Patrollogs
Coltons Ghost Banishing 241210
On a cold, pre-dawn morning in Arkwright Cemetery, an eerie scene unfolds as Colton and his allies confront an assembly of spectral pirates risen from their graves. The ghostly figures, armed with ancient weapons and emitting a haunting melody, immediately target Colton, trapping and attacking him with supernatural ferocity. Amidst this chaos, William seeks shelter, planning a ritual for banishment, while Sam and Illyana engage the ghosts with physical and magical attacks, respectively. Colton, despite his non-magical approach, manages to use the terrain to his advantage by hurling grave soil at the ghosts, disrupting their forms. As the battle rages, Fiona assists William in preparing a complex ritual, contributing her own blood to fuel the spell, while teasing Colton about his hygiene amidst the life-and-death struggle.
As their situation grows increasingly dire with demons joining the fray, the allies' desperation becomes palpable. William, continuing his ritualistic chants despite the spectral interference, finally completes the summoning of ethereal forces to counter their adversaries. Illyana, displaying a mix of demonic ecstasy and rage, combats the spirits with angelic fire, emphasizing the chaotic blend of emotions and powers at play. Under immense psychological assault from the invading entities, William, Vindicta, and Illyana experience moments of doubt and fear, nearly succumbing to the demons' seductive and terrifying influences. In a dramatic climax, the combined effort of the group, especially William's completed ritual and Illyana's fiery assault, results in the banishment of the smoke monsters, restoring a fragile peace to the cemetery as dawn approaches. The toll of the night's events is evident in their weary but determined faces, a testament to their resilience and the dark realities they face in their fight against the supernatural.
(Colton's ghost banishing)
[Mon Dec 9 2024]
On the Sprawling Hillside of Arkwright Cemetery
It is before dawn, about 19F(-7C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey stormclouds in the sky. There is a waxing gibbous moon.
A haunting piano melody suddenly creeps over the graveyard as one by one, three spectral forms raise up into sight. Each is somewhat decayed and dressed in a mix of ballroom gown and old pirate garb, one wields a pair of flintlock pistols, another a wicked cutlass and the third a pair of sharp looking knives.
"I certainly did, that doesn't mean I wouldn't try to get some practice in," Fiona says to William idly, before she holds her gaze on Colton for a long moment. "The question is, is he going to go off the leash if we do? Let's get some distance, we don't need to be in the thing's face," as she hears piano music suddenly and ... there's pirates.
Looking around, Sam shrugs lightly. "I reckon I'm muscle today, up to Colt how he wants to do it, reckon ya might be the least... problematic of us here?"
The jock crouches into a boxer's stance, raising a bright steel knife. "Aight, let's do this."
The dual-knife wielder disappears before her arms suddenly emerge from the ground, stabing into the feet of Colton to keep him in place as the cutlass wielder swoops forward.
William retreats from the spirits and in turn, the muscle of the group "Oh noes, rituals for me..." He says almost chirpier than before, looking for some grave big enough to hide behind, or at least to cover him from some attack were it to be physical, sheltering behind it and telling Fiona "If you want to practice, come over here"
"I think our working strategy is let me pretend to fight some ghosts and you guys do what you can," Colton grunts, leaning over to gather clumps of grave soil in his hands. "I don't do magic, so I can only do shit on a psychic level. That can weaken them, but not actually banish 'em. Good luck." Then he tosses the soil up into the air, using either hand to direct the resultant crud-clouds to scythe their way around and whittle away at the knifeswoman and swordsman.
"Oh these guys." Illyana sighs. "They like you." she points out to Colton as she stands once more. Entirely poorly dressed for this, she removes her coat, cracking her knuckles, her hands bursting into flame. Glancing between Fiona, Sam and William, there's an expectation there. And besides! She doesn't need to perform rituals. Win/win/win. What she can do though is note the knife-wielder, thrust a hand forward and throw a ball of angelic fire through the cutlass wielder.
Watching for just a moment, there's a loft of Fiona's eyebrows as she sees Colton lift earth from the ground, some form of recognition in that. There looks like there's going to be a protest from her, but she sees William preparing, and moves in closer to him. "Might as well see what you've got," she states agreeably, kneeling beside him. "Alright, what procedure are we using here? Yassarion's?" she asks, eyes looking into William's as the battle starts to rage.
William slowly brings out a knife, hidden within his coat, pulling it out of the sheath and bringing it to his palm, not even waiting for Fiona to be around before digging it carefully into his palm, making a bit of a diagonal cut and bending the hand slightly in order for the blood to come out a little faster. Then putting away the knife, he wets his and index and heart finger with the blood "We draw on the ground..." He tells Fiona as she arrives, simply, starting by a big sizeable circle that might not be entirely covered by the width of the tombstone used as cover
Gabriella approaches those already gathering around, slowing down as she gets closer, watching as Illyana starts warming the air with her flames. "Shouldn't you be trying to rest, Yana?" she asks, her way of saying 'hi'. Seeing that Fiona and William seem to be the arcanists for the day, she pockets her hands into the jacket, and steps closer to Colton, asking him "'sup, teach'."
"I really should, but I have asses to watch and faces to kick." Illyana tells Gabriella with no more context.
Beginning to stamp his fake Nikes into the dirt, Colton starts belting out a very rudimentary war song and dance, sort of like an imitation Haka, but clearly unrehearsed. Rather than his regular dirt whirlwind, he sprays grave soil directly at the ghosts most piratical and combative as he dodges and ducks and dives around them. When Gabriella pops up, though, he pauses mid-chest slap, lifting his other hand to say, "Yo, Miss Savoy. Don't film me right now. I'm not a Warden, and I haven't done this before."
The double knife weilder appears suddenly behind Colton, cackling right in his ear before rearing back to stab him in the back.
Looking towards William and Fiona a moment, Sam seems to decide on the physical approach. He stalks around, waiting for some of the specters to be otherwise engaged before laying into one, the metal of his blade flashing, and though of course they don't get physically damaged, at least they might be weakened.
He looks towards Colton, and somewhat of an amused smile plays around his lips.
And, of course, Colton lets out a pained "FUCK!" when he gets stabbed right in the back as he faces Gabriella. Typical.
Fiona turns her head toward an unfamiliar voice and Gabriella, then nods back to William, telling him, "Right. A circle." Well, they usually start with a circle. She doesn't go for a knife, instead bringing her hand up to her mouth and biting a hole into the flesh there, dark, dark blood oozing out as she begins to drip it into the grooves that William has started to carve, watching him closely.
"Ass watching sounds... fine, but face kicking might be... something better left for the new year, no?" Gabriella recomends, She turns to Colton, seeming to about to protest about the suggestion that she might have thought of filming this, when suddenly someone shows up behind the man and stabs him. Gabriella reels back, in shock.
William finishes drawing the circle quite quickle, it's almost way too practiced, not straying almost from the path at all despite lacking something more of a slow approach to it, then he looks at Fiona now also bleeding, perking his eyebrow and showing to her his already bleeding hand, maybe not the smartest of ideas to bring it so close to her face "I had already..."
His nostrils flaring at the scent of Fiona's blood, Colton looks aside sharply to bare his teeth at the spilled material as if it were purest putrescine, the apple of his throat bobbing as he chokes down a swallow.
"Fucking god damn," he swears, most eloquently. "That fucking stinks, Bismarck." No nuns are around to watch his mouth for him, here. He flicks both hands outwards, spraying down the ghosts with splashes of grave dirt, oh-so-hungry for morsels of spectral essence.
"It's not enough to fuck me up, let me at least empower your spell," Fiona says to William, blinking at his confusion at the matter. "Tell me what I'm drawing, what I'm doing, or I'm just going to try to do the best I can with what you're giving me," she intones, her voice low.
Then there's the swearing from Colton, and she replies back without missing a beat, "You smell like a whole zoo that's spent the day at Taco Bell, Colton Moore, deal with it."
As Gabriella speaks with Colton and as some of those asses to watch begin working on the ritual, Illyana notes first Fiona, Sam, William, then the knife wielder. Colton seems to be working on that earth bound vortex he's fond of, so with the effort born of a trust fund baby who already had to get dirty feet just not to skid-- And who put entirely the wrong kind of clothing on for a cemetery on, there's not even an attempt here. Illyana flicks another ball of angelic fire at the knife-wielder as she omits walking all together (she doesn't want even more dirty feet), pathing directly over to the arcanists, her gaze fixating on the drawing of blood and apparently loving it all. "Yeah yeah." the bohemian agrees with Gabriella, now watching hands and fangs instead, though there's something else at play. Illyana is enjoying something about this situation.
Colton's shoulder suddenly burns as the flicklock wielder materializes long enough to fire a shot into him, there's no visible wound.
Sam keeps to the edge of the battlefield, one hand stabbign ghosts, the other clasping a rather human-looking fingerbone around his neck, hanging from a silver chain, and etched with runes, which glow faintly as he stabs the ghosts. He waits until one specter is hit by some grave-dirt, then stabs it right in the back, twisting that blade a little as if to make a point. He then retreats again, waiting for the next opening.
William sighs, before moving inside the circle itself, with his free hand drawing another little circle on the center, a smaller version of the initial one, and after being done with it, three more, positioned at the edges of some imaginary triangle, all of them contained by the bigger one, but all of them of the same size as the one sitting on the center "Alright so... What you're drawing... Imagine two triangles, one being inverted making a star... With circles at the edges, we are doing that inside the bigger one" He explains, having already done half of it
"Don't drop my full name like my god damn mother," Colton growls, clapping his hands together forcefully as he does some sumo-esque leg drop and slaps his thighs. If his dance is doing anything, it's not very visible. Maybe he's not very good at it; maybe it's just the fact it's a ritual dance of the non-arcane variety.
Then, sharply, he yells, "BILL! Quit fucking whispering in the middle of shit. Some of us got sensitive ears. Focus on incantation, if you've got to do a ritual in the first place." He shoots William an annoyed glance, then immediately gets shot in the shoulder, collapsing back on his ass out of well-drilled reflex as he grabs at the non-existent wound before he forces himself back up.
Fiona begins drawing, adding to the work that William is doing and dribbling her blood in among it to mix with it, her eyes looking back up at him every now and then to check for his reaction, then back down to the circle below, her fingers moving rapidly. The lines are clean, at least, and she asks, "You Jewish, Thorne?" as she finishes her part on their variation of the Star of David. Her hand lifts, gazing at the symbol, then nods. "Something similar to a golem-binding, a variant on bringing forth a spiritual assistant. Colton's raging gets her attention, and distaste crosses her face before blue eyes land back on William. "A chant?" she asks, clearly ready for whatever's next."
"Oy!" Illyana calls to the flintlock phantom, another fireball shooting over Colton's shoulder to strike the spirit, even as the grave dirt peppers it, riddling it with holes. "Piss off." Illyana tells it. Watching Sam, William and Fiona working, she stands there, unmoving as she waits for another target, one eye on Gabriella just in case she gets herself in trouble.
The cutlass-wielder attacks Colton, driving him back as the flintlock lady appears behind him, using the distraction to go through his pockets.
Fiona begins drawing, adding to the work that William is doing and dribbling her blood in among it to mix with it, her eyes looking back up at him every now and then to check for his reaction, then back down to the circle below, her fingers moving rapidly. The lines are clean, at least, and she asks, "You Jewish, Thorne?" as she finishes her part on their variation of the Star of David. Her hand lifts, gazing at the symbol, then nods. "Something similar to a golem-binding, a variant on bringing forth a spiritual assistant?" Colton's raging gets her attention, and distaste crosses her face before blue eyes land back on William. "A chant?" she asks, clearly ready for whatever's next. (fixed)
"You two should shower" Gabriella recommends to Fiona and Colton, either innocently or purposefully missing the point. When Colton is attacked once more, she decides to circle a bit... stepping further away from the Moore.
Aha - Colton's specialty. Colton goes back to ducking and dodging the swinging of that cutlass with plenty of grace, and the flintlocketeer goes entirely ignored. His specialty is being broke and having little worth taking, anyway. That, and the ghost's intangible fingers aren't much of a threat.
"Thank you for taking an earnest interest in your trainer's personal hygiene," he grunts, doing a fancy spin, "But I was in the damn shower before I got the alert. This is as good as it gets."
"I'm explaining over here!" William mentions, rising his voice some to make sure it is heard across the cemetery, before focusing on the blood drawing, watching as Fiona finishes some of it for him, though even if the shape itself seems to be done, he shakes his head "No, runes now... Then chant..." And with that, he begins to draw some very simple shapes across the length lines forming the drawn star, most of them pretty simple really, some composed by as little as two lines and a squiggly shape, other resembling things like 'T's, 'L's, or 'Y's, but not being quite there, covering the whole length of the star slowly
With a gleeful expression, Sam slashes his blade across a ghost's face, a soft hiss in the figure, before he retreats, fending off a few attacks from a particular ghost, stalking around the ritual site, trying at least to let William and Fiona work, while Illyana and Colton wreak havok.
There are now two targets, but Illyana cant fireball this time. Making it wide enough to splash would catch Colton. That leaves Illyana in the unenviable place that she's forced to actually do something other than stand around as Sam, William and Fiona do arcane things that go over her head. So she does; Illyana paths to one spirit, solidly punching it, then with angelic speed follows that up by tossing a fireball anyway at the ghost that Colton is ignoring. (Being broke is a super power in and of itself)
Tracing someone else's work is easy enough, and Fiona does that quickly and precisely, bending fully over the circle and being framed by her pale hair as she does so. "This is as good as it gets? We're going to have to start carrying Febreeze around town, aren't we?" she calls back. Ritual is important, sure, certainly, but giving Colton shit might be the more pressing matter at hand for her. There isn't much embellishment she's doing to the circle, she's content to follow the lead here.
The double knife weilder appears suddenly behind Colton, cackling right in his ear before rearing back to stab him in the back.
For some reason, Sam shakes his head, tilting his head aside as he narrows his eyes, seemingly responding to something unseen. He stabs a ghost, mostly a distraction here. Whatever it is, seems to be mildly confusing the jock there.
"It is, like you said... Similar to bringing forth something... The idea is the same, just, turned upside down... In a sort of way- The drawing is the same, the runes not so much..." William explains to Fiona, he did seem to think he had time to spare with it, and that he was actually half focused on showing her than going straight for the fast finish, plastering the whole star with the different childish looking drawings before going for the center, pouring some more time on that one, that one was complex. Composed of several curved lines center up, sides down, looking like inverted Us, the whole thing maybe resembling some kind of fountain, or tentacles emerging from the ground, unclear
"Careful!" Gabriella is just as helpful as this - being too late warning Colton that there's someone behind him again.
Sucking in a pained hiss between his teeth, Colton tumbles forward and turns to stare into the crazed eyes of that knife-wielding bitch before both man and spirit freeze in place, unmoving but for the man's autonomic processes, like breathing and stinking.
William then retreats from the circle after drawing it all, actually stepping out of the bigger one even, just moving his body away from anything that he has worked on so far, and waits for Fiona to finish covering up every single bit before motioning for her to step out of it as well
Fiona continues to trace over the drawings, nodding slowly. "A chthonic twist on it. Alright, I think I understand, so we're going to do the chant in the style of...?" she asks, looking up from the circle and toward William, one hand on the grave just outside the markings to support her. When he motions her away, she shifts back and up, standing slowly.
Between getting involved in stabbing or being stabbed, or paying attention to the ritual, Gabriella decides to step closer to the circle where Fiona and William are, peeking to see if she can learn something out of what they're doing.
As Colton freezes up the specter, Sam steps in, and starts stabbing away, maybe trying to attack the ghosts, maybe trying to catch their attention, to buy some time for the Moore to recover. A glance is given to William and Fiona, and he grins, teasingly, and half serious. "Any time now, would be great!"
"Kind of" He mentions with a finger pointed at Fiona, now motioning for her to come closer to him, though then pointing at the circle and shaking his head, a very silly way to say 'come to me but don't step on that'. "I can give you later something on what to say, don't think you'll know this one... But there's a boo- Later..." William says with a sigh, before lowering his voice and kneeling down on the ground, probably much to Colton's annoyance, going back to whispering, but this time, something even lower, the kind of string of voice that even someone sitting next to you might miss
The three spirits encircle the group, flicking in and out of reality as they coral them.
Fiona does, in fact, avoid stepping right on the circle and ruining all their hard work as she steps toward William, and tells Sam, "It could have taken even longer, hush you," before she listens to him as best she can. Who knows how much she's actually picking up? But it's the mention of a book that has her lips pursing slightly, and she wraps her arms around her waist. Watching the ghosts come in, and taking a small step more inside.
"Huh, guys..." Gabriella doesn't want to distract anyone and yet is calling their attention, as she turns around and sees the spirits rounding everyone up. She seems not to be carrying any weapon, but... she raises a fist. Not a punch fist - she's holding her phone tight, and pointing with it towards the spirits, acting like the phone is some sort of weapon.
William seems to be muttering in some sort of mysterious language, those who heard it, which probably wouldn't be many given his volume, would probably think it's just gibberish. Closing his eyes slowly, he kind of misses the circling around spirits, but as he continues the low voice chanting, the whole drawn ritual starts to light up slightly, beams of white light coming from it, with some blue and green undertones here and there, though those are suddenly overtaken by some bursts of red light coming from the same place, illuminating the place around them
"I told you to piss off." Illyana tells the knife-wielder. She's standing right there, a literal captive audience, in fact with Colton's trance, so with what could almost be a lover's caress if it wasn't so charged with a demonic ecstasy, Illyana shoves her hand into the frozen knife-wielder, angelic flames licking and twisting inside the spirit as Illyana riggles her hand around inside the haunt. There's a lack of pleasure in that; It's not physical, it's a ghost. It doesn't hurt it, which is what Illyana wants, but it makes a big enough hole. "Any time now." Illyana calls over to Sam, William and Fiona. There's no charge to it. It's all too casual, though Illyana is clearly looking for some kind of responce from /someone/. More than likely just fear or pain from the unfeeling spirits. She's going to be let down, alas.
Fiona calls back to Illyana, "He's finishing up now, just keep them a little bit further from us for a little bit more?"
Circling around William and Fiona's ritual site, Sam goes from teasing and playful, to a little more serious. "Aight, they are getting pissy, I think." He states, not really seeming all too bothered, though he does switch from offensive tactics to defensive tactics, maybe luring the ghosts closer to the ritual, jumping aside as a glance is given to Illyana, and he smirks lightly.
Lowering his voice beyond his normal whisper might normally have worked in William's favour, but now he's doing magic whispers, so Colton's annoyed anyway - it's hard to win with the Moore. After a protracted moment, both he and the knifey ghost break loose of each other. Colton steps back and in towards the rest of the group, keeping his back pointed directly away from that one ghost who so favours the posterior angle of attack. "Get it done then," he grumbles. "I'm tapped. Headache's going to hit like a bitch."
And the chanting continues, for another minute or so, nothing seems to happen aside from the increasing light. But then, once it is big enough in size, the light seems to start taking shapes, coming together, the beams seem to contort and curve, into something that would look much like the tentacles that seem to be drawn on the center of the whole drawing. Launching towards the different spirits gathered around, clinging to them almost like they're sticky, and pulling them towards the place that's drawn, bringing them closer, almost as if attempting to draw the ghosts back into the earth, to swallow them whole as William continues chanting
"You're ruining it." Illyana sighs to Sam as he stabs. Sam isn't. He's helping, and it's not arcana. Though with her objective gone, Illyana has to turn her attention to something else. The choice chosen is the cutlass wielder. She only punched it before, so pathing directly in front of it as the spirits herd the group together, Illyana slaps at the blade- Partly successfully, her flaming fingers stabbing into its unseeing eyes.
There is the sudden smell of brimstone that fills the area, and along with a rising, black mist: smoke, coiling along the surface of the graveyard. It seems to form strange whorls and shapes, and as they draw close to %n they begin to look more and more like creatures -- horned creatures, with red eyes full of menace.
"Oh, these are the worst... They can disrupt me at any moment..." William says
"Oh goody." Illyana grins. "I love these."
"I need to start carrying a knife in my cleavage or something. This keeps happening." Illyana notes to no one in particular as she watches William and Vindicta set up.
Upon agreement of the three gathered here today, something damming the realm of the ethereal from the realm of the corporeal snaps. The putrid stench of sulfur wafts over the grave space, and horrifying red eyes glare out at those poor youngsters that have decided to play Ghost Busters in the graveyard this morning. "Demons.." whispers Vindicta low and slow under her breath, a barely audible *click* *click* *click* heard as her thumb sends the cylinder of her revolver spinning. "Quartz shots better for this."
A trio of horned smoke-monsters advance out of the mist. They have twisted weapons formed of smoke, and they descend on Vindicta, howling in an incomrephensible, devilish tongue.
"Alright, coverage..." William says glancing around the cemetery once more, it seemed his procedure was quite straight forward and repetitive, doing the exact same thing he did less than an hour ago, though in this area, there seems to be less of that, stones swallowed by the earth, or fallen down, he finds the biggest one, which isn't very big really, doesn't offer much cover. Moving over to them, and just like before, drawing out a knife and cutting his own hand, that by now seemed to have healed up, even in the same spot as before, maybe a bit off, but pretty much the same, letting some blood start to gouge out
"When Fiona bloodlets it's hotter." Illyana observes, moving with William in a guard stance. On good terms or not, Illyana trusts Vindicta to her craft
(repost) "When Fiona bloodlets it's hotter." Illyana observes, moving with William in a guard stance. On good terms or not, Illyana trusts Vindicta to her craft; That's observable and emphatically known. The tiny albino is an exceptional shot. Still, quartz isn't all that works on these spirits, and to prove this, Illyana's palm glows, fire smouldering before like a flame thrower, angelic fire sprays out, slamming into two of the phantoms, giving Vindicta extra time to line up her shots.
William having enough blood pooled in his hand, he wets his fingers on it, starting to draw on the ground quite confidently, and mechanically, seeming like he had done this way too many times, in way too short amount of time, definitely not something good for one's health. Not even bothering to part the ground and then pour the liquid inside, he simply seems to drag the fingers over it, staining it with red. And with one circumference done, he moves to work on a smaller one towards the center, concentric, but much smaller "If I die here, you're going to regret having been thinking of that all two months..."
"That Bianchini!" Vindicta chirps excitedly when William utters the word 'coverage', the bitty albino simply assuming that it is her the man seeks. But at the very least, she does, in fact, provide cover! Cover fire, that is, for as that trio of horned smoke monsters advances out of the mist, she pops that revolver easily into both hands and takes a wide, grounded stands, firing off one, then two, then three bullets in the direction of each creature, a lovely mix of rock salt and powdered quartz surprising the advancing assailants and causing them to burst into flames. "No touch Bianchini!!" she shouts at them, watching them burn up and ultimately dissipate into a congealment of deep black smoke.
Out of the smoke charges an armed and armored warrior, spun out of black mist. He is dressed head to toe in archaic plate armor, wielding some huge, two-handed sword as black as his armor. With a roar, he rushes at Vindicta, swinging the sword in some attempt to cut off their head.
Having Illyana and Vindicta as coverage, William simply focuses on the drawing, seemingly going for the exact same thing he was doing just moments ago, on another ritual, if it worked, why change it? After the inner circle, he draws a triangle, each of the lines seems tangent to it at only one point - Or well, as much as a human drawing with his hands can really achieve that - And after finishing that one, he starts to do exactly the same, another triangle, this time, upside down, same shape different orientation, giving the illusion of a star when he finishes it
There's one enemy now, but it's fast. Still covering William, trusting Vindicta to handle herself for the most part, this time, Illyana's fingers twist; It looks like spellcasting, but what actually culminates from the gesture is that the warrior is slown down, a burden set over it that makes it slower, keeping it as far away from the tiny deputy as possible, so Vindicta can best shoot.
A hot wind blows through the cemetery, and with it comes sibilant whispers in the ears of Vindicta and all their companions: they promise depraved, decadent desires fulfilled, and for a moment that's all anyone can focus on.
William adds a couple more circles, much like the one sitting on the middle of his drawing in size regards, placing their centers on the edging points of the star, making them six in total, letting out a heavy sigh, some worry starting to show on his face, but trying to remain as focused as possible, so far unperturbed by any of the spectres that were haunting the cemetery. He goes to continue, but as the wind blows, he comes to a halt, freezing in place
Terms don't seem to matter very much here. Illyana and Vindicta have always worked well together on these things, the former's ability to halt and incapacitate her foes a great boon to the albino for when her enhanced bullets are shredding them apart. Illyana wrenches the gravity out from under one, increases it on another, and Vindicta seems to adapt with every single move the younger femme makes, finding the openings that are provided to her and responding by making the most of them, eradicating beasts, monsters, and demons with singular bullets and shells. One shot for Vindicta seems to also mean one kills.
With that wind, Illyana stills. The burden is less maintained than it was, and the figure speeds up once more. Illyana's attention turns inward, a grin playing across her lips, William entirely forgotten for a moment before her head shakesand she blinks back to awareness, glancing between William and Vindicta.
William doesn't seem to be handling the wind well, he's work on the ritual, which seemed much faster than last time, like he might have had it ready in half the time, seems to have stopped in its tracks, the man frozen in place, taking sharp inhales and letting out matching exhales, head twitching slightly to a side, almost as if struggling to keep things on check
From the smoky mist, a circle of hooded figures seem to approach, chanting in unison. At first, they seem to be living people, but as they draw closer to Vindicta it becomes clear they are smoke monsters themselves. They reach out as their chants increase in volume, and it is as if they are sucking the air out of the lungs of everyone present.
William starts to hyperventilate for a short time, one hand moving to the ground, to support himself, while the other goes straight for his head, and, a couple gulps later, instead of at the ritual itself, his eyes move to Illyana
Rosy cheeks and an embarrassed pose, Vindicta tries to block out the whispers with her hands, covering up where her ears would be, should be, probably are, right? With her palms. Whatever those whispers murmur to her, they must make her feel good, because for about five, or even ten minutes, she is utterly silent, shivering off in a corner as she curls up into a fetal position.
As the figures near, Illyana shakes her head again. It's slow, stunted, though with the lack of air comes a lack of fire for a moment. There's a hiss of breath; A snarl- A bad thing with the lack of oxygen, then with an effort of will, Illyana uses Vindicta's slight figure to fire a wave of angelic fire over her head and into the path of the on-coming figures.
As the dark mists roil in the cemetery, Vindicta and everyone with them are struck with a sudden fear. It's cold and awful, sinking into their heart to make the world seem impossible and alone.
Eventually, William seems to manage to find some sliver of reason within him, escaping from his own desires, trying to compose himself and looking at the ritual. Taking a couple seconds to get back on track. William seems to recover a notion of what's going on, and, fearing another psychic attack towards him, he darts to start drawing runes all over the lines that compose the triangles, and thus the star, rushed, nervous, scared even, more of himself and what the smoke might do to him once more rather than anything else. Moving to finish a symbol in the center that seems a tad more complex than the others laid around, and after having that ready, pushing himself out of the ritual circle, only to be struck then by the fears, all of the previous desire still lingering, his dreading starts to skyrocket, stun-locking him again
The searing heat of Illyana's flames overhead are enough to rouse Vindicta out of that stupor and take stock of her surroundings. Ghosts. Demons. Cloaked figures. Right. What was she supposed to be doing...?
It was.. Something important..
Oh. Right.
In an instant, Vindicta is on her feet, whipping that revolver back into her hands with a scream that rattles her own bones and bursts through the cloudy fog in her head, and with her eyes clenched shut but the memory of Illyana and William's locations imprinted on her brain, she starts firing off shot after shot at the encroaching figures until only the original three of her group remain, the rest gone up in smoke.
But, oh, what a terrible stench they leave behind in the form of that roiling black mist, and as Vindicta breathes in the scent of sulfur and death once more, of fire and brimstone, of Hell, her eyes glaze over again, and her fingers start to go slack around her weapon. "What the point.." she says quietly, weakly, starting to sag back towards her knees. "Bianchini... To small to make a difference in world.." That sinking feeling seems to have Vindicta in a chokehold.
William had fallen into position, the same as before, when chanting and finishing the ritual, but he isn't doing that, he's just looking down, tearing up and letting the water fall freely down his face, unable to let sounds come out of his throat, almost being embarrassed of himself, filled with fear and self-hatred
Illyana responds to fear as she responds to everything else; overwhelming anger and unhealthy outlets. So it's likely no surprise that once she can breath again, and as the fear sweeps her, she drops to her knees, glowing like a pyre as an inferno explodes into roiling incandescence around her- The world cant hurt her if it's blocked out, and with her eyes closed, and hands over her ears, that's only assured, right? Shadowed against the backdrop of the cemetery, where Illyana rocks in a circle of light and heat, she screams her rage; Inhuman, pain torn and hideous in its impitant fury. But those around her fear. They suffer, and something about that keeps Illyana from running off as is her usual MO. And with Vindicta and William as twin focuses, she slowly... oh so slowly comes back to herself, teeth gritted and spitting with fury.
There is a look above -- and then, from an overarching tree, Vindicta and their companions can see a black spider made of infernal smoke. It's huge, with a bloated belly, and then spun spider strands of black mist descend to wrap Vindicta into some awful cocoon.
Seemingly about to collapse, William seems to somewhat brought back to reality by the explosion that is Illyana. Not really, he's still crying, and trembling, in complete fear and suffering. But he doesn't let the sobs come out of his mouth, instead he starts to let out some gibberish, in some unknown language, his voice subdued and low enough that even those near him could probably struggle to listen to it. Making the blood that had painted the ritual start to glow in a bright white light, with blue and green hues here and there, but mostly white
There is an outlet for Illyana's rage. It's in the tree. It's something she can hurt, so Illyana does. One moment there is heat at William's back, blazing and scorching-- The next, Illyana is dropping out of the sky, having pathed above the spider to drop into its carapace with strength well above that of a human. She cant stop Vindicta from being caught in the cocoon, but Illyana can bludgeon the cause to death, so fingers taring, Illyana's fingers rip into the spider, clawing at its internals, the smoke bursting from each punched hole and torn off arachnid leg.
Once more, light envelops the cemetery, and once more, the beams start to bend unnaturally, in a way that light should not behave, like it was strings, coming together into little clusters to form more what seemed like tentacles, of some kind of cephalopod but coming straight out from the ground, launching themselves towards the beasts of the mist, catching ahold of it like it glued to them, actually making the mist somewhat tangible instead of a dispersing gas. Dragging the tormenting spirits back towards where the circle was drawn. Bringing everything back towards the ground, swallowing them into the earth while William simply collpses right before the odd scene
The smell of smoke seems to peak, and then, with a rush of magical power, it's gone. The smoke monsters in the cemetery disappear, banished -- fading away as wisps of mist in the air around $n.
As their situation grows increasingly dire with demons joining the fray, the allies' desperation becomes palpable. William, continuing his ritualistic chants despite the spectral interference, finally completes the summoning of ethereal forces to counter their adversaries. Illyana, displaying a mix of demonic ecstasy and rage, combats the spirits with angelic fire, emphasizing the chaotic blend of emotions and powers at play. Under immense psychological assault from the invading entities, William, Vindicta, and Illyana experience moments of doubt and fear, nearly succumbing to the demons' seductive and terrifying influences. In a dramatic climax, the combined effort of the group, especially William's completed ritual and Illyana's fiery assault, results in the banishment of the smoke monsters, restoring a fragile peace to the cemetery as dawn approaches. The toll of the night's events is evident in their weary but determined faces, a testament to their resilience and the dark realities they face in their fight against the supernatural.
(Colton's ghost banishing)
[Mon Dec 9 2024]
On the Sprawling Hillside of Arkwright Cemetery
It is before dawn, about 19F(-7C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey stormclouds in the sky. There is a waxing gibbous moon.
A haunting piano melody suddenly creeps over the graveyard as one by one, three spectral forms raise up into sight. Each is somewhat decayed and dressed in a mix of ballroom gown and old pirate garb, one wields a pair of flintlock pistols, another a wicked cutlass and the third a pair of sharp looking knives.
"I certainly did, that doesn't mean I wouldn't try to get some practice in," Fiona says to William idly, before she holds her gaze on Colton for a long moment. "The question is, is he going to go off the leash if we do? Let's get some distance, we don't need to be in the thing's face," as she hears piano music suddenly and ... there's pirates.
Looking around, Sam shrugs lightly. "I reckon I'm muscle today, up to Colt how he wants to do it, reckon ya might be the least... problematic of us here?"
The jock crouches into a boxer's stance, raising a bright steel knife. "Aight, let's do this."
The dual-knife wielder disappears before her arms suddenly emerge from the ground, stabing into the feet of Colton to keep him in place as the cutlass wielder swoops forward.
William retreats from the spirits and in turn, the muscle of the group "Oh noes, rituals for me..." He says almost chirpier than before, looking for some grave big enough to hide behind, or at least to cover him from some attack were it to be physical, sheltering behind it and telling Fiona "If you want to practice, come over here"
"I think our working strategy is let me pretend to fight some ghosts and you guys do what you can," Colton grunts, leaning over to gather clumps of grave soil in his hands. "I don't do magic, so I can only do shit on a psychic level. That can weaken them, but not actually banish 'em. Good luck." Then he tosses the soil up into the air, using either hand to direct the resultant crud-clouds to scythe their way around and whittle away at the knifeswoman and swordsman.
"Oh these guys." Illyana sighs. "They like you." she points out to Colton as she stands once more. Entirely poorly dressed for this, she removes her coat, cracking her knuckles, her hands bursting into flame. Glancing between Fiona, Sam and William, there's an expectation there. And besides! She doesn't need to perform rituals. Win/win/win. What she can do though is note the knife-wielder, thrust a hand forward and throw a ball of angelic fire through the cutlass wielder.
Watching for just a moment, there's a loft of Fiona's eyebrows as she sees Colton lift earth from the ground, some form of recognition in that. There looks like there's going to be a protest from her, but she sees William preparing, and moves in closer to him. "Might as well see what you've got," she states agreeably, kneeling beside him. "Alright, what procedure are we using here? Yassarion's?" she asks, eyes looking into William's as the battle starts to rage.
William slowly brings out a knife, hidden within his coat, pulling it out of the sheath and bringing it to his palm, not even waiting for Fiona to be around before digging it carefully into his palm, making a bit of a diagonal cut and bending the hand slightly in order for the blood to come out a little faster. Then putting away the knife, he wets his and index and heart finger with the blood "We draw on the ground..." He tells Fiona as she arrives, simply, starting by a big sizeable circle that might not be entirely covered by the width of the tombstone used as cover
Gabriella approaches those already gathering around, slowing down as she gets closer, watching as Illyana starts warming the air with her flames. "Shouldn't you be trying to rest, Yana?" she asks, her way of saying 'hi'. Seeing that Fiona and William seem to be the arcanists for the day, she pockets her hands into the jacket, and steps closer to Colton, asking him "'sup, teach'."
"I really should, but I have asses to watch and faces to kick." Illyana tells Gabriella with no more context.
Beginning to stamp his fake Nikes into the dirt, Colton starts belting out a very rudimentary war song and dance, sort of like an imitation Haka, but clearly unrehearsed. Rather than his regular dirt whirlwind, he sprays grave soil directly at the ghosts most piratical and combative as he dodges and ducks and dives around them. When Gabriella pops up, though, he pauses mid-chest slap, lifting his other hand to say, "Yo, Miss Savoy. Don't film me right now. I'm not a Warden, and I haven't done this before."
The double knife weilder appears suddenly behind Colton, cackling right in his ear before rearing back to stab him in the back.
Looking towards William and Fiona a moment, Sam seems to decide on the physical approach. He stalks around, waiting for some of the specters to be otherwise engaged before laying into one, the metal of his blade flashing, and though of course they don't get physically damaged, at least they might be weakened.
He looks towards Colton, and somewhat of an amused smile plays around his lips.
And, of course, Colton lets out a pained "FUCK!" when he gets stabbed right in the back as he faces Gabriella. Typical.
Fiona turns her head toward an unfamiliar voice and Gabriella, then nods back to William, telling him, "Right. A circle." Well, they usually start with a circle. She doesn't go for a knife, instead bringing her hand up to her mouth and biting a hole into the flesh there, dark, dark blood oozing out as she begins to drip it into the grooves that William has started to carve, watching him closely.
"Ass watching sounds... fine, but face kicking might be... something better left for the new year, no?" Gabriella recomends, She turns to Colton, seeming to about to protest about the suggestion that she might have thought of filming this, when suddenly someone shows up behind the man and stabs him. Gabriella reels back, in shock.
William finishes drawing the circle quite quickle, it's almost way too practiced, not straying almost from the path at all despite lacking something more of a slow approach to it, then he looks at Fiona now also bleeding, perking his eyebrow and showing to her his already bleeding hand, maybe not the smartest of ideas to bring it so close to her face "I had already..."
His nostrils flaring at the scent of Fiona's blood, Colton looks aside sharply to bare his teeth at the spilled material as if it were purest putrescine, the apple of his throat bobbing as he chokes down a swallow.
"Fucking god damn," he swears, most eloquently. "That fucking stinks, Bismarck." No nuns are around to watch his mouth for him, here. He flicks both hands outwards, spraying down the ghosts with splashes of grave dirt, oh-so-hungry for morsels of spectral essence.
"It's not enough to fuck me up, let me at least empower your spell," Fiona says to William, blinking at his confusion at the matter. "Tell me what I'm drawing, what I'm doing, or I'm just going to try to do the best I can with what you're giving me," she intones, her voice low.
Then there's the swearing from Colton, and she replies back without missing a beat, "You smell like a whole zoo that's spent the day at Taco Bell, Colton Moore, deal with it."
As Gabriella speaks with Colton and as some of those asses to watch begin working on the ritual, Illyana notes first Fiona, Sam, William, then the knife wielder. Colton seems to be working on that earth bound vortex he's fond of, so with the effort born of a trust fund baby who already had to get dirty feet just not to skid-- And who put entirely the wrong kind of clothing on for a cemetery on, there's not even an attempt here. Illyana flicks another ball of angelic fire at the knife-wielder as she omits walking all together (she doesn't want even more dirty feet), pathing directly over to the arcanists, her gaze fixating on the drawing of blood and apparently loving it all. "Yeah yeah." the bohemian agrees with Gabriella, now watching hands and fangs instead, though there's something else at play. Illyana is enjoying something about this situation.
Colton's shoulder suddenly burns as the flicklock wielder materializes long enough to fire a shot into him, there's no visible wound.
Sam keeps to the edge of the battlefield, one hand stabbign ghosts, the other clasping a rather human-looking fingerbone around his neck, hanging from a silver chain, and etched with runes, which glow faintly as he stabs the ghosts. He waits until one specter is hit by some grave-dirt, then stabs it right in the back, twisting that blade a little as if to make a point. He then retreats again, waiting for the next opening.
William sighs, before moving inside the circle itself, with his free hand drawing another little circle on the center, a smaller version of the initial one, and after being done with it, three more, positioned at the edges of some imaginary triangle, all of them contained by the bigger one, but all of them of the same size as the one sitting on the center "Alright so... What you're drawing... Imagine two triangles, one being inverted making a star... With circles at the edges, we are doing that inside the bigger one" He explains, having already done half of it
"Don't drop my full name like my god damn mother," Colton growls, clapping his hands together forcefully as he does some sumo-esque leg drop and slaps his thighs. If his dance is doing anything, it's not very visible. Maybe he's not very good at it; maybe it's just the fact it's a ritual dance of the non-arcane variety.
Then, sharply, he yells, "BILL! Quit fucking whispering in the middle of shit. Some of us got sensitive ears. Focus on incantation, if you've got to do a ritual in the first place." He shoots William an annoyed glance, then immediately gets shot in the shoulder, collapsing back on his ass out of well-drilled reflex as he grabs at the non-existent wound before he forces himself back up.
Fiona begins drawing, adding to the work that William is doing and dribbling her blood in among it to mix with it, her eyes looking back up at him every now and then to check for his reaction, then back down to the circle below, her fingers moving rapidly. The lines are clean, at least, and she asks, "You Jewish, Thorne?" as she finishes her part on their variation of the Star of David. Her hand lifts, gazing at the symbol, then nods. "Something similar to a golem-binding, a variant on bringing forth a spiritual assistant. Colton's raging gets her attention, and distaste crosses her face before blue eyes land back on William. "A chant?" she asks, clearly ready for whatever's next."
"Oy!" Illyana calls to the flintlock phantom, another fireball shooting over Colton's shoulder to strike the spirit, even as the grave dirt peppers it, riddling it with holes. "Piss off." Illyana tells it. Watching Sam, William and Fiona working, she stands there, unmoving as she waits for another target, one eye on Gabriella just in case she gets herself in trouble.
The cutlass-wielder attacks Colton, driving him back as the flintlock lady appears behind him, using the distraction to go through his pockets.
Fiona begins drawing, adding to the work that William is doing and dribbling her blood in among it to mix with it, her eyes looking back up at him every now and then to check for his reaction, then back down to the circle below, her fingers moving rapidly. The lines are clean, at least, and she asks, "You Jewish, Thorne?" as she finishes her part on their variation of the Star of David. Her hand lifts, gazing at the symbol, then nods. "Something similar to a golem-binding, a variant on bringing forth a spiritual assistant?" Colton's raging gets her attention, and distaste crosses her face before blue eyes land back on William. "A chant?" she asks, clearly ready for whatever's next. (fixed)
"You two should shower" Gabriella recommends to Fiona and Colton, either innocently or purposefully missing the point. When Colton is attacked once more, she decides to circle a bit... stepping further away from the Moore.
Aha - Colton's specialty. Colton goes back to ducking and dodging the swinging of that cutlass with plenty of grace, and the flintlocketeer goes entirely ignored. His specialty is being broke and having little worth taking, anyway. That, and the ghost's intangible fingers aren't much of a threat.
"Thank you for taking an earnest interest in your trainer's personal hygiene," he grunts, doing a fancy spin, "But I was in the damn shower before I got the alert. This is as good as it gets."
"I'm explaining over here!" William mentions, rising his voice some to make sure it is heard across the cemetery, before focusing on the blood drawing, watching as Fiona finishes some of it for him, though even if the shape itself seems to be done, he shakes his head "No, runes now... Then chant..." And with that, he begins to draw some very simple shapes across the length lines forming the drawn star, most of them pretty simple really, some composed by as little as two lines and a squiggly shape, other resembling things like 'T's, 'L's, or 'Y's, but not being quite there, covering the whole length of the star slowly
With a gleeful expression, Sam slashes his blade across a ghost's face, a soft hiss in the figure, before he retreats, fending off a few attacks from a particular ghost, stalking around the ritual site, trying at least to let William and Fiona work, while Illyana and Colton wreak havok.
There are now two targets, but Illyana cant fireball this time. Making it wide enough to splash would catch Colton. That leaves Illyana in the unenviable place that she's forced to actually do something other than stand around as Sam, William and Fiona do arcane things that go over her head. So she does; Illyana paths to one spirit, solidly punching it, then with angelic speed follows that up by tossing a fireball anyway at the ghost that Colton is ignoring. (Being broke is a super power in and of itself)
Tracing someone else's work is easy enough, and Fiona does that quickly and precisely, bending fully over the circle and being framed by her pale hair as she does so. "This is as good as it gets? We're going to have to start carrying Febreeze around town, aren't we?" she calls back. Ritual is important, sure, certainly, but giving Colton shit might be the more pressing matter at hand for her. There isn't much embellishment she's doing to the circle, she's content to follow the lead here.
The double knife weilder appears suddenly behind Colton, cackling right in his ear before rearing back to stab him in the back.
For some reason, Sam shakes his head, tilting his head aside as he narrows his eyes, seemingly responding to something unseen. He stabs a ghost, mostly a distraction here. Whatever it is, seems to be mildly confusing the jock there.
"It is, like you said... Similar to bringing forth something... The idea is the same, just, turned upside down... In a sort of way- The drawing is the same, the runes not so much..." William explains to Fiona, he did seem to think he had time to spare with it, and that he was actually half focused on showing her than going straight for the fast finish, plastering the whole star with the different childish looking drawings before going for the center, pouring some more time on that one, that one was complex. Composed of several curved lines center up, sides down, looking like inverted Us, the whole thing maybe resembling some kind of fountain, or tentacles emerging from the ground, unclear
"Careful!" Gabriella is just as helpful as this - being too late warning Colton that there's someone behind him again.
Sucking in a pained hiss between his teeth, Colton tumbles forward and turns to stare into the crazed eyes of that knife-wielding bitch before both man and spirit freeze in place, unmoving but for the man's autonomic processes, like breathing and stinking.
William then retreats from the circle after drawing it all, actually stepping out of the bigger one even, just moving his body away from anything that he has worked on so far, and waits for Fiona to finish covering up every single bit before motioning for her to step out of it as well
Fiona continues to trace over the drawings, nodding slowly. "A chthonic twist on it. Alright, I think I understand, so we're going to do the chant in the style of...?" she asks, looking up from the circle and toward William, one hand on the grave just outside the markings to support her. When he motions her away, she shifts back and up, standing slowly.
Between getting involved in stabbing or being stabbed, or paying attention to the ritual, Gabriella decides to step closer to the circle where Fiona and William are, peeking to see if she can learn something out of what they're doing.
As Colton freezes up the specter, Sam steps in, and starts stabbing away, maybe trying to attack the ghosts, maybe trying to catch their attention, to buy some time for the Moore to recover. A glance is given to William and Fiona, and he grins, teasingly, and half serious. "Any time now, would be great!"
"Kind of" He mentions with a finger pointed at Fiona, now motioning for her to come closer to him, though then pointing at the circle and shaking his head, a very silly way to say 'come to me but don't step on that'. "I can give you later something on what to say, don't think you'll know this one... But there's a boo- Later..." William says with a sigh, before lowering his voice and kneeling down on the ground, probably much to Colton's annoyance, going back to whispering, but this time, something even lower, the kind of string of voice that even someone sitting next to you might miss
The three spirits encircle the group, flicking in and out of reality as they coral them.
Fiona does, in fact, avoid stepping right on the circle and ruining all their hard work as she steps toward William, and tells Sam, "It could have taken even longer, hush you," before she listens to him as best she can. Who knows how much she's actually picking up? But it's the mention of a book that has her lips pursing slightly, and she wraps her arms around her waist. Watching the ghosts come in, and taking a small step more inside.
"Huh, guys..." Gabriella doesn't want to distract anyone and yet is calling their attention, as she turns around and sees the spirits rounding everyone up. She seems not to be carrying any weapon, but... she raises a fist. Not a punch fist - she's holding her phone tight, and pointing with it towards the spirits, acting like the phone is some sort of weapon.
William seems to be muttering in some sort of mysterious language, those who heard it, which probably wouldn't be many given his volume, would probably think it's just gibberish. Closing his eyes slowly, he kind of misses the circling around spirits, but as he continues the low voice chanting, the whole drawn ritual starts to light up slightly, beams of white light coming from it, with some blue and green undertones here and there, though those are suddenly overtaken by some bursts of red light coming from the same place, illuminating the place around them
"I told you to piss off." Illyana tells the knife-wielder. She's standing right there, a literal captive audience, in fact with Colton's trance, so with what could almost be a lover's caress if it wasn't so charged with a demonic ecstasy, Illyana shoves her hand into the frozen knife-wielder, angelic flames licking and twisting inside the spirit as Illyana riggles her hand around inside the haunt. There's a lack of pleasure in that; It's not physical, it's a ghost. It doesn't hurt it, which is what Illyana wants, but it makes a big enough hole. "Any time now." Illyana calls over to Sam, William and Fiona. There's no charge to it. It's all too casual, though Illyana is clearly looking for some kind of responce from /someone/. More than likely just fear or pain from the unfeeling spirits. She's going to be let down, alas.
Fiona calls back to Illyana, "He's finishing up now, just keep them a little bit further from us for a little bit more?"
Circling around William and Fiona's ritual site, Sam goes from teasing and playful, to a little more serious. "Aight, they are getting pissy, I think." He states, not really seeming all too bothered, though he does switch from offensive tactics to defensive tactics, maybe luring the ghosts closer to the ritual, jumping aside as a glance is given to Illyana, and he smirks lightly.
Lowering his voice beyond his normal whisper might normally have worked in William's favour, but now he's doing magic whispers, so Colton's annoyed anyway - it's hard to win with the Moore. After a protracted moment, both he and the knifey ghost break loose of each other. Colton steps back and in towards the rest of the group, keeping his back pointed directly away from that one ghost who so favours the posterior angle of attack. "Get it done then," he grumbles. "I'm tapped. Headache's going to hit like a bitch."
And the chanting continues, for another minute or so, nothing seems to happen aside from the increasing light. But then, once it is big enough in size, the light seems to start taking shapes, coming together, the beams seem to contort and curve, into something that would look much like the tentacles that seem to be drawn on the center of the whole drawing. Launching towards the different spirits gathered around, clinging to them almost like they're sticky, and pulling them towards the place that's drawn, bringing them closer, almost as if attempting to draw the ghosts back into the earth, to swallow them whole as William continues chanting
"You're ruining it." Illyana sighs to Sam as he stabs. Sam isn't. He's helping, and it's not arcana. Though with her objective gone, Illyana has to turn her attention to something else. The choice chosen is the cutlass wielder. She only punched it before, so pathing directly in front of it as the spirits herd the group together, Illyana slaps at the blade- Partly successfully, her flaming fingers stabbing into its unseeing eyes.
There is the sudden smell of brimstone that fills the area, and along with a rising, black mist: smoke, coiling along the surface of the graveyard. It seems to form strange whorls and shapes, and as they draw close to %n they begin to look more and more like creatures -- horned creatures, with red eyes full of menace.
"Oh, these are the worst... They can disrupt me at any moment..." William says
"Oh goody." Illyana grins. "I love these."
"I need to start carrying a knife in my cleavage or something. This keeps happening." Illyana notes to no one in particular as she watches William and Vindicta set up.
Upon agreement of the three gathered here today, something damming the realm of the ethereal from the realm of the corporeal snaps. The putrid stench of sulfur wafts over the grave space, and horrifying red eyes glare out at those poor youngsters that have decided to play Ghost Busters in the graveyard this morning. "Demons.." whispers Vindicta low and slow under her breath, a barely audible *click* *click* *click* heard as her thumb sends the cylinder of her revolver spinning. "Quartz shots better for this."
A trio of horned smoke-monsters advance out of the mist. They have twisted weapons formed of smoke, and they descend on Vindicta, howling in an incomrephensible, devilish tongue.
"Alright, coverage..." William says glancing around the cemetery once more, it seemed his procedure was quite straight forward and repetitive, doing the exact same thing he did less than an hour ago, though in this area, there seems to be less of that, stones swallowed by the earth, or fallen down, he finds the biggest one, which isn't very big really, doesn't offer much cover. Moving over to them, and just like before, drawing out a knife and cutting his own hand, that by now seemed to have healed up, even in the same spot as before, maybe a bit off, but pretty much the same, letting some blood start to gouge out
"When Fiona bloodlets it's hotter." Illyana observes, moving with William in a guard stance. On good terms or not, Illyana trusts Vindicta to her craft
(repost) "When Fiona bloodlets it's hotter." Illyana observes, moving with William in a guard stance. On good terms or not, Illyana trusts Vindicta to her craft; That's observable and emphatically known. The tiny albino is an exceptional shot. Still, quartz isn't all that works on these spirits, and to prove this, Illyana's palm glows, fire smouldering before like a flame thrower, angelic fire sprays out, slamming into two of the phantoms, giving Vindicta extra time to line up her shots.
William having enough blood pooled in his hand, he wets his fingers on it, starting to draw on the ground quite confidently, and mechanically, seeming like he had done this way too many times, in way too short amount of time, definitely not something good for one's health. Not even bothering to part the ground and then pour the liquid inside, he simply seems to drag the fingers over it, staining it with red. And with one circumference done, he moves to work on a smaller one towards the center, concentric, but much smaller "If I die here, you're going to regret having been thinking of that all two months..."
"That Bianchini!" Vindicta chirps excitedly when William utters the word 'coverage', the bitty albino simply assuming that it is her the man seeks. But at the very least, she does, in fact, provide cover! Cover fire, that is, for as that trio of horned smoke monsters advances out of the mist, she pops that revolver easily into both hands and takes a wide, grounded stands, firing off one, then two, then three bullets in the direction of each creature, a lovely mix of rock salt and powdered quartz surprising the advancing assailants and causing them to burst into flames. "No touch Bianchini!!" she shouts at them, watching them burn up and ultimately dissipate into a congealment of deep black smoke.
Out of the smoke charges an armed and armored warrior, spun out of black mist. He is dressed head to toe in archaic plate armor, wielding some huge, two-handed sword as black as his armor. With a roar, he rushes at Vindicta, swinging the sword in some attempt to cut off their head.
Having Illyana and Vindicta as coverage, William simply focuses on the drawing, seemingly going for the exact same thing he was doing just moments ago, on another ritual, if it worked, why change it? After the inner circle, he draws a triangle, each of the lines seems tangent to it at only one point - Or well, as much as a human drawing with his hands can really achieve that - And after finishing that one, he starts to do exactly the same, another triangle, this time, upside down, same shape different orientation, giving the illusion of a star when he finishes it
There's one enemy now, but it's fast. Still covering William, trusting Vindicta to handle herself for the most part, this time, Illyana's fingers twist; It looks like spellcasting, but what actually culminates from the gesture is that the warrior is slown down, a burden set over it that makes it slower, keeping it as far away from the tiny deputy as possible, so Vindicta can best shoot.
A hot wind blows through the cemetery, and with it comes sibilant whispers in the ears of Vindicta and all their companions: they promise depraved, decadent desires fulfilled, and for a moment that's all anyone can focus on.
William adds a couple more circles, much like the one sitting on the middle of his drawing in size regards, placing their centers on the edging points of the star, making them six in total, letting out a heavy sigh, some worry starting to show on his face, but trying to remain as focused as possible, so far unperturbed by any of the spectres that were haunting the cemetery. He goes to continue, but as the wind blows, he comes to a halt, freezing in place
Terms don't seem to matter very much here. Illyana and Vindicta have always worked well together on these things, the former's ability to halt and incapacitate her foes a great boon to the albino for when her enhanced bullets are shredding them apart. Illyana wrenches the gravity out from under one, increases it on another, and Vindicta seems to adapt with every single move the younger femme makes, finding the openings that are provided to her and responding by making the most of them, eradicating beasts, monsters, and demons with singular bullets and shells. One shot for Vindicta seems to also mean one kills.
With that wind, Illyana stills. The burden is less maintained than it was, and the figure speeds up once more. Illyana's attention turns inward, a grin playing across her lips, William entirely forgotten for a moment before her head shakesand she blinks back to awareness, glancing between William and Vindicta.
William doesn't seem to be handling the wind well, he's work on the ritual, which seemed much faster than last time, like he might have had it ready in half the time, seems to have stopped in its tracks, the man frozen in place, taking sharp inhales and letting out matching exhales, head twitching slightly to a side, almost as if struggling to keep things on check
From the smoky mist, a circle of hooded figures seem to approach, chanting in unison. At first, they seem to be living people, but as they draw closer to Vindicta it becomes clear they are smoke monsters themselves. They reach out as their chants increase in volume, and it is as if they are sucking the air out of the lungs of everyone present.
William starts to hyperventilate for a short time, one hand moving to the ground, to support himself, while the other goes straight for his head, and, a couple gulps later, instead of at the ritual itself, his eyes move to Illyana
Rosy cheeks and an embarrassed pose, Vindicta tries to block out the whispers with her hands, covering up where her ears would be, should be, probably are, right? With her palms. Whatever those whispers murmur to her, they must make her feel good, because for about five, or even ten minutes, she is utterly silent, shivering off in a corner as she curls up into a fetal position.
As the figures near, Illyana shakes her head again. It's slow, stunted, though with the lack of air comes a lack of fire for a moment. There's a hiss of breath; A snarl- A bad thing with the lack of oxygen, then with an effort of will, Illyana uses Vindicta's slight figure to fire a wave of angelic fire over her head and into the path of the on-coming figures.
As the dark mists roil in the cemetery, Vindicta and everyone with them are struck with a sudden fear. It's cold and awful, sinking into their heart to make the world seem impossible and alone.
Eventually, William seems to manage to find some sliver of reason within him, escaping from his own desires, trying to compose himself and looking at the ritual. Taking a couple seconds to get back on track. William seems to recover a notion of what's going on, and, fearing another psychic attack towards him, he darts to start drawing runes all over the lines that compose the triangles, and thus the star, rushed, nervous, scared even, more of himself and what the smoke might do to him once more rather than anything else. Moving to finish a symbol in the center that seems a tad more complex than the others laid around, and after having that ready, pushing himself out of the ritual circle, only to be struck then by the fears, all of the previous desire still lingering, his dreading starts to skyrocket, stun-locking him again
The searing heat of Illyana's flames overhead are enough to rouse Vindicta out of that stupor and take stock of her surroundings. Ghosts. Demons. Cloaked figures. Right. What was she supposed to be doing...?
It was.. Something important..
Oh. Right.
In an instant, Vindicta is on her feet, whipping that revolver back into her hands with a scream that rattles her own bones and bursts through the cloudy fog in her head, and with her eyes clenched shut but the memory of Illyana and William's locations imprinted on her brain, she starts firing off shot after shot at the encroaching figures until only the original three of her group remain, the rest gone up in smoke.
But, oh, what a terrible stench they leave behind in the form of that roiling black mist, and as Vindicta breathes in the scent of sulfur and death once more, of fire and brimstone, of Hell, her eyes glaze over again, and her fingers start to go slack around her weapon. "What the point.." she says quietly, weakly, starting to sag back towards her knees. "Bianchini... To small to make a difference in world.." That sinking feeling seems to have Vindicta in a chokehold.
William had fallen into position, the same as before, when chanting and finishing the ritual, but he isn't doing that, he's just looking down, tearing up and letting the water fall freely down his face, unable to let sounds come out of his throat, almost being embarrassed of himself, filled with fear and self-hatred
Illyana responds to fear as she responds to everything else; overwhelming anger and unhealthy outlets. So it's likely no surprise that once she can breath again, and as the fear sweeps her, she drops to her knees, glowing like a pyre as an inferno explodes into roiling incandescence around her- The world cant hurt her if it's blocked out, and with her eyes closed, and hands over her ears, that's only assured, right? Shadowed against the backdrop of the cemetery, where Illyana rocks in a circle of light and heat, she screams her rage; Inhuman, pain torn and hideous in its impitant fury. But those around her fear. They suffer, and something about that keeps Illyana from running off as is her usual MO. And with Vindicta and William as twin focuses, she slowly... oh so slowly comes back to herself, teeth gritted and spitting with fury.
There is a look above -- and then, from an overarching tree, Vindicta and their companions can see a black spider made of infernal smoke. It's huge, with a bloated belly, and then spun spider strands of black mist descend to wrap Vindicta into some awful cocoon.
Seemingly about to collapse, William seems to somewhat brought back to reality by the explosion that is Illyana. Not really, he's still crying, and trembling, in complete fear and suffering. But he doesn't let the sobs come out of his mouth, instead he starts to let out some gibberish, in some unknown language, his voice subdued and low enough that even those near him could probably struggle to listen to it. Making the blood that had painted the ritual start to glow in a bright white light, with blue and green hues here and there, but mostly white
There is an outlet for Illyana's rage. It's in the tree. It's something she can hurt, so Illyana does. One moment there is heat at William's back, blazing and scorching-- The next, Illyana is dropping out of the sky, having pathed above the spider to drop into its carapace with strength well above that of a human. She cant stop Vindicta from being caught in the cocoon, but Illyana can bludgeon the cause to death, so fingers taring, Illyana's fingers rip into the spider, clawing at its internals, the smoke bursting from each punched hole and torn off arachnid leg.
Once more, light envelops the cemetery, and once more, the beams start to bend unnaturally, in a way that light should not behave, like it was strings, coming together into little clusters to form more what seemed like tentacles, of some kind of cephalopod but coming straight out from the ground, launching themselves towards the beasts of the mist, catching ahold of it like it glued to them, actually making the mist somewhat tangible instead of a dispersing gas. Dragging the tormenting spirits back towards where the circle was drawn. Bringing everything back towards the ground, swallowing them into the earth while William simply collpses right before the odd scene
The smell of smoke seems to peak, and then, with a rush of magical power, it's gone. The smoke monsters in the cemetery disappear, banished -- fading away as wisps of mist in the air around $n.