Encounterlogs
Macys Odd Encounter Sr William 250201
The story unfolds in the quaint setting of Rosie's Diner in the small town of Haven, where Macy, a character filled with determination and a touch of eccentricity, finds herself unexpectedly stepping into a role that would challenge not only her physical abilities but her quick thinking and resolve. After exiting Rosie's Diner, she witnesses a strange, unnatural phenomenon—a purplish beam shooting into the sky from the forest that harbors supernatural beings, indicating a potential breach of Venetian Secrecy and a threat lurking in the woods. Compelled by a mix of duty and an intense, drug-induced focus, Macy decides to investigate the source of the beam herself, despite knowing the potential dangers that lie ahead. As she delves deeper into the cold, misty forest, her journey is fraught with uncertainty and an eerie stillness that suggests she might be venturing into something far beyond her regular encounters with the town’s oddities.
The climax of Macy's adventure reaches its peak as she discovers a group of Black Flame cultists conducting a dark ritual to summon an entity from another realm. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, she acts with a mix of audacity and ingenuity to disrupt the ceremony. Armed with a small revolver and leveraging her knowledge of the supernatural, Macy attempts to intimidate and physically hamper the cultists, understanding that the ritual's success could have catastrophic consequences. She resorts to a variety of tactics, including misleading the cultists and employing non-lethal force, to cause disruption and confusion among them. As the ritual begins to falter due to her interventions, and the imminent threat of an eldritch horror making its way into their world is thwarted, Macy's actions underscore her resourcefulness and bravery. The encounter concludes with the ritual being disrupted and the breach to another world forcibly closed, preventing the summoning of the entity and averting a crisis that could have spelled doom for the town of Haven—highlighting Macy's role not just as a meddler in the supernatural, but as a protector of the veil between worlds.
(Macy's odd encounter(SRWilliam):SRWilliam)
[Fri Jan 31 2025]
In Rosie's Diner
Filled with nostalgia, this diner is a step into the past - to a time of swing and jive, and one would claim, simpler times. The walls are cream toned, letting the pink and turquoise neon striping along the ceiling give the space more vibrant coloring. Pieces of kitsch and memorabilia are posted here and there, providing character and retro style.
Behind the counter, cooks work the main line, allowing customers to watch as their meals are prepped. A soda fountain and a glass domed freezer is set away from the heat, where the soda jerk creates speciality floats, sundaes, malts and shakes.
Meanwhile, waitresses on roller skates gracefully take orders, their uniforms chock full of bling.
It is night, about 23F(-5C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey stormclouds in the sky. Ankle high mist flows through the area. There is a waxing crescent moon.
Macy puts her hands together, gesturing at some empty space and nodding. "That could have gone so much better!" she chides, gathering up some notepad paper and a pencil off the floor. "The fun part is I know he's going to one out of two places warmer than here, but I just can't tell you where. I have to go and write some things down. Sorry." She said this to A middle-aged man with weathered features, the other person who was with her, just before stepping out of Rosie's Diner to put a hand to her face. "Oh my gosh I need to do better!"
(Your target wakes up in the middle of the night to find a group of Black Flame cultists conducting a ritual in their backyard. The cultists are attempting to summon an eldritch horror, believing that it will bring about the end of the world and pave the way for a new and better existence. The target must interrupt the ritual before it's too late. They will need to fend off the cultists and possibly whatever they've summoned. This will be a test of their combat ability, but they may also be able to deescalate the situation by convincing the cultists to stop the ritual.)
Another day comes to an end in the cold town of Haven, an hour past midnight, the shadows start covering every single street and alley, making the temperatures drop, and the mist takes ahold of the quiet outside. Only the street lights providing some little guidance to the few people still lingering outside, most deterred by either the hour or the chilling air.
But to disrupt this otherwise peaceful night, Haven is sure to deliver something out of the blue. Having Macy just walked out of Rosie's, she's facing the lodge, with the forest full of supernatural creatures behind it, but this night that doesn't seem to be the weirdest bit about it, no. In the middle of all the darkness, out of nowhere and for a good couple seconds, the forest and the sky itself illuminates.
And it isn't the kind provoked by a lightning or some storm, albeit similar, no. Instead, for the brief couple seconds that there's light, it looks more like a beam, coming from the woods and searching for the sky, purplish in nature, though it's hard to tell for something that happens so quick.
The earth shivers slightly, though just for an instant, and then everything is back to eerily quiet, as if whatever had caused that anomaly was gone. Though what Macy saw, it isn't just something one could pull of with machinery or when playing one prank in the middle of the forest, it was way too big- And there was something else about it, almost magical in nature, but not quite. It felt like something was off about the air and reality itself for the brief instant of the anomaly. It was certainly something that, was it to be spotted or filmed by someone unaware, it would definitely cause a breach on Venetian Secrecy, but then again, if someone goes to these extents to do something like this, maybe they don't care about the consequences.
Macy rubs on her arms, having just had them behind her back in an awkwardly placed fold. "Well, it's a nice night at least, despite the cold," she observes, rubbing her hands together just before the illumination. "Woah!", she says at the moment she has to slide her goggles over her eyes. Not out of need but out of being startled into it. "Okay wait a minute." Goggles still on her eyes she steps to the side of the porch, not quite on the sidewalk, and continues to look, unworried now that her eye protection is on. "Okay let me see," she aays to herself, pacing around to measure it all out in her head, and on her softly spoken, quick shuffle of thoughts. The first of which is "Fuck it." Before the beam is done with its second sweep, she has a small baggie of blow ready, and she lines out some of her pre-chopped powder on her left glove, using a 100 dollar bill to snort it up before tucking that lucky bill away. Less than a second later she's already pacing quickly, and talking almost more quickly, "Strange beam of light in the sky lighthouse antics?-No too erratic no control beam won't leave bayside-could be extra-terrestrial phenomenon but not on the verge of nuclear conflict-can't make a beam like that with anything I can build and that leaves futuristic machinery-no time rifts move forward not backward-could it be? No! Dark magic ritual-exposure risk! Can't send anyone else-has to be me." She sucks a deep breath into her nose and breathes the sigh out her mouth, opening her eyes from the one time she blinked since the blow. "Someone else might have gotten it wrong," she says, reassuring herself that she has to be right, and she takes off running toward where she saw the beam coming from. Generally.
And now in her altered state of mind, Macy paces into the forest behind the Lodge. Normally one would see more animals here and there, maybe a monster or two if they venture too far out, but tonight there seemed to be none. Maybe it was just the hour, but the few that could be seen, were getting away from the place the girl was heading towards, probably not a good indicator.
In the forest everything seems darker, and the more she hurries away from the streets, the less light she has to work with. Roots and uneasy terrain start becoming more common as she ventures into nature, but eventually, in the distance, she can spot a little clearing. And how is she able to see it with this encroaching darkness? Well, the same unnatural purplish light that had formed a beam and illuminated the sky seems to be coating the entire clearing, and, by proxy, giving some dim lighting to the nearby area, allowing Macy to at least see something without being outright visible to anyone out there.
And as she gets closer, it becomes apparently that at least to some extent, she was probably right, it was a ritual, though it's probably something bigger than one would see performed in a classroom in White Oak, or to banish a spirit, probably bigger in scale than what was normally cast around the town. And as such, it had a bigger number of casters. A total of five cloaked figures stand on the clearing, seemingly chanting something in some unknown otherworldly language that seems to make their voices echo unnaturally against the trees.
The five of them standing over a complex and intricate system of lines and glyphs painted on the ground with bright purplish light, all contained within a circle which edges seem to be coated in a fire of the same color that for some reason wasn't propagating across the grass or to the rest of the woods. Maybe it wasn't dark magic, but it definitely wasn't good news.
Another instant and the ground shakes again, the sky being illuminated for another brief moment, before letting the darkness of the night settle in. The air almost creaks uncomfortably, unpleasant in the ears and even making one shudder. And as that happens, a tiny little hole seems to appear over the center of the circle, horizontal to the ground, its circumference maybe the size of a pinky finger, but even looking at it seems unpleasant.
This definitely was breaking secrecy, but the robed figures, whomever they were, didn't seem to care about that, nor whatever they were about to unleash. One thing was clear though, whatever it was, it didn't belong to this world.
Macy slows only a little bit at the terrain toughness, following that purple with caution, and also looking around along the way. She keeps her eyes peeled for any corpses, ready to do entry level forensics if she has to for a clue as to what's going on. She is definitely letting her phone catch as much as she can on video, and she made sure that the flashlight stayed off the phone time, not only canceling the light enhance option before the video starts, but also with a well placed piece of electrical tape. Can't talk it out-they'll know at the first sound louder than a whisper from me-have to be cautious-have to alert Sheriff's department purple beam could be problematic-Venice unkind to exposure risks-can't wait for backup though-have to-no that's impossibel I could nev-unless I do it prone-yes-prone position best phone higher up-I can do it. Had to be me... someone else might have gotten it wrong. She comes to a tree near the edge of the clearing, but just outside of the lit area... and she dials 911 on it. The conversation is designed by her to keep the five guessing, and hopefully wrong. When she hears "911, what's your emergency?" She brings out a small revolver with opal handgrip inlays, and waits for the first one to look and fires to the side of his leg but aims close to it. She's trying to intentionally not make a direct hit but to burn the figure with a graze and not make them bleed. After that she tries to get hidden behind the tree the phone is, grab the phone and whisper into it, "I'm in the forest somewhere between the lodge and the lighthouse, that purple is not the lighthouse! Send a deputy and send backup!" After trying to keep her voice down there she side-chucks the phone to send it into the grass behind another tree, hoping to get it landed there before the next on-speaker reply from dispatch.
Part was missed: For the first response of the 911 dispatcher, the phone is on a low branch and Macy is laying prone 3 feet below and 3 feet away.
But as Macy starts to speak into the phone, another wave of light flashes across the forest. This one doesn't light the sky, or showcase any beam, instead it seems a more natural kind of flash, in every direction, light beaming, and the line turns to static shortly after, whether deputies were in their way or not, unclear, since the call is cut short right there.
And not only that but the shot, no matter how accurate could have been, doesn't come out, some sort of invisible force not allowing Macy to pull the trigger. One that she might recognize as Sanctuary, the spell covering the small town, that protects people against intentionally causing harm to others. Yet the moment the tube of the cannon is displaced and the aim isn't on the robed figure, the finger is allowed to continue, and a fire is shot towards the clear, but not impacting anyone in particular.
The light softens once more, leaving just a dark aura of purple color lighting the woods, but the robed figures have now turned their heads towards the forest, looking around worriedly, but their chanting doesn't stop, seemingly they didn't bring anyone to cover their backs, and they were stuck casting the ritual. Even if they knew there was someone around attempting to shoot at them, they had no answer other than continuing to do their magic.
And that hole in the air, the breach from before, close enough to the ground for it to be invisible to anyone outside of the woods or far away enough from the clearing, seems to grow a tiny bit bigger. What seems like some oily dark tendril poking out of it, looking like the tip of a tentacle, dripping pitch black fluid onto the grass over which it hovers, creating a fizzling noise that is heard all around the place.
Whatever creature it is they are bringing, it is not good news. But at least, luckily for Macy, she had made sure they had no one protecting them, and that they were still in the process of opening a gate, they needed to remain focused on the ritual, at least one would assume as much. They might be five, but what would happen was one to be disrupted? Macy also likely knew a ritual of this size was probably very taxing for the life force of everyone involved, even if they were to turn on her, would they have the enough strength to do anything to her? Now it was just a matter of seeing how she reacted. Would she try to ask for more help after the call with the emergencies line was cut halfway through? Or would she step up and pause the thing herself? Maybe just wait for someone else to show up? The ball seemed to be in her court, the hooded figures having chosen to ignore her and continue summoning whatever they were bringing into the world.
(Correction, because the SR is a dummy and misread) The bullet is indeed shot as intended, Sanctuary doesn't come in, why would it? She isn't trying to pierce the leg or anything. And so, the shot from Macy grazes the leg of one of the robed figures, going in and out of the robe, leaving a couple tiny holes on it. Though this doesn't seem to disuaded the chanting group, much like before, they keep on using their voice to bring forth the creature at the other side of the rift. Maybe more uneasy, the affected figure certainly flinching and bending its body slightly, but they seem all too busy with the giant ritual draining their life force to interrupt it and start looking around for an intruder
Macy gets up revolver in hand, aiming it at the person she'd meant to barely graze before.. She does this to try to make him think that she could shoot him dead, that was the real, deeper intent behind the graze, not mutilation, but fear. If the miniscule could happen and did, does he know what she can not do? She brings up something else instead, rambling on during her approach. "You know what's funny about coming up on a bunch of people in a forest is that you never know what they're up to until you puzzle it out-dark ritual?-yes but not the kind anyone I know can do and I grew up with the best-so what is it?-summoning spell?-no that takes less time and they'd be here by now but you know what?" More good luck for Macy, that thing coming out isn't human, and she notices that on the way. "Gate magic creates portals and this is a portal-yes classifications are right no contact with vegitation no central support structure no logic to be here-has to be gate, but to where? No octopi in the wilds can't be there-hell-no too hot for hell you'd think it'd be the other way around but a cold day in hell happens every day-fae realms would have a fae king standing guard and godrealms are easy to find so why need a portal-no!-could you all have been that stupid you want to get into the void!?" Not a second after she says that she throws a punch at the nose of the man she's been approaching. At the same time she tries to split her attention and shoot the tentacle that's trying to come out.
And as Macy punches the figure, who turns out to be a woman in her later thirties by the look of her face, only visible under the cloak because of the very light of the ritual, that same purplish lighting seems to diminish a little bit. The woman seems to back away from the circle of lines and and runes that seem plastered on the ground, and extracted from the ritual, nearly collapsing at the punch despite it probably not being something that strong - Maybe stronger than average, but nothing to knock someone out when striking the nose, these people were clearly weak by now.
But the others seem to continue, the nervousness in their figures concealed by the heavy clothing, not giving away any signs of emotion whatsoever, only the reverberating chants in that otherworldly language, whatever it was, they seemed intent on getting somewhere before they were all out of it, even if there was someone trying to get in their way.
The flaring light from before seeming to dim some, and the flare that surrounded the circle of the ritual becoming smaller, pulling that woman away had certainly weakened the thing visually. The breach in the air seeming to tighten around the pitch black tentacle, the tip of it coiling around at the closing entrance to reality, and the tip trying to close around it, almost like it's trying to get ahold of the breach itself to hold it open, or to open it further, but it doesn't seem to be having much effect, at least for now - Who knows what could happen was it to open a bit further, give the creature on the other side more strength to try and come into the world.
Cream of the crop this remaining quartet isn't, and Macy turns to stuff her foot sole back hard at the downed woman's chest, trying to take the wind right out of her and her out of the fight entirely, if she wasn't already. "One down but ritual still going-are you fearless and my holding a gun does nothing to you?-Can see you're not afraid of the gun, not afraid of me-but-" Supposing she's not been grabbed, she's been approaching the next of the remaining four and rambling faster than her approach. She fires at the tentacle again and keeps going. "You fear the tentacle monster-but why why to fear it it's on the other side of the gate can't get to you unless you open the gate-what do people fear-above everything else they fear gods-this is your god?-yes-you worship it here hold this." She tosses the gun at the new hooded target's face, making it relatively easy for them to catch, and she pairs it with doing what she does best, using distractions, in the form of attempting a dead on crotch punt aimed to strike right when the gun gets to the intended catcher.
The bullet shot at the tentacle seems to land squarely on it, but it doesn't react, and the bullet itself doesn't seem to come out from the other side of the appendage. Instead, the situation is more akin to the tentacle having swallowed it rather than being hit by it. Yet the creature pays no attention to Macy, much like the cultists, who seem to be tunnel visioning despite the efforts of the girl to stop them.
The knocked down woman gets completely knocked out after Macy makes sure to end it, and while the new target seems to flinch slightly at the approach, he doesn't really move from its spot, probably it being an important part of the casting as well, and soon enough a second figure goes down.
With it the light diminishes once more, and for a brief moment, the ground rumbles, trembling slightly, the mist of the forest rising, making the illumination that once beamed into the sky be almost null now. The breach in the air tightens once more, clinging to the flesh of the tentacle, if it could be called that. And, after a whole minute of tension, the energy of the ritual seems to start faltering, as well as the control over it. The flares at the edges shoot out towards the forest, causing light fires that die down soon after, and the lines and runes stop glowing. Two of the three remaining robbed people fall to the ground, whether knocked out or dead from the life force loss, unclear. And the third of them, upon seeing what's happening, turns around and starts running, trying to hide among the mist and the darkness of the night that was settling on the forest once more, slow and weak, but making a run for it.
Though perhaps the most important part, the breach, closes once the ritual starts imploding, severing the tentacle clean, forcing it to fall to the ground, oily and twitching, just for it to corrode the grass around it, sinking to the ground as if rotting it, and few seconds later decomposing into a puff of black smoke that fizzles in the air until disappearing entirely.
It seems the ritual has been completely disrupted. One cultist on the run, three passed out on the clearing, the last one of them contorting in pain on the ground. And no eldritch abomination stepping foot into this world. By the looks of it in retrospect, it would seem the cultists didn't react in hopes that opening enough would allow the beast to open the rest itself, what other reason would be to not respond to an attack? Or to wander so dangerously close to the point of dying while opening a gate to another world? But then again, none of that mattered right now, the crisis was adverted. At least for now
That third one running to get away is the one Macy throws an arm around the neck of as soon as the turn happens. She is still coked up and her eyes by now show the rise of her emotions in all this. She pulls the figure close and by the robe, speaking quickly even for her state. "Nonono youcan'tgo Ineedyouhere youhaveto-sendmymessage-tothevoid. Tell them Macy Steinbeck sent you and that she said, it had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong." She doesn't throw the person into the void, but as close to it as sanctuary would allow, wanting to make sure that either 4 all 5 of them stay put. Meaning that if the man did have a desire to go to the void she would, in that case, end up throwing him in, if sanctuary allows that. (Not sure because it says forced leaving of Haven, but physically forced is questionable if a want to leave is there? I think? Need to ask admins.) Either so she can deal with them later or just so that she knows where they are for now, happy to have probably scared the actual piss out of that last one.
The climax of Macy's adventure reaches its peak as she discovers a group of Black Flame cultists conducting a dark ritual to summon an entity from another realm. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, she acts with a mix of audacity and ingenuity to disrupt the ceremony. Armed with a small revolver and leveraging her knowledge of the supernatural, Macy attempts to intimidate and physically hamper the cultists, understanding that the ritual's success could have catastrophic consequences. She resorts to a variety of tactics, including misleading the cultists and employing non-lethal force, to cause disruption and confusion among them. As the ritual begins to falter due to her interventions, and the imminent threat of an eldritch horror making its way into their world is thwarted, Macy's actions underscore her resourcefulness and bravery. The encounter concludes with the ritual being disrupted and the breach to another world forcibly closed, preventing the summoning of the entity and averting a crisis that could have spelled doom for the town of Haven—highlighting Macy's role not just as a meddler in the supernatural, but as a protector of the veil between worlds.
(Macy's odd encounter(SRWilliam):SRWilliam)
[Fri Jan 31 2025]
In Rosie's Diner
Filled with nostalgia, this diner is a step into the past - to a time of swing and jive, and one would claim, simpler times. The walls are cream toned, letting the pink and turquoise neon striping along the ceiling give the space more vibrant coloring. Pieces of kitsch and memorabilia are posted here and there, providing character and retro style.
Behind the counter, cooks work the main line, allowing customers to watch as their meals are prepped. A soda fountain and a glass domed freezer is set away from the heat, where the soda jerk creates speciality floats, sundaes, malts and shakes.
Meanwhile, waitresses on roller skates gracefully take orders, their uniforms chock full of bling.
It is night, about 23F(-5C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey stormclouds in the sky. Ankle high mist flows through the area. There is a waxing crescent moon.
Macy puts her hands together, gesturing at some empty space and nodding. "That could have gone so much better!" she chides, gathering up some notepad paper and a pencil off the floor. "The fun part is I know he's going to one out of two places warmer than here, but I just can't tell you where. I have to go and write some things down. Sorry." She said this to A middle-aged man with weathered features, the other person who was with her, just before stepping out of Rosie's Diner to put a hand to her face. "Oh my gosh I need to do better!"
(Your target wakes up in the middle of the night to find a group of Black Flame cultists conducting a ritual in their backyard. The cultists are attempting to summon an eldritch horror, believing that it will bring about the end of the world and pave the way for a new and better existence. The target must interrupt the ritual before it's too late. They will need to fend off the cultists and possibly whatever they've summoned. This will be a test of their combat ability, but they may also be able to deescalate the situation by convincing the cultists to stop the ritual.)
Another day comes to an end in the cold town of Haven, an hour past midnight, the shadows start covering every single street and alley, making the temperatures drop, and the mist takes ahold of the quiet outside. Only the street lights providing some little guidance to the few people still lingering outside, most deterred by either the hour or the chilling air.
But to disrupt this otherwise peaceful night, Haven is sure to deliver something out of the blue. Having Macy just walked out of Rosie's, she's facing the lodge, with the forest full of supernatural creatures behind it, but this night that doesn't seem to be the weirdest bit about it, no. In the middle of all the darkness, out of nowhere and for a good couple seconds, the forest and the sky itself illuminates.
And it isn't the kind provoked by a lightning or some storm, albeit similar, no. Instead, for the brief couple seconds that there's light, it looks more like a beam, coming from the woods and searching for the sky, purplish in nature, though it's hard to tell for something that happens so quick.
The earth shivers slightly, though just for an instant, and then everything is back to eerily quiet, as if whatever had caused that anomaly was gone. Though what Macy saw, it isn't just something one could pull of with machinery or when playing one prank in the middle of the forest, it was way too big- And there was something else about it, almost magical in nature, but not quite. It felt like something was off about the air and reality itself for the brief instant of the anomaly. It was certainly something that, was it to be spotted or filmed by someone unaware, it would definitely cause a breach on Venetian Secrecy, but then again, if someone goes to these extents to do something like this, maybe they don't care about the consequences.
Macy rubs on her arms, having just had them behind her back in an awkwardly placed fold. "Well, it's a nice night at least, despite the cold," she observes, rubbing her hands together just before the illumination. "Woah!", she says at the moment she has to slide her goggles over her eyes. Not out of need but out of being startled into it. "Okay wait a minute." Goggles still on her eyes she steps to the side of the porch, not quite on the sidewalk, and continues to look, unworried now that her eye protection is on. "Okay let me see," she aays to herself, pacing around to measure it all out in her head, and on her softly spoken, quick shuffle of thoughts. The first of which is "Fuck it." Before the beam is done with its second sweep, she has a small baggie of blow ready, and she lines out some of her pre-chopped powder on her left glove, using a 100 dollar bill to snort it up before tucking that lucky bill away. Less than a second later she's already pacing quickly, and talking almost more quickly, "Strange beam of light in the sky lighthouse antics?-No too erratic no control beam won't leave bayside-could be extra-terrestrial phenomenon but not on the verge of nuclear conflict-can't make a beam like that with anything I can build and that leaves futuristic machinery-no time rifts move forward not backward-could it be? No! Dark magic ritual-exposure risk! Can't send anyone else-has to be me." She sucks a deep breath into her nose and breathes the sigh out her mouth, opening her eyes from the one time she blinked since the blow. "Someone else might have gotten it wrong," she says, reassuring herself that she has to be right, and she takes off running toward where she saw the beam coming from. Generally.
And now in her altered state of mind, Macy paces into the forest behind the Lodge. Normally one would see more animals here and there, maybe a monster or two if they venture too far out, but tonight there seemed to be none. Maybe it was just the hour, but the few that could be seen, were getting away from the place the girl was heading towards, probably not a good indicator.
In the forest everything seems darker, and the more she hurries away from the streets, the less light she has to work with. Roots and uneasy terrain start becoming more common as she ventures into nature, but eventually, in the distance, she can spot a little clearing. And how is she able to see it with this encroaching darkness? Well, the same unnatural purplish light that had formed a beam and illuminated the sky seems to be coating the entire clearing, and, by proxy, giving some dim lighting to the nearby area, allowing Macy to at least see something without being outright visible to anyone out there.
And as she gets closer, it becomes apparently that at least to some extent, she was probably right, it was a ritual, though it's probably something bigger than one would see performed in a classroom in White Oak, or to banish a spirit, probably bigger in scale than what was normally cast around the town. And as such, it had a bigger number of casters. A total of five cloaked figures stand on the clearing, seemingly chanting something in some unknown otherworldly language that seems to make their voices echo unnaturally against the trees.
The five of them standing over a complex and intricate system of lines and glyphs painted on the ground with bright purplish light, all contained within a circle which edges seem to be coated in a fire of the same color that for some reason wasn't propagating across the grass or to the rest of the woods. Maybe it wasn't dark magic, but it definitely wasn't good news.
Another instant and the ground shakes again, the sky being illuminated for another brief moment, before letting the darkness of the night settle in. The air almost creaks uncomfortably, unpleasant in the ears and even making one shudder. And as that happens, a tiny little hole seems to appear over the center of the circle, horizontal to the ground, its circumference maybe the size of a pinky finger, but even looking at it seems unpleasant.
This definitely was breaking secrecy, but the robed figures, whomever they were, didn't seem to care about that, nor whatever they were about to unleash. One thing was clear though, whatever it was, it didn't belong to this world.
Macy slows only a little bit at the terrain toughness, following that purple with caution, and also looking around along the way. She keeps her eyes peeled for any corpses, ready to do entry level forensics if she has to for a clue as to what's going on. She is definitely letting her phone catch as much as she can on video, and she made sure that the flashlight stayed off the phone time, not only canceling the light enhance option before the video starts, but also with a well placed piece of electrical tape. Can't talk it out-they'll know at the first sound louder than a whisper from me-have to be cautious-have to alert Sheriff's department purple beam could be problematic-Venice unkind to exposure risks-can't wait for backup though-have to-no that's impossibel I could nev-unless I do it prone-yes-prone position best phone higher up-I can do it. Had to be me... someone else might have gotten it wrong. She comes to a tree near the edge of the clearing, but just outside of the lit area... and she dials 911 on it. The conversation is designed by her to keep the five guessing, and hopefully wrong. When she hears "911, what's your emergency?" She brings out a small revolver with opal handgrip inlays, and waits for the first one to look and fires to the side of his leg but aims close to it. She's trying to intentionally not make a direct hit but to burn the figure with a graze and not make them bleed. After that she tries to get hidden behind the tree the phone is, grab the phone and whisper into it, "I'm in the forest somewhere between the lodge and the lighthouse, that purple is not the lighthouse! Send a deputy and send backup!" After trying to keep her voice down there she side-chucks the phone to send it into the grass behind another tree, hoping to get it landed there before the next on-speaker reply from dispatch.
Part was missed: For the first response of the 911 dispatcher, the phone is on a low branch and Macy is laying prone 3 feet below and 3 feet away.
But as Macy starts to speak into the phone, another wave of light flashes across the forest. This one doesn't light the sky, or showcase any beam, instead it seems a more natural kind of flash, in every direction, light beaming, and the line turns to static shortly after, whether deputies were in their way or not, unclear, since the call is cut short right there.
And not only that but the shot, no matter how accurate could have been, doesn't come out, some sort of invisible force not allowing Macy to pull the trigger. One that she might recognize as Sanctuary, the spell covering the small town, that protects people against intentionally causing harm to others. Yet the moment the tube of the cannon is displaced and the aim isn't on the robed figure, the finger is allowed to continue, and a fire is shot towards the clear, but not impacting anyone in particular.
The light softens once more, leaving just a dark aura of purple color lighting the woods, but the robed figures have now turned their heads towards the forest, looking around worriedly, but their chanting doesn't stop, seemingly they didn't bring anyone to cover their backs, and they were stuck casting the ritual. Even if they knew there was someone around attempting to shoot at them, they had no answer other than continuing to do their magic.
And that hole in the air, the breach from before, close enough to the ground for it to be invisible to anyone outside of the woods or far away enough from the clearing, seems to grow a tiny bit bigger. What seems like some oily dark tendril poking out of it, looking like the tip of a tentacle, dripping pitch black fluid onto the grass over which it hovers, creating a fizzling noise that is heard all around the place.
Whatever creature it is they are bringing, it is not good news. But at least, luckily for Macy, she had made sure they had no one protecting them, and that they were still in the process of opening a gate, they needed to remain focused on the ritual, at least one would assume as much. They might be five, but what would happen was one to be disrupted? Macy also likely knew a ritual of this size was probably very taxing for the life force of everyone involved, even if they were to turn on her, would they have the enough strength to do anything to her? Now it was just a matter of seeing how she reacted. Would she try to ask for more help after the call with the emergencies line was cut halfway through? Or would she step up and pause the thing herself? Maybe just wait for someone else to show up? The ball seemed to be in her court, the hooded figures having chosen to ignore her and continue summoning whatever they were bringing into the world.
(Correction, because the SR is a dummy and misread) The bullet is indeed shot as intended, Sanctuary doesn't come in, why would it? She isn't trying to pierce the leg or anything. And so, the shot from Macy grazes the leg of one of the robed figures, going in and out of the robe, leaving a couple tiny holes on it. Though this doesn't seem to disuaded the chanting group, much like before, they keep on using their voice to bring forth the creature at the other side of the rift. Maybe more uneasy, the affected figure certainly flinching and bending its body slightly, but they seem all too busy with the giant ritual draining their life force to interrupt it and start looking around for an intruder
Macy gets up revolver in hand, aiming it at the person she'd meant to barely graze before.. She does this to try to make him think that she could shoot him dead, that was the real, deeper intent behind the graze, not mutilation, but fear. If the miniscule could happen and did, does he know what she can not do? She brings up something else instead, rambling on during her approach. "You know what's funny about coming up on a bunch of people in a forest is that you never know what they're up to until you puzzle it out-dark ritual?-yes but not the kind anyone I know can do and I grew up with the best-so what is it?-summoning spell?-no that takes less time and they'd be here by now but you know what?" More good luck for Macy, that thing coming out isn't human, and she notices that on the way. "Gate magic creates portals and this is a portal-yes classifications are right no contact with vegitation no central support structure no logic to be here-has to be gate, but to where? No octopi in the wilds can't be there-hell-no too hot for hell you'd think it'd be the other way around but a cold day in hell happens every day-fae realms would have a fae king standing guard and godrealms are easy to find so why need a portal-no!-could you all have been that stupid you want to get into the void!?" Not a second after she says that she throws a punch at the nose of the man she's been approaching. At the same time she tries to split her attention and shoot the tentacle that's trying to come out.
And as Macy punches the figure, who turns out to be a woman in her later thirties by the look of her face, only visible under the cloak because of the very light of the ritual, that same purplish lighting seems to diminish a little bit. The woman seems to back away from the circle of lines and and runes that seem plastered on the ground, and extracted from the ritual, nearly collapsing at the punch despite it probably not being something that strong - Maybe stronger than average, but nothing to knock someone out when striking the nose, these people were clearly weak by now.
But the others seem to continue, the nervousness in their figures concealed by the heavy clothing, not giving away any signs of emotion whatsoever, only the reverberating chants in that otherworldly language, whatever it was, they seemed intent on getting somewhere before they were all out of it, even if there was someone trying to get in their way.
The flaring light from before seeming to dim some, and the flare that surrounded the circle of the ritual becoming smaller, pulling that woman away had certainly weakened the thing visually. The breach in the air seeming to tighten around the pitch black tentacle, the tip of it coiling around at the closing entrance to reality, and the tip trying to close around it, almost like it's trying to get ahold of the breach itself to hold it open, or to open it further, but it doesn't seem to be having much effect, at least for now - Who knows what could happen was it to open a bit further, give the creature on the other side more strength to try and come into the world.
Cream of the crop this remaining quartet isn't, and Macy turns to stuff her foot sole back hard at the downed woman's chest, trying to take the wind right out of her and her out of the fight entirely, if she wasn't already. "One down but ritual still going-are you fearless and my holding a gun does nothing to you?-Can see you're not afraid of the gun, not afraid of me-but-" Supposing she's not been grabbed, she's been approaching the next of the remaining four and rambling faster than her approach. She fires at the tentacle again and keeps going. "You fear the tentacle monster-but why why to fear it it's on the other side of the gate can't get to you unless you open the gate-what do people fear-above everything else they fear gods-this is your god?-yes-you worship it here hold this." She tosses the gun at the new hooded target's face, making it relatively easy for them to catch, and she pairs it with doing what she does best, using distractions, in the form of attempting a dead on crotch punt aimed to strike right when the gun gets to the intended catcher.
The bullet shot at the tentacle seems to land squarely on it, but it doesn't react, and the bullet itself doesn't seem to come out from the other side of the appendage. Instead, the situation is more akin to the tentacle having swallowed it rather than being hit by it. Yet the creature pays no attention to Macy, much like the cultists, who seem to be tunnel visioning despite the efforts of the girl to stop them.
The knocked down woman gets completely knocked out after Macy makes sure to end it, and while the new target seems to flinch slightly at the approach, he doesn't really move from its spot, probably it being an important part of the casting as well, and soon enough a second figure goes down.
With it the light diminishes once more, and for a brief moment, the ground rumbles, trembling slightly, the mist of the forest rising, making the illumination that once beamed into the sky be almost null now. The breach in the air tightens once more, clinging to the flesh of the tentacle, if it could be called that. And, after a whole minute of tension, the energy of the ritual seems to start faltering, as well as the control over it. The flares at the edges shoot out towards the forest, causing light fires that die down soon after, and the lines and runes stop glowing. Two of the three remaining robbed people fall to the ground, whether knocked out or dead from the life force loss, unclear. And the third of them, upon seeing what's happening, turns around and starts running, trying to hide among the mist and the darkness of the night that was settling on the forest once more, slow and weak, but making a run for it.
Though perhaps the most important part, the breach, closes once the ritual starts imploding, severing the tentacle clean, forcing it to fall to the ground, oily and twitching, just for it to corrode the grass around it, sinking to the ground as if rotting it, and few seconds later decomposing into a puff of black smoke that fizzles in the air until disappearing entirely.
It seems the ritual has been completely disrupted. One cultist on the run, three passed out on the clearing, the last one of them contorting in pain on the ground. And no eldritch abomination stepping foot into this world. By the looks of it in retrospect, it would seem the cultists didn't react in hopes that opening enough would allow the beast to open the rest itself, what other reason would be to not respond to an attack? Or to wander so dangerously close to the point of dying while opening a gate to another world? But then again, none of that mattered right now, the crisis was adverted. At least for now
That third one running to get away is the one Macy throws an arm around the neck of as soon as the turn happens. She is still coked up and her eyes by now show the rise of her emotions in all this. She pulls the figure close and by the robe, speaking quickly even for her state. "Nonono youcan'tgo Ineedyouhere youhaveto-sendmymessage-tothevoid. Tell them Macy Steinbeck sent you and that she said, it had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong." She doesn't throw the person into the void, but as close to it as sanctuary would allow, wanting to make sure that either 4 all 5 of them stay put. Meaning that if the man did have a desire to go to the void she would, in that case, end up throwing him in, if sanctuary allows that. (Not sure because it says forced leaving of Haven, but physically forced is questionable if a want to leave is there? I think? Need to ask admins.) Either so she can deal with them later or just so that she knows where they are for now, happy to have probably scared the actual piss out of that last one.