chanting?" Savannah asks Deacon and then she seems to agree with his method and motive for trying the door. She waits for him to see if it does open or not, and if it does not, she might contribute in another way to get the thing moving forward as she reaches into a pocket, waiting while saying, "Perhaps they are doing something nefarious enough, interruption might be best, finding out what is happening afterwards."
The door is locked, and Deacon is barred from entering so easily. There is another car. The same car? It slows and it stops. Down goes a window as the lights of a police vehicle turn on, flahing red and blue. "You kids got a reason to be loitering around here? It's getting late here, yah?" The cop is leant over, peering at the group. "We get a lot of lookie loos around here with all the .. disappearances. You all just best be on your way."
With a mild glance toward Savannah, Deacon nods his chin at her keeping his voice low. "See if you can talk to him, badge to badge? Feed him some bull, drop my rank if you have to?" He requests, even while he's trying to subtly test the overall strength of the lock that keeps the front door to the church closed.
"Chanting make me think someone oughta stuff a sock in it," Antwon tells Deacon, grimly. When the look is barred, Antwon looks at Savannah. "You got like lockpicks or some shit? Or..." The cop rolls up, and somewhat wisely, Antwon shuts the hell up, looking to the HSD deputy to handle this problem. All the same, his hand goes back in his red Jansport backpack.
Deacon hates attempt it's weird.
Savannah looks like she was going to nod to Antwon and begins, "Serving warra-..." Then she is cut off by the arrival. She makes her way, stepping forward, gesturing towards her badge on her waistline as she calls out towards the vehicle and the potential officer, "Evening." She moves along closer to the vehicle in the distance now, gesturing off towards her own car, "Not being looky-loos, was just waiting for a friend to show up and give us a tour of the place, not this building, but the town around. She was speaking about something as a guest lecture at Brown, and has the topic being some of this town's history? She wanted to make sure she had an escort though, given the nature of things sometimes these days, so I've got myself and those people over there are just some of her friends that are coming along, apologies for making you stop, though."
Tabitha says to Deacon, Savannah, and and Antwon, "Can't any of you pick a ..." She stops and turns to the cop and smiles prettily at him, combing her hair behind her ears. She does, atleast, let Savannah take charge here. But when she is mentioned, she waves and hops on her feet softly in the cold, "Hello, Officer."
The door would give under enough pressure against it with Deacon's strength, its just a door, afterall. But it would also not be very quiet or stealthy. It creaks on a good day.
Sotto-voice, Antwon says, "I jimmied a lock or two when I was a kid." He's looking at the cop, though, deciding that B&E needs at least a little distance. His whole attitude is suspicion, with some tense muscled worry that makes lines across his shoulder. Slowly, he moves to put himself in between Tabitha and Salem P.D., even as he lets Savannah take lead in trying to talk down the fuzz.
The Officer eyes Savannah, in a manner that would suggest he's checking the woman out in a manner that would be an 'undressing' of sorts. "Very well, Miss, but if I come on by here in the next five and your all..." He flicks a finger to Deacon, Antwon, and Tabitha are still out here, I'm taking you in. You hear me? This is not the time of night to be out, really. We got a curfew afterall. If I see your face in the paper and a missing person, I'm going to be sad, its a pretty face.""
The Officer eyes Savannah, in a manner that would suggest he's checking the woman out in a manner that would be an 'undressing' of sorts. "Very well, Miss, but if I come on by here in the next five and your all..." He flicks a finger to Deacon, Antwon, and Tabitha "are still out here, I'm taking you in. You hear me? This is not the time of night to be out, really. We got a curfew afterall. If I see your face in the paper and a missing person, I'm going to be sad, its a pretty face." (fix)
Savannah tilts her head as she watches the other officer give her an 'undressing' of sorts. She seems to take it with enough of a smile on her face to not raise suspicion and she says, "Oh, don't worry, I think we'll be heading out soon, our friend should be showing up here in a few moments, alright? Now you be a darling, and don't worry so much, mm?" She puts on some of that wild-country in her tone before giving the officer a wave and then she begins to step back towards the group, her voice lowering as she says, "I can probably get us in there quietly, once this guy leaves, but I imagine he's staring while I walk away so we might need a minute."
With a quiet sigh as the conversation heads over to his ears, he nods while doing his best to just look like he's standing around in his winter coat and loitering. "Same, but yes let's definitely let the man have his look - sorry not sorry it's a nice view" Deacon retorts in Savannah's direction with a faint chuckle as he makes a show of moving around in the cold and being overall 'inconspicuous' which can be a tad difficult for a man as tall as him, he often stands out (pun intended).
There's a look at Savannah because if the officer is checking her out, there definitely is something worth Antwon taking a look at. Just to make sure she's a good distraction, of course.
The cop can be seen talking into a radio at his shoulder. He doesn't leave right away, even. He's looking between Savannah and Tabitha, shaking his head. "I'll take you word for it when I see it." The car begins to roll away, and before the window rolls up. "Curfews in effect until five a.m. Better remind your friend of that."
Savannah looks over a shoulder towards the officer once more before coming up back to the group as she says to Deacon, chuckling and shaking her head, "You're just as bad as he was, Deacon. Now..." She looks on to Antwon, brow raised briefly before scooting closer to the door once the officer has left, "We have about five minutes, but I can get us in there, I think." She reaches into her coat pocket, interior one, and out comes a little zipped up kitbag. Then she is lowering down onto a knee in front of the door as she says, "Give me a little cover?" It seems she is going to go about trying to get the lock opened at least, even if that door might creak when someone opens it later, if she is successful.
"You're probably better than me" Deacon assures, and he takes an easy stance to provide some 'cover' of sorts by blocking the view of her from the street. "Work magic and fast. That chanting has me nervous."
"Let's go," Antwon tells Savannah. She's better than him, too, and like Deacon, he goes to take a spot to block the view. There's a look at Tabitha. "You know what that shit is all about, babe?" he asks her, his voice pitched low against the New England night. "And..." He looks to the shorter man next him. "I ain't like it. Something about it makes my skin crawl," he says. "Like -- like I can taste something in the air."
Tabitha steps up the few steps to the door to stand by Deacon, as if she were just sheltering herself from the wind. "I don't know. I told you all that I know. Prudence Crugott was executed as a witch ... I am assuming a long time ago. Her mother is still alive and she was initially killing off some of the members of the Museum. Numbering them. Father and I came out here because they were up to thirteen." She bounces on the balls of her feet. "But with the curfew now and the paper having more stories of missing persons? I don't think she's stopped. There was a door leading somewhere that she was kind of putting herself between the entire time. Maybe there's an answer there?"
There is absolutely something in the air that tingles at Antwon's nose, and his suspicions against the use of magic. It hangs heavy at the door. It may be why there are no animals in the vicinity. Though the streets are rolled up for the night, animals do not pay mind to the constructs of humans.
Nostrils flare, as Antwon looks over at Deacon. "More bodies," he growls -- and it is a growl, something animal and low. "A door?" he asks. He looks. "Some doors meant to be closed," he concludes. "Others meant to be knocked fucking open, you feel me?" He looks at Savannah. "Can you get us in?"
Doors are no issue to Savannah, at least this one. There is a click. It sounds so much louder than it actually is, given the silence of the place around her. The door creaks if pushed open, whether trying to do so slowly or quickly. But there is the opening into the space, and she, Tabitha, Antwon and Deacon had better be quick before there is another car passing by.
Savannah nods to Antwon when the sound of the lock opening is heard. She presses the door open, slowly, enough to just slip herself and others through without widening it too much and she takes a few slow, quiet steps inside to see what she could observe. She lowers a hand, as if to signal to keep quiet and proceeds a little inside, giving some space for others to follow, "Close the door behind us, quietly if you can."
And just like that, Deacon is slipping past Savannah albeit not quite as quiet as she is in the interim.
Silent steps are taken by the group, with the exception of Deacon, big, strong and sturdy Military man he is. He's quiet enough. On entering, those with acute hearing might note that the chanting has stopped. Have they been heard? Maybe the ritual is over? Maybe one is just starting? Whatever the case, the Museum is dim and quiet. Eerily so, to prick at the hairs at the back of each neck.
Savannah steps forward now, moving along with Deacon and the others, keeping herself quiet though the eerie silence is enough to make even breath perhaps be heard. She looks through the museum itself, trying to see if anyone is there, or what it looks like might have been happening, moving forward with the steady determination of someone who might have done this a few times before in tense situations.
"I don't like this," Tabitha whispers out, not able to let her thoughts still in her head. She pulls an athame ritual blade from her tote. "I'm very glad that you all came out here with me. I wouldn't want to be a statistic."
Definitely not liking the situation, Deacon has to slow himself down enough to be quiet as they make their way into the museum itself. Between him and Savannah it seems like they can cover the scouting but something tells Deacon to move cautious and slow. He's feeling what everyone else is putting to words and he doesn't like it one bit. He reaches behind himself almost in a self-comfort gesture, checking for his pistol.
"You ain't gonna be no damn statistic," Antwon tells Tabitha with a low voice. His hand is in his backpack, now, but it's almost as if he's ignoring his fingers on whatever he has inside there. Instead, he's looking around with some low, worried concern, his dark eyes gleaming almost golden in the light out. When he exhales, it sounds almost like an animal growl.
Shadows coalesce in corners, creating figures against the darkened stone walls like the spirits of lost and dead souls, captured and held prisoner in this space by all the little relics the curators have collected over the years. It does not feel like multiple, but one. One power. One entity. And it is trying to form into something. But this could just be a trick of the mind. The unknown of what may actually await. But one thing can be said, something is up.
There is a quiet moving forward towards some of the outer edges of this place now as Savannah looks around herself and sees if there is anyone still within, despite the chanting being finished. She looks to Deacon now and shakes her head, giving a faint shrug before walking closer and keeping her voice low, "Tabby? You know what might have gone on here?"
Antwon breathes out, his skin crawling, "Fuck..."
Unfortunately for the rest of them, while he may have ties to the occult Deacon is no magic user himself! All he can do is peer about as they investigate and move further into the meuseum. "You said something about a door, right Tabs? You're up front now, chop chop. Lead us to it" he calls quietly then once the group is together. "We need to be on the move, and I mean like now." His jaw clenches, the muscle bunch at the back corner flexing and bulging as he grits his teeth.
"I think that Prudence is here." Tabitha whispers out. "I think she wants to tell us something, but I never got to know what." She looks suddenly terrified at the thought of being upfront. "M...m... me?" She finds herself there, and she is again digging around her bag for other objects. A smudge stick is lit. "I don't know what exactly is happening, but that's my guess..." Its all high pitched hissing for her.
At Tabitha's words, Deacon grunts softly but he nods. Taking a breath he kind of pokes his head up and about looking around more thoroughly. His eyes pierce through the darkness, searching for the voices and the sight of the dead or at least those with a strong enough presence here to be potentially seen or heard!
Who doesn't have ties to the occult? Antwon is tied to one because he's dating her. He looks at Tabitha, worried. "Who the fuck is Prudence?" he asks, shifting, searching: smelling. He inhales, searching to see if he can find the trail of something hidden, something that shouldn't be here. Some secret place, perhaps, that holds the relic that this entity is bound to -- or the living, breathing person who invokes it. After all, if they breathe, they have a throat that can be ripped out.
Chanting again. It grows louder as Tabitha, Deacon, Savannah, and Antwon creep through the empty Museum, past the exibits revealing real hangings and burnings, exibits displaying Puritan clothing and other artifacts of those long dead and buried. The oppressive feeling lingers. There is, however, no immediate visage of some woman. Just shadows with no form. They dance between dark corners and spaces, toward a large door, very similar to that of the front door.
The chanting is back, and Savannah begins to approach the direction that it might be coming from, letting Tabitha take the lead for now, and moving to the side at least in a way that gives more vantage points and cover should something really go down. She looks uncomfortable though, her eyes drifting to the shadows in the corners every so often.
"Prudence?" Deacon calls out quietly. "If you here, cher .. if you ain't got no intent to hurt me or mine, I won't fight you if you need a vessel .. but your time be short, girl!" He looks almost silly talkign to the air to the others, but perhaps there's some method to his madness. He nods toward the door once they've got themselves a new goal. "Sav .. you wanna check it? If it's locked you're opening it, eh?" As his hears perk up, his nostrils flare and his head tilts. His lips purse, as if he wants to say something but he remains silent.
"Shiiit," Antwon says, his voice low. "Behind that fucking door is all kind of bad," he says. "Like fucking dead shit: like Johnson Mortuary smell in the summer when they ain't pay the power bill." He looks up, between Tabitha, Deacon and Savannah. "I ain't know if we got time for lockpicks," he says. He's looking for something heavy, something he can pick up: the young black man rippling, unnatural strength, and he means to knock that door right down.
Smoke at the tip of Tabitha's smudge stick wavers, it forms something that of a finger. Beckoning. Then it is gone. The shadows form into a massive blob, and it goes right through Antwon before it seeps beneath the door and through the lock.
It seems like quiet might not be an option for now as Deacon suggests to check things out with Antwon deciding to bust the door down, potentially. That action causes Savannah to flank up towards the sides of the door, as if ready to press inside should it actually bust open, watching that massive blob of shadows go right through the door first, "Shit, seems like something is happening, Antwon might be right."
There is plenty to pick up and use to batter against the door to open it, but nothing that is huge and heavy. But Antwon does have brute force to push against it if he wants. The chanting has stopped and there is more talk now, worried, unsure, angry, even. And then the wail is heard. A baby, lungs full of fire and fear. Some words to pick up, "Do not stop!" It is female.
If Antwon is busting through that door, then Deacon is following right behind the guy. As he approaches behind him he drops a hand onto his shoulder, his other reaching behind him to pull out his pistol to bring it to bear. "Move forward" he says to the man close enough for him to hear and kind of uses the man's momentum to keep him on the move forward, leaving Tabitha and Savannah to bring up the rear for now. "They're mid-shindig!" He's calling out over his shoulder!
BOOM! Shake the room! That's Antwon, who is an extremely subtle and careful person. He's a basketball player, not a football player, but he hits the door like a linebacker, tumbling through it with some athleticism. There's a wince. "Fuck," he tells himself, feeling the bruise on his shoulder. "Coach gonna be fucking pissed." Mid-shindig? Now his hand is going into his bag, coming out with a black handgun that is definitely illegal.
Tabitha takes up the rear now, but she's also slicing through her hand for the blood and the power in her blood. She starts to chant. The tongue is Latin, the expertise is terrible. But her tone is full of fright, which can't help. She closes her eyes, and tries to calm herself. "I'll start a banishing."
Deacon wonders if we should move to the basement?
It seems like the action has started now as Savannah brings up the rear with Antwon and Deacon coming into the room after that BOOM! She would stay near the entrance though, ready to act if needed, but with Tabitha being alone, that might not be good. She chooses the in between, able to back up the other two heading the front while also covering Tabitha in the rear, "Come closer, step inside, start here so I can keep guard but also help them out, Tabby!"
Shouts now. "Get the child! My Prudence!" There's shuffling and disorganization. There is also the putrid scent of death. Of bodies bloated and releasing their gases. Of skin glooping and organs oozing. There is crying. Not just of a child, but of a woman. Pained, scared. She's screaming through some kind of gag. You can just feel her pain and sorrow. If one listens hard enough, you could maybe hear: "My baby."
Antwon falls back: he's on Tabitha like white on rice, that ghost gun in his hand. He's got terrible trigger discipline: they teach you in the military to never put your finger on the trigger unless you plan to shoot, to always take a stance to control the firearm with both hands, and he does neither, the gun held sideways with his finger on the trigger. "All y'all motherfuckers stop this CRAZY MAGIC SHIT right now!" he bellows.
Suddenly it all kind of clicks for Deacon as he runs ther gears through his head. "I think they're .. trying to do some freaky soul-swap shit with that baby" he calls out as they come upon the scene. With a soldier's training, the taller man is looking for anyone who stands out as an immediate combatant or enemy - those chanting or the ring-leader whomever is is trying to snatch up the baby. His eyes scan as quick as they can, and then he's taking shots wherte he thinks he can. He's only got the pistol, but he's a hell of a shot. The report of his gun might even get lost among the roar from Antwon as they start rolling in.
In the center of the pentagram is the naked body of a woman. Her stomach is cut wide open, her muscles loose and her belly extended as if there was once something within it, now vacated. She is the one crying and trying to scream, muffled, about her baby. She clings to life, her placenta a bloody blob on the floor beside her. In the arms of what can only be a Satanist is a small baby, newborn, around its neck is a golden pendant, the ruby stone within it glows, preternaturally. The shadows seem to be drawn to it.
Deacon is going to wait for everyone else's reply to that before he goes!
Tabitha says "emote "I can't stop, Antwon!" @me says, frantic. "I can't! I have to save that baby." She makes a fist to let the blood pool in her palm, and she turns to write sigils onto the stone walls. "I have to free Prudence." Though it looks like she may not want to be freed."
Savannah had waited for Tabitha, but it seems like Antwon might be taking that over and so, with Deacon sounding off shots, the Deputy springs into action as well. She has her pistol being drawn as well, looking for targets and perhaps if there are really obvious kid-ritualing-mother-killing people to be shooting, she'll do so, as long as it does not seem to put an innocent in danger. She presses the opposite side as Deacon, giving two targets and less chance of focusing on them both or getting cover or angles to keep away from their combined efforts.
"I can't stop, Antwon!" Tabitha says, frantic. "I can't! I have to save that baby." She makes a fist to let the blood pool in her palm, and she turns to write sigils onto the stone walls. "I have to free Prudence." Though it looks like she may not want to be freed. (fix due to 'say button')
There is some terrible horror on Antwon's face, staring at the vivisected woman and the baby in the center of the pentacle. It's a moment, the smell of the place, the curling sensation of magic, and then he pauses. He leans his head back, and he howls: it's something visceral, torn from his lungs, and as he howls he begins some awful, terrifying change.
Savannah had waited for Tabitha, but it seems like someone might be taking that over and so, with Deacon sounding off shots, the Deputy springs into action as well. She has her pistol being drawn as well, looking for targets and perhaps if there are really obvious kid-ritualing-mother-killing people to be shooting, she'll do so, as long as it does not seem to put an innocent in danger. She presses the opposite side as Deacon, giving two targets and less chance of focusing on them both or getting cover or angles to keep away from their combined efforts.(re)
Savannah had waited for Tabitha, but it seems like Antwon(wolf) might be taking that over and so, with Deacon sounding off shots, the Deputy springs into action as well. She has her pistol being drawn as well, looking for targets and perhaps if there are really obvious kid-ritualing-mother-killing people to be shooting, she'll do so, as long as it does not seem to put an innocent in danger. She presses the opposite side as Deacon, giving two targets and less chance of focusing on them both or getting cover or angles to keep away from their combined efforts. repost
There's a long moment while Deacon watches everything go down, and then he's raising his gun ... but it's Tabitha's voice that makes him stop. Then he's whirling about to glance toward Tabitha as he grunts in aggrivation. He steps closer to the woman in a protective manner, waiting now. "Always the hard way ..." he mutters to himself.
"Guns! You bring guns!" one woman says, likely to find herself shot by either Antwon(wolf) or Deacon to even dare to speak. One of a half dozen. Soon to be eviserated, it seems, instead, by one very angry and wolfed out Antwon(wolf). It's not a huge group, but there is no telling what their combined power is. Or if they are all human followers to the one Miss Eliza Moreau, who holds the bloodied child in her arms. She is even cooing to it, kissing it's forehead. "You are too late, Tabitha," she says. "My daughter is home. Do you really want to risk this child? She lives, too. A shared soul. You rip my child from her, you rip her too."
Always the hard way, indeed. Antwon(wolf) leaps on the nearest cultist, and there is a howl: to the woman who speaks, of course. His jaws are looking for her throat, hurling at her with terrifying, muscled fury: attempting to silence whatever she says with a bestial howl for blood. He is all awful violence in some black-furred bulk.
Seeing Antwon(wolf) starting to shift and chance Deacon nods and then he's shifting his sight toward the woman holding the baby. No, not just guns. A wolf ... and him. He's moving to step through those shadows with a sudden movement to put himself right up close and person to that woman who's holding that baby. His officer's sabre in his hand, he'll try to run the woman through with the element of surprise! He's not the fastest man in the world, but he pushes himself to his limits.
The weakened mother looks to Savannah, eyes wide and stained red by tears as Antwon(wolf) tears through one of the cultists. She's screaming ragged through her gag, each time she tries tensing her muscles and causing the blood to spurt. She's on the brink of death.
Savannah is only human, and she does not have powers to vanish and reappear, or teeth and claws to rend flesh. She has a gun though, and she does fire at a nearby cultist, trying to take them out with a quick double-tap towards the chest, but she is moving towards the woman there with those eyes wide. It might be hopeless to save her with such injuries, but it seems like in the midst of the chaos, she might very well try. She starts to assess over the woman's dire circumstances now, taking some cover at the altar she might be upon and then she reaches out to grasp her hand, "We'll get the baby, don't worry." But her eyes, they're sad, sympathetic, and she's trying to see if there might be anything that can be done to relieve the trauma, and potentially save her life.
Oh, the taste of blood: the feeling of it in Antwon(wolf)'s jaws, as the titanic wolf howls again. He leaps again, to the next cultist, full of awful, thrilling violence. As he he rips his mouth from the throat of the cultist he just killed he shakes off blood, spraying it in an incardanine line across the walls. The next cultist he fights he lunges at, seeking the soft flesh of her belly with the intent of hauling entrails out through the terrible, bit-open wound that impossible jaws leave behind.
Other cultists begin to scatter, seeking to find a way out as havok breaks out. There is an element of surprise by Deacon's pathing and his sabre sinks into baby and Miss Eliza Moreau alike. The crying of the child stops, a sabre pierced through its neck. It is replaced by a shriek, from the mouth of Moreau. The woman reaches out quick and grasps his throat, attempting to axphixiate him. "Give me one reason why I should spare your life?" Around her, another is ripped assunder. To Deacon, it might seem like it moves in slow motion.
Deacon was not aiming for the baby!
Deacon means he WAS, but decided not to at Tabitha's word, if that was confusing sorry!
Deacon is also okay if that's how it goes! He was considering it so however people want to play it!
While it's not his intent in the moment, his sword aims a little too true and the blade slices through. His hand reaches up to grab at the woman's wrist as she shrieks, choking him and he's trying to claw her off of him. "Because you don't have the bullet with my name on it!" He seethes at her, lashing out to try and strike the woman in the face or anything he can really to get that death-grip off of him! The surprise of the reaction almost makes him forget to be shocked that she wasn't phased by the sword going through her either! Deacon gurgles and fights back at that grasp, while the others witness the atrocity intended or no.
A leap, again, to whatever cultist is next. Antwon(wolf) has entrails in his jaws, and they trail behind him, hauled from the dead woman's belly like so many sausages until he shakes his jowls to get rid of them. Whatever chanting, culty figure swims in front of his eyes next is the subject of 350 pounds of unnatural wolf grabbing hold of their upper body in his jaws, shaking their figure with terrifying force in an effort to snap their neck.
Tabitha is bereft when the child stops crying. But she still chants, seeking to at least try to set it and Prudence alike free. Ish. She gets splished and splashed a couple times when bodies are torn apart, and her words are hoarse from emotion, the desires ripped from the bleeding mother.
That mother might need to be helped another time as Savannah looks mournful towards her cries and pain. She rises up and steps forward, moving towards Deacon now to try and assist him as he is being choked out by this woman, or thing, it is hard to tell when someone ignores a sword like that! She moves up towards him and attempts to grapple to assist him with getting that hand from about his throat!
Moreau squeezes Deacon's neck to pinch off his air, then throws him away from her. The entry of the sabre may not have initially shocked her, but when it slides out, she falls to the ground, her hand holding where the wound gapes and bleeds. The crimson seeps through her fingers and dark clothing. The child is dropped from her arms, still. The ruby red light is fading from the pendant as the child's skin turns to blue. The mother is sweating and is pale as Savannah rushes to her, but when she departs to assist the now thrown Deacon, which also had pushed her back, the mother wails behind her gag.
Whatever remorse Deacon may have for missing his target (or hitting it), he can't express it right now as he can only cough and try to gasp in air into his lungs as he's thrown backward by the woman. His sword clangs against the ground as he hits the wall and slides down it, out for at least a few moments while his only perogative in the world is oxygen.
It seems once Deacon might be free at least to defend herself now of the woman who is falling towards the floor, that delayed reaction to realizing you just got stabbed definitely taking a toll. She turns back to the mother on the altar, stepping back towards her to try and resume medical attention, wolf-bites sending blood splatter, Tabitha trying her best to banish things. Savannah tries to find a spot she can assist and reaches out in an attempt to remove that gag from the mother, while also, trying to shield her from the vision of that dead child for now.
Antwon(wolf) just shakes the cultist in his jaws to and fro, like a terrier with a squirrel: except this terrier is enormous, and the squirrel was a human being.
Eliza stumbles as she tries to stand. There's no one left to stand beside her. Her cultists have either escaped in all the madness or have been ripped to shreds by someone. She falls to a knee again, fingers balling against the cold stone. The stone begins to grow hot. Extremely hot. Where her fist is, it starts to glow.
Eliza stumbles as she tries to stand. There's no one left to stand beside her. Her cultists have either escaped in all the madness or have been ripped to shreds by Antwon(wolf). She falls to a knee again, fingers balling against the cold stone. The stone begins to grow hot. Extremely hot. Where her fist is, it starts to glow.
Dropping the person shaken in his jaws, Antwon(wolf) turns to look at Eliza. There is a moment -- a long, low, angry growl, something basso that reverberates through the basement -- and it leaps, all dark-furred violence given four-legged form.
Raising up a mildly unsteady hand, Deacon still has that pistol on hand. He tries to take a shot at this Eliza as he can FEEL that head eminating from the stone - stone can absorb a LOT of heat, if there's glow it's bad news! He fires off the round toward her head, but he's still trying to feed air into his brain and his eyes are blurry and watery. He might hit Antwon(wolf) instead!
"Get that pendant!" Tabitha calls to Savannah, urgently, her fingers shaking against the stone walls as she writes one last rune. She pulls her fingers back as the heat climbs the stone to her hand. She starts down the rest of the stairs to the scene of the crime, feet quick and in movement as the warmth continues to spread.
Once again, Savannah has to leave behind the mother with an urgent call from Tabitha, but at least she could speak now, gag removed, breath a little better. She steps forward, trying to find the baby. The scene is one that brings her to grimace, reaching down to try and find that pendant that was once around the newborns neck earlier, wasn't it? She searches, to try and get hold of it and if she does, she would run it on towards Tabitha as the woman joins them down the stairwell.
Antwon(wolf) is hit in the shoulder! Tis a flesh wound. At least he didn't take it to the knee. And, no, it is not good if the stone is turning fiery red. In fact, Eliza's fist starts to burn, it turns to flame. Savannah is clutched onto by the mother, sobbing as she is, and she drags along with Savannah as she leaves the mother's side, her fingers like frantic claws. The Satanist claims, "The world will burn." Her words are ragged, pained, as she continues to loose blood from the sabre's wound. It sizzles on the stone. Lets hope Deacon is a better shot next time.
Taking up his second hand, he takes a two-handed grip on the gun and then he's taking a single breath. "You first" he says before pulling the trigger. The click and the report of the gun is LOUD inside the basement room here and the stench is starting to finally get to the man who's been sucking in the air like a desparate man for several moments now. "Oh god" Deacon retches, but doesn't lose his lunch as he tries to keep his stomach together from all the smell of rot and death in the air.
There's a howl: it's something animal, ripped out of Antwon(wolf)'s lungs, wounded, when Deacon shoots him. He falls down, but then, bloody, he is rising again, all a snarl. If Deacon's shot doesn't kill Eliza, the wolf will: he is going to snap his jaws around her wrist, to sever whatever connection there is between her body and that stone.
Deacon's blessing steadies his hand, and the shot is true. The woman crouches there on the ground for a while longer before the wound in her forehead starts to bleed, the crimson trickling down along her nose and over her lips, which are curled into a snarl of her own. She falls forward onto the stones, still blazing hot from her attempt to see the Museum burn with all of them inside. She lands on a cheek and there is a clear scent of burning flesh and hair to mingle with the putrid rot of a few bodies that have been in the basement far too long.
Tabitha takes the pendant and holds it to her chest, clutching it there. There is surely some decursing needed to be done at some point, but it is not now. She stares at Eliza, her skin burning and grilling on the stones, for a while, before she is soon helping Savannah, not with the mother, but with the child. She picks it up and cradles its little, premie body.
There's a moment, breathing hard, as Antwon(wolf) stands -- on four legs, with those dark-gold eyes, panting and growling. There is still a man's mind inside the wolf, but it is feral.
Savannah releases the pendant to Tabitha's custody, and if the mother is nearby, still trying to cling she would attempt to support her as she watches Tabitha cradle that little body. She makes a sound, groaning, perhaps the searing flesh, the pungent odor of dead bodies, it is enough to make her eyes water. She almost gags some, clearing her throat before trying to really set in to work on the mother now, "Anyone have anything more than just regular medical attention?" Her words come out with soft sounds of disgust mingled in, she can't really hide how things are hitting her now.
The tall soldier is slowly stumbling up to his feet, watching the woman for a good long moment before he's stashing the gun. "Sorry - I truly am. But it was act or watch something bad go down" he says to nobody in particular, but probably for Tabitha's benefit. He does sound a little remorseful in tone at least but he's still pulling himself together and trying to move briskly. HE glances toward the stone and reaches to pick up his sword before he's starting to focus his thoughts on the pathway home. "We should go before this place catches. No way to dissipate that heat it's gonna end up burning this place to the ground I think. We shouldn't be here when that happens, non?" He grunts, looking around at the bodies around them. "Savannah will have to call this in, when we get back. These people deserve justice" Deacon murmurs. If that woman does still cling to life? Deacon will glance to Savannah. "Give her mercy" he says to her softly.
A low growl, again: some reluctance, and then once again Antwon(wolf) is man, shifting back in some bone-crunching movement of gore.
Tabitha walks over to Savannah and the woman as the dead woman's body does, in fact, start to flame, her clothes catching fire from the lava hot stone she bakes on. She kneels and offers out the child to the mother. "I am sorry, ma'am." she says, soft, mournful, weary and sympathetic. She looks up at Deacon and there's something in her gaze. Like she knows this, she understands this. Mercy.
Naked, Antwon looks up at Tabitha, Savannah and Deacon, stalking over to his clothes. He's still bloody, and the thing in his eyes? It's still not quite human.
As Tabitha hands over the baby, Savannah looks mournful from Deacon to the woman, shaking her head. She turns towards Tabitha and the man both as she mouths, "I can't..." It does seem like those injuries might be the death of her regardless of what she might do, considering the state they found the poor woman in tonight. She steps back though, not seemingly able to be the one to deliver mercy in this situation, "I will call it in though, they do deserve justice."
He can only nod at Tabitha and Savannah and when the latter says that she can't .. Deacon steps foward. And with a quick motion he lets the sword blade finish the job, putting the woman out of the pain and misery she must be feeling in those last moments - if Tabitha doesn't do something about it first. "No reason for her to suffer.."
Antwon reaches up, rubbing at the gunshot wound in his shoulder. There's a look at Deacon "You motherfucking shot me, bro." Some hurt.
Tabitha looks away from it. She looks away and down. But then she rises, a sadness deep in her expression. She says to Savannah, offering a hand. "Come on..." she says, voice wracked with emotion.
"I wasn't trying to?" Deacon says off-handedly, his attention shifting over toward Antwon. "Your timing was just ..." he gestures then, and when he does ... that path opens up in front of them. Stretching into infinity that shadowy path lined with dark ominous trees loom over it from either side. "Time to go" he concedes with a stoic expression, now.
"My car here," Antwon points out, pulling on a frankly shredded pair of chonies. "So Savannah's."
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Savannah takes in a deep, shuddered breath when that sword finishes the job. She looks towards Deacon for a long few moments before she nods to Tabitha, reaching out to take the woman's hand into her own and giving it a squeeze, trying to head away from what is going to be a burning basement soon enough. She leans into the woman some, attempting to escape on out.