Patrollogs
Illyanas Ghost Banishing 250109
In the eerie backdrop of Arkwright Cemetery, under a sky laden with dark storm clouds, a confrontation unfolds with Illyana and her companions—Sae-byeok, Sam, and Finn—against a sinister manifestation of demonic entities. The air fills with the scent of brimstone as creatures of smoke, resembling horned demons with red eyes, start to materialize. Illyana, recognizing them as demons, gears up for battle alongside her team. Sae-byeok prepares Finn with salt and onyx-imbued gauntlets to fight the smoke creatures, while Sam commences a ritual to drag the restless spirits back to the underworld. Amidst the chaos, a massive spider made of infernal smoke descends on Illyana, encasing her in a cocoon of black mist. Finn bravely attempts to rescue Illyana, fighting off the spider and eventually aiding in her release.
As the battle intensifies, Sam and Sae-byeok concentrate on their ritual to open a link to the underworld, summoning the shadows to consume and unmake the demon specters. Despite being momentarily incapacitated by a magical attack that targets her heart, Illyana rallies, demonstrating her exceptional strength by tossing a flaming tombstone at an approaching spirit. Finn, empowered by shadows, joins the fray with renewed vigor, decapitating a demonic spider with his shadow-enhanced strength. Sae-byeok, showcasing her cryomancy skills, dives into combat against the spirits, aiding in their banishment. The climax of the struggle sees Sam invoking powerful arcanism to summon a maw of shadows, effectively banishing the demonic presences and bringing peace to the cemetery. Through their combined efforts—and at a great personal toll—the team succeeds in dispelling the dark magic, leaving the graveyard serene once more.
(Illyana's ghost banishing)
[Wed Jan 8 2025]
On the Sprawling Hillside of Arkwright Cemetery
It is morning, about 7F(-13C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds.
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.
Finn says "ready? What no? What's even happening here?"
Finn says "What the fuck are those thing ..."
Finn says "things* "
"Oh goody, demons." Illyana announces as the spirits begin to manifest. Gesturing to Sae-byeok and Sam, Illyana explains, "Arcanists." To Finn, she adds, "Don't die."
Sae-byeok takes out a knife and a small plastic bag of a rocky substance. "Finn, you have weapon?"
Finn takes a step back, his feet seeming to shift so that one of them is behind him, heel somewhat lifted, the man leaning forwards a tad even though he wasn't going so far as to put his arms up in front of him already. "Uh,yeah, I've got some knucks" He tells Sae-byeok, fetching them out of his pocket
Sae-byeok rips the knife through the plastic back and dumps the powder on Finn's gauntlets, slightly sanding them both in the process. "Salt and Onyx. You punch that smoke now when it become things."
There is a look above -- and then, from an overarching tree, Illyana 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 Illyana into some awful cocoon.
"Restless spirits." Sam smiles. "I'm dragging them back to the underworld."
With that, Sam grabs that strange, oily-bladed knife, and shudders as he raises it, before slicing it across his palm. He starts to draw a neat, triangular shape on the floor below, his form shivering, perhaps in the cold, perhaps from something else. As he works, red runes flare up on the human looking fingerbone held by a silver cord around his neck.
"Go help out yana, yeh?"
Finn looks a little pale as the black spider appears, hesitating a moment before swearing under his breath and breaking off in a sprint towards Illyana "I'm coming, Yana!" He announces his arrival as he runs towards the girl wrapped up in the cocoon. He figures his best bet is try to and get Illyana out of the cocoon, figuring she'd have a better chance of taking down the spider, gripping large handfuls of the silk and trying to tear away at it! Trying to get her arms free first!
Finn says "Gimme a hand here miss marvel, that spider doesn't look too kind"
Sae-byeok doesn't make an effort to free Illyana. She's redundant. Instead, she draws eis down the length of her hoodie and the frost creeps and cements as bracers. The constitution is weak, and doesn't manage to meaningfully reinforce the rest of her body, but it spirals into somewhat of a shoulder guard around her side- skipping her joints.
Sae-byeok is redundant.* Ahem.
About to say something no doubt cutting, Illyana concludes the actual statement with an "Ack!" as the demon spider appears, cocooning her. Luckily, Sam and Sae-byeok are here to arcanist, and Finn has knuckles. Illyana isn't entirely helpless though; Finn has freed her enough that her arms are free. Illyana has the strength of a demon, so even as she's being coated in demon webbing, she yanks at the strand still protruding from the arachnid, pulling it from the tree towards her. There's a flare, a flash and Illyana begins to glow, already burning the webbing around her as she explodes into an inferno of fire, fist moving to meet the spider as it's pulled towards her.
"Ey Kim, can ya help empower the rite? Trying to open a link to the underworld, the empty pit of shadow below."
He slowly moves from one point of that triangle to the other, whispering words as his bloodied hand clasps around that fingerbone.
Shadows start to coil and gather around the jock, and he smirks as the others deal with the demon spectres.
"By my Blood... By Your Will... By our Devotion..." It's a prayer, one that Sam is clearly well familiar with.
Some figure forms in the smoke: tall, it has twisted horns and red eyes. It levels a gnarled finger at Illyana, beginning to chant in an unknown language as the air begins to crackle with magic. Immediately, Illyana can feel something like a vise closing on their heart.
glances over his shoulder and figures Sam and Sae-byeok were competent enough to be able to handle themselves, watching the figure in the shadows focus on Illyana, Finn decides to go on the offensive. He gulps and sprints again into the smoke where he can see the creature pointing at Illyana. Taller than him he doesn't go for a punch, he instead swings his shin like a baseball bat into the side of the thing's knee to try and bring it down! "Comon then, you fucker!"
Sae-byeok sighs, thumbs her knife in a reverse grip so as only to not look like a girl running with scissors, and slaps up to Sam. She kneels into the dirt and snow and, rather than making her own ritual, begins to kneel to Sam's.
She takes the knife in a clasp with her fists, blade pointed down, and sits in silence.
Kah wanders through the Nightmare and shadow on patrol, looking for more dangerous things to kill when a group gathered in the graveyard seem to catch his attention. Tilting his head askew he turns his stride that way and pauses a small distance away.
As the spider collides with Illyana's fist and she turns to give Finn a high five, another problem manifests itself, even as the spider returns to the mist from wence it came. someone forgotten she's still on fire, or it doesn't matter, as she's perfectly happy in the knowledge that she, and Finn can beat these things back: That's a compliment, as Illyana sees it. Finn is strong enough to take care of himself. Sam's calling to Duat continues, with Sae-byeok aiding with what cryomancy she has, plus the ritualism to hand. Things are going swell-- That is until that spirit manifests and points. As the magic builds, the finger points at Illyana, and the working takes form, Illyana narrows her eyes. The fire around her gathers in a palm, ready to throw... Then is promptly cut off as that grip strangulates Illyana, dropping Illyana to Illyana's knees as she lets out a strangulated grunt of pain.
As the spider collides with Illyana's fist and she turns to give Finn a high five, another problem manifests itself, even as the spider returns to the mist from wence it came. Illyana has forgotten she's still on fire, or it doesn't matter, as she's perfectly happy in the knowledge that she, and Finn can beat these things back: That's a compliment, as Illyana sees it. Finn is strong enough to take care of himself. Sam's calling to Duat continues, with Sae-byeok aiding with what cryomancy she has, plus the ritualism to hand. Things are going swell-- That is until that spirit manifests and points. As the magic builds, the finger points at Illyana, and the working takes form, Illyana narrows her eyes. The fire around her gathers in a palm, ready to throw... Then is promptly cut off as that grip strangulates Illyana, dropping Illyana to Illyana's knees as she lets out a strangulated grunt of pain.
There is a look above -- and then, from an overarching tree, Illyana 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 Illyana into some awful cocoon.
From his place in the shadows, Kah watches the ephemoral manifestations come and go with a detached sense of curiosity.
"In your name, Apep!" Sam shivers, and his body twists, his movements starting to twist like a snake's, and he looks to Sae-byeok, with a firm nod. It seems the Jock approves of what she is doing. He places both hands on the sides matching the point of that scarlet triangle, and speaks.
"We invoke the Maw of Duat!" He looks to Sae-byeok, the shadows around the both of them slowly starting to gather into that triangle, deepening the darkness, and creating the illusion o f adeep pit.
Finn accepts the high five before wincing in pain, shaking his hand out. He looks over his shoulder as Illyana gets wrapped up again, looking between the shadow demon in the fog he was fighting and the demon lady as he rapidly double takes between the two trying to figure out what to do. The man wasn't used to fighting more than one enemy! He glowers under his breath and sets off into another sprint (His third, now) back towards Illyana, huffing a little as he throws himself into a flying knee at the side of the spider's head! Colliding with the thing in a messy car crash of an impact as both go sprawling to the ground!
Sae-byeok drawing a semi circle that leaves the same frost trail of her mancy, and then activating the area by drawing the run in the air, the snow below solidifies and freezes into the natural world's tomb; a shell, encased by time to ice. The snow's texture begins to shard and patch as the circle completes around the other side in a growing river, but the path is like a grain. Tiny shaved balls of ice, closer to sand, begin to vibrate lightly.
Finn's attack seems to have worked, the thing is distracted, and Illyana can breathe again. Still, though Sam and Sae-byeok continue their ritual, Illyana is disadvantaged when another demon spider descends to cocoon Illyana again; This is not Illyana's day, apparently. Free once more though, that heat aura is extended, Illyana's palms are burning and Illyana is glowing from within. She cant do this alone, unquestionably, but between Sam, Sae-byeok, Illyana and Finn, this can only go well, so Illyana bides her time, letting the fire burn as Finn impacts with the spider, sending the cocoon of webbing shuddering as it returns to smoke with Finn's aid. Illyana then is able to stand again, and paths out of trouble, appearing a short distance away, beginning to walk back to aid Finn Though he has it, and spirits are easy to disrupt, especially when arcanists like Sam and Sae-byeok are on the job.
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 Illyana, swinging the sword in some attempt to cut off their head.
most definitely does not have it. The spider, having eight legs compared to Finn' two manages to scramble on top before he can get to his feet, Finn planted on his shoulders, his hands wrapped around the sword long fangs as they bare down at him, his arms straining as he barely manages to keep the things away from his throat, kicking hard up at the spider's mid section as it tries to get the thing off of him! ... Glancing over he spots the armored figured charging Illyana, sparing only a thought of 'poor guy' in the armored figures direction before his attention is immediately brought back to the spider as he has to jerk his head to the side to dodge the fangs as they dig into the dirt right next to his skull!
"By duality..." Sam looks to Illyana, and grins.
"By youthful vigor..." Finn gets a look.
"By dreams and ice.." Sae-byeok gets a nod.
"And un-bound legacy..." No-one gets a nod, but one remains to adress.
"Consume, consume and unmake. Feed, feed and bring rest to this place." It's a soft, insistent whisper, a hiss to his voice, as he kneels down on the gorund, drawing his knife across his palm, and clasping it around the charred dragon ring on his finger. "By banished dragons..." Those shadows around Sam and Sae-byeok are deepening, and coiling like angry tendrils, snakes perhaps, as they coil around each other, and bite their own tails, turning into that deep pit that glares outward, like an open maw.
"Fuck you, buddy." Illyana tells the armed and armoured figure. She rips up an entire tombstone, sets it alight, then throws it, angelic speed and biokinetic momentum allowing her to bypass that head chop as the spirit gets someone's epitaph through the torso for its trouble as Sam's chant and the shadows it empowers builds.
Some figure forms in the smoke: tall, it has twisted horns and red eyes. It levels a gnarled finger at Illyana, beginning to chant in an unknown language as the air begins to crackle with magic. Immediately, Illyana can feel something like a vise closing on their heart.
, suddenly salivating, purses her lips and shakes under prayer. The earplugs do their job in diminishing the louder noises, the louder distractions. Water with a rippling sheen, close to freezing point but just shy of thus, begins to roil in four protruding spikes from the inter-cardinals of the ritual circle. Finally, with a labored groan, Sae-byeok 's cheeks bulge and she spits an unnaturally long projectile of saliva across and past the circle beyond. The spikes freeze into fangs.
with the creatures fangs down in the dirt besides him, Finn sits up and wraps his arm around the back of the thing's neck ... Or at least, the part of it which connected it's head to it's body. Taking it in something like a headlock as he connects his hands underneath the neck! Of course, spiders couldn't get choked, but as it pulls it's head back to try and bring it's fangs to bare again, Finn is flung up with it from his grip on the beast! Hauled up into the air, the man finally has his legs under him, grounding himself before swapping his grips on the spider's head and starting to power knees up into the shadowy creature's mess of too many eyes! "Fucking ..." He growls as he slams knee after knee in "Die ..."
One would think that having thrown a large piece of masonry, Illyana would be unstoppable, especially with such backing as Sam, Sae-byeok and Finn. That of course is exactly why that horned spirit chooses that point to manifest again, its arcana unheard in the on-going conflict, and masked by Sam and Sae-byeok's chanting. And that's when Illyana's momentum stops again: It's as though Illyana hit a brick wall, and with no forewarning, she eats dirt as she skids in, that magic squeezing around Illyana's heart again, Illyana's flames winking out as suddenly as they banked. A grunt escapes her as she manages to catch herself before more colateral damage can befall the graveyard, but it's a close thing.
Something in what Sae-byeok does seems to empower, embolden Sam. He nods firmly, and speaks. "Spread wide, Maw of Duat, and deliver upon these restless demons the Final Death, the unmaking, the endless emptiness of the great beyond!"
The shadows around the pit seem to take a strange, thick, oily quality, and the air around Sam shimmers, yellow eyes flashing in the dark.
Then, as Finn speaks that simple word, a tendril of shadow snakes out, and coils around the man's arms and legs, moving with his movements, giving the brit something immaterial to hit these spirits with.
A trio of horned smoke-monsters advance out of the mist. They have twisted weapons formed of smoke, and they descend on Illyana, howling in an incomrephensible, devilish tongue.
"Incoming!" Illyana calls out, pointing at the spirit beasts as they make their way for Illyana. Rolling over from where she is, she snarls, a ball of fire generated between two mud-coated palms, where she unleashes it like the jet of a flamethrower.
feeling something giving in the spider's head as he repeatedly knees the creature's head, and then feeling his body fill with shadowy power, Finn grits his teeth. Taking a firmer grip on the spider demon's neck he slams himself down to the ground, falling to his back and twisting as he jolts his entire body weight into the creature's compromised neck joint! With a sickening crunch the head is pulled clean off and Finn is sent sprawling down to the ground as the creature collapses on top of him. "Thanks Sam!" He shouts out, his voice strained as if the man was already winded as he turns to his knees, and with sweat starting to drip from his face he places a hand on his knee to start to push himself off the ground, shrugging off the corpse of the spider demon across his shoulders as he starts running torwads Illyana again as she lay on the ground "Hol ... Hold on ..." He pants out, not able to sprint quite as he had been able to before "I'm coming ..."
Sae-byeok rises with a start, fluttering her eyes as the last of her mancy that can affect the world manifests. Seeing the shadows approach Illyana.
The steps through the snow are a strange, rapidly speeding patter of footsteps followed by a banshee's throttled shriek as the small woman propels herself with an unwarranted about of strength to slide below the torrent of flame. She raises her left arm, still clad in a frozen reinforcement, along the side of the flamethrower as she collides with one of the monsters like a bolling pin and takes the legs out from under it- catching it with the knife through its stomach and yanking left with her momentum.
Sae-byeok's knife, dusted in onyx and salt, comes free with a sudden burst as the smoky insides spill and release into a billowing cloud that merely follows the wake of her preternaturally spiraling tumble.
Still producing flame, Illyana advances on the weapon wielding spirits. A powerhouse in her own right, she draws a knife, biokinetically strengthening herself as she begins to slice and chop, demonic strength and angelic speed empowering her, even as Sae-byeok leaps in, and Finn advances; Sam has this, and knowing Sam's work, the ritual nears its end soon.
As the rite seems to reach it's peak, Sam just spreads out his arms, and like angry snakes, the pit erupts with coils of shadow that start to yoink the demons, the defeated shadowy husks, and the remaining restless dead into that pit. Sam trembles all over, the toll of arcanism clearly taking it's toll as he starts to waver, pain clear on his face as the jock shudders, even as the shadows continue their hunt.
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 the battle intensifies, Sam and Sae-byeok concentrate on their ritual to open a link to the underworld, summoning the shadows to consume and unmake the demon specters. Despite being momentarily incapacitated by a magical attack that targets her heart, Illyana rallies, demonstrating her exceptional strength by tossing a flaming tombstone at an approaching spirit. Finn, empowered by shadows, joins the fray with renewed vigor, decapitating a demonic spider with his shadow-enhanced strength. Sae-byeok, showcasing her cryomancy skills, dives into combat against the spirits, aiding in their banishment. The climax of the struggle sees Sam invoking powerful arcanism to summon a maw of shadows, effectively banishing the demonic presences and bringing peace to the cemetery. Through their combined efforts—and at a great personal toll—the team succeeds in dispelling the dark magic, leaving the graveyard serene once more.
(Illyana's ghost banishing)
[Wed Jan 8 2025]
On the Sprawling Hillside of Arkwright Cemetery
It is morning, about 7F(-13C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds.
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.
Finn says "ready? What no? What's even happening here?"
Finn says "What the fuck are those thing ..."
Finn says "things* "
"Oh goody, demons." Illyana announces as the spirits begin to manifest. Gesturing to Sae-byeok and Sam, Illyana explains, "Arcanists." To Finn, she adds, "Don't die."
Sae-byeok takes out a knife and a small plastic bag of a rocky substance. "Finn, you have weapon?"
Finn takes a step back, his feet seeming to shift so that one of them is behind him, heel somewhat lifted, the man leaning forwards a tad even though he wasn't going so far as to put his arms up in front of him already. "Uh,yeah, I've got some knucks" He tells Sae-byeok, fetching them out of his pocket
Sae-byeok rips the knife through the plastic back and dumps the powder on Finn's gauntlets, slightly sanding them both in the process. "Salt and Onyx. You punch that smoke now when it become things."
There is a look above -- and then, from an overarching tree, Illyana 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 Illyana into some awful cocoon.
"Restless spirits." Sam smiles. "I'm dragging them back to the underworld."
With that, Sam grabs that strange, oily-bladed knife, and shudders as he raises it, before slicing it across his palm. He starts to draw a neat, triangular shape on the floor below, his form shivering, perhaps in the cold, perhaps from something else. As he works, red runes flare up on the human looking fingerbone held by a silver cord around his neck.
"Go help out yana, yeh?"
Finn looks a little pale as the black spider appears, hesitating a moment before swearing under his breath and breaking off in a sprint towards Illyana "I'm coming, Yana!" He announces his arrival as he runs towards the girl wrapped up in the cocoon. He figures his best bet is try to and get Illyana out of the cocoon, figuring she'd have a better chance of taking down the spider, gripping large handfuls of the silk and trying to tear away at it! Trying to get her arms free first!
Finn says "Gimme a hand here miss marvel, that spider doesn't look too kind"
Sae-byeok doesn't make an effort to free Illyana. She's redundant. Instead, she draws eis down the length of her hoodie and the frost creeps and cements as bracers. The constitution is weak, and doesn't manage to meaningfully reinforce the rest of her body, but it spirals into somewhat of a shoulder guard around her side- skipping her joints.
Sae-byeok is redundant.* Ahem.
About to say something no doubt cutting, Illyana concludes the actual statement with an "Ack!" as the demon spider appears, cocooning her. Luckily, Sam and Sae-byeok are here to arcanist, and Finn has knuckles. Illyana isn't entirely helpless though; Finn has freed her enough that her arms are free. Illyana has the strength of a demon, so even as she's being coated in demon webbing, she yanks at the strand still protruding from the arachnid, pulling it from the tree towards her. There's a flare, a flash and Illyana begins to glow, already burning the webbing around her as she explodes into an inferno of fire, fist moving to meet the spider as it's pulled towards her.
"Ey Kim, can ya help empower the rite? Trying to open a link to the underworld, the empty pit of shadow below."
He slowly moves from one point of that triangle to the other, whispering words as his bloodied hand clasps around that fingerbone.
Shadows start to coil and gather around the jock, and he smirks as the others deal with the demon spectres.
"By my Blood... By Your Will... By our Devotion..." It's a prayer, one that Sam is clearly well familiar with.
Some figure forms in the smoke: tall, it has twisted horns and red eyes. It levels a gnarled finger at Illyana, beginning to chant in an unknown language as the air begins to crackle with magic. Immediately, Illyana can feel something like a vise closing on their heart.
glances over his shoulder and figures Sam and Sae-byeok were competent enough to be able to handle themselves, watching the figure in the shadows focus on Illyana, Finn decides to go on the offensive. He gulps and sprints again into the smoke where he can see the creature pointing at Illyana. Taller than him he doesn't go for a punch, he instead swings his shin like a baseball bat into the side of the thing's knee to try and bring it down! "Comon then, you fucker!"
Sae-byeok sighs, thumbs her knife in a reverse grip so as only to not look like a girl running with scissors, and slaps up to Sam. She kneels into the dirt and snow and, rather than making her own ritual, begins to kneel to Sam's.
She takes the knife in a clasp with her fists, blade pointed down, and sits in silence.
Kah wanders through the Nightmare and shadow on patrol, looking for more dangerous things to kill when a group gathered in the graveyard seem to catch his attention. Tilting his head askew he turns his stride that way and pauses a small distance away.
As the spider collides with Illyana's fist and she turns to give Finn a high five, another problem manifests itself, even as the spider returns to the mist from wence it came. someone forgotten she's still on fire, or it doesn't matter, as she's perfectly happy in the knowledge that she, and Finn can beat these things back: That's a compliment, as Illyana sees it. Finn is strong enough to take care of himself. Sam's calling to Duat continues, with Sae-byeok aiding with what cryomancy she has, plus the ritualism to hand. Things are going swell-- That is until that spirit manifests and points. As the magic builds, the finger points at Illyana, and the working takes form, Illyana narrows her eyes. The fire around her gathers in a palm, ready to throw... Then is promptly cut off as that grip strangulates Illyana, dropping Illyana to Illyana's knees as she lets out a strangulated grunt of pain.
As the spider collides with Illyana's fist and she turns to give Finn a high five, another problem manifests itself, even as the spider returns to the mist from wence it came. Illyana has forgotten she's still on fire, or it doesn't matter, as she's perfectly happy in the knowledge that she, and Finn can beat these things back: That's a compliment, as Illyana sees it. Finn is strong enough to take care of himself. Sam's calling to Duat continues, with Sae-byeok aiding with what cryomancy she has, plus the ritualism to hand. Things are going swell-- That is until that spirit manifests and points. As the magic builds, the finger points at Illyana, and the working takes form, Illyana narrows her eyes. The fire around her gathers in a palm, ready to throw... Then is promptly cut off as that grip strangulates Illyana, dropping Illyana to Illyana's knees as she lets out a strangulated grunt of pain.
There is a look above -- and then, from an overarching tree, Illyana 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 Illyana into some awful cocoon.
From his place in the shadows, Kah watches the ephemoral manifestations come and go with a detached sense of curiosity.
"In your name, Apep!" Sam shivers, and his body twists, his movements starting to twist like a snake's, and he looks to Sae-byeok, with a firm nod. It seems the Jock approves of what she is doing. He places both hands on the sides matching the point of that scarlet triangle, and speaks.
"We invoke the Maw of Duat!" He looks to Sae-byeok, the shadows around the both of them slowly starting to gather into that triangle, deepening the darkness, and creating the illusion o f adeep pit.
Finn accepts the high five before wincing in pain, shaking his hand out. He looks over his shoulder as Illyana gets wrapped up again, looking between the shadow demon in the fog he was fighting and the demon lady as he rapidly double takes between the two trying to figure out what to do. The man wasn't used to fighting more than one enemy! He glowers under his breath and sets off into another sprint (His third, now) back towards Illyana, huffing a little as he throws himself into a flying knee at the side of the spider's head! Colliding with the thing in a messy car crash of an impact as both go sprawling to the ground!
Sae-byeok drawing a semi circle that leaves the same frost trail of her mancy, and then activating the area by drawing the run in the air, the snow below solidifies and freezes into the natural world's tomb; a shell, encased by time to ice. The snow's texture begins to shard and patch as the circle completes around the other side in a growing river, but the path is like a grain. Tiny shaved balls of ice, closer to sand, begin to vibrate lightly.
Finn's attack seems to have worked, the thing is distracted, and Illyana can breathe again. Still, though Sam and Sae-byeok continue their ritual, Illyana is disadvantaged when another demon spider descends to cocoon Illyana again; This is not Illyana's day, apparently. Free once more though, that heat aura is extended, Illyana's palms are burning and Illyana is glowing from within. She cant do this alone, unquestionably, but between Sam, Sae-byeok, Illyana and Finn, this can only go well, so Illyana bides her time, letting the fire burn as Finn impacts with the spider, sending the cocoon of webbing shuddering as it returns to smoke with Finn's aid. Illyana then is able to stand again, and paths out of trouble, appearing a short distance away, beginning to walk back to aid Finn Though he has it, and spirits are easy to disrupt, especially when arcanists like Sam and Sae-byeok are on the job.
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 Illyana, swinging the sword in some attempt to cut off their head.
most definitely does not have it. The spider, having eight legs compared to Finn' two manages to scramble on top before he can get to his feet, Finn planted on his shoulders, his hands wrapped around the sword long fangs as they bare down at him, his arms straining as he barely manages to keep the things away from his throat, kicking hard up at the spider's mid section as it tries to get the thing off of him! ... Glancing over he spots the armored figured charging Illyana, sparing only a thought of 'poor guy' in the armored figures direction before his attention is immediately brought back to the spider as he has to jerk his head to the side to dodge the fangs as they dig into the dirt right next to his skull!
"By duality..." Sam looks to Illyana, and grins.
"By youthful vigor..." Finn gets a look.
"By dreams and ice.." Sae-byeok gets a nod.
"And un-bound legacy..." No-one gets a nod, but one remains to adress.
"Consume, consume and unmake. Feed, feed and bring rest to this place." It's a soft, insistent whisper, a hiss to his voice, as he kneels down on the gorund, drawing his knife across his palm, and clasping it around the charred dragon ring on his finger. "By banished dragons..." Those shadows around Sam and Sae-byeok are deepening, and coiling like angry tendrils, snakes perhaps, as they coil around each other, and bite their own tails, turning into that deep pit that glares outward, like an open maw.
"Fuck you, buddy." Illyana tells the armed and armoured figure. She rips up an entire tombstone, sets it alight, then throws it, angelic speed and biokinetic momentum allowing her to bypass that head chop as the spirit gets someone's epitaph through the torso for its trouble as Sam's chant and the shadows it empowers builds.
Some figure forms in the smoke: tall, it has twisted horns and red eyes. It levels a gnarled finger at Illyana, beginning to chant in an unknown language as the air begins to crackle with magic. Immediately, Illyana can feel something like a vise closing on their heart.
, suddenly salivating, purses her lips and shakes under prayer. The earplugs do their job in diminishing the louder noises, the louder distractions. Water with a rippling sheen, close to freezing point but just shy of thus, begins to roil in four protruding spikes from the inter-cardinals of the ritual circle. Finally, with a labored groan, Sae-byeok 's cheeks bulge and she spits an unnaturally long projectile of saliva across and past the circle beyond. The spikes freeze into fangs.
with the creatures fangs down in the dirt besides him, Finn sits up and wraps his arm around the back of the thing's neck ... Or at least, the part of it which connected it's head to it's body. Taking it in something like a headlock as he connects his hands underneath the neck! Of course, spiders couldn't get choked, but as it pulls it's head back to try and bring it's fangs to bare again, Finn is flung up with it from his grip on the beast! Hauled up into the air, the man finally has his legs under him, grounding himself before swapping his grips on the spider's head and starting to power knees up into the shadowy creature's mess of too many eyes! "Fucking ..." He growls as he slams knee after knee in "Die ..."
One would think that having thrown a large piece of masonry, Illyana would be unstoppable, especially with such backing as Sam, Sae-byeok and Finn. That of course is exactly why that horned spirit chooses that point to manifest again, its arcana unheard in the on-going conflict, and masked by Sam and Sae-byeok's chanting. And that's when Illyana's momentum stops again: It's as though Illyana hit a brick wall, and with no forewarning, she eats dirt as she skids in, that magic squeezing around Illyana's heart again, Illyana's flames winking out as suddenly as they banked. A grunt escapes her as she manages to catch herself before more colateral damage can befall the graveyard, but it's a close thing.
Something in what Sae-byeok does seems to empower, embolden Sam. He nods firmly, and speaks. "Spread wide, Maw of Duat, and deliver upon these restless demons the Final Death, the unmaking, the endless emptiness of the great beyond!"
The shadows around the pit seem to take a strange, thick, oily quality, and the air around Sam shimmers, yellow eyes flashing in the dark.
Then, as Finn speaks that simple word, a tendril of shadow snakes out, and coils around the man's arms and legs, moving with his movements, giving the brit something immaterial to hit these spirits with.
A trio of horned smoke-monsters advance out of the mist. They have twisted weapons formed of smoke, and they descend on Illyana, howling in an incomrephensible, devilish tongue.
"Incoming!" Illyana calls out, pointing at the spirit beasts as they make their way for Illyana. Rolling over from where she is, she snarls, a ball of fire generated between two mud-coated palms, where she unleashes it like the jet of a flamethrower.
feeling something giving in the spider's head as he repeatedly knees the creature's head, and then feeling his body fill with shadowy power, Finn grits his teeth. Taking a firmer grip on the spider demon's neck he slams himself down to the ground, falling to his back and twisting as he jolts his entire body weight into the creature's compromised neck joint! With a sickening crunch the head is pulled clean off and Finn is sent sprawling down to the ground as the creature collapses on top of him. "Thanks Sam!" He shouts out, his voice strained as if the man was already winded as he turns to his knees, and with sweat starting to drip from his face he places a hand on his knee to start to push himself off the ground, shrugging off the corpse of the spider demon across his shoulders as he starts running torwads Illyana again as she lay on the ground "Hol ... Hold on ..." He pants out, not able to sprint quite as he had been able to before "I'm coming ..."
Sae-byeok rises with a start, fluttering her eyes as the last of her mancy that can affect the world manifests. Seeing the shadows approach Illyana.
The steps through the snow are a strange, rapidly speeding patter of footsteps followed by a banshee's throttled shriek as the small woman propels herself with an unwarranted about of strength to slide below the torrent of flame. She raises her left arm, still clad in a frozen reinforcement, along the side of the flamethrower as she collides with one of the monsters like a bolling pin and takes the legs out from under it- catching it with the knife through its stomach and yanking left with her momentum.
Sae-byeok's knife, dusted in onyx and salt, comes free with a sudden burst as the smoky insides spill and release into a billowing cloud that merely follows the wake of her preternaturally spiraling tumble.
Still producing flame, Illyana advances on the weapon wielding spirits. A powerhouse in her own right, she draws a knife, biokinetically strengthening herself as she begins to slice and chop, demonic strength and angelic speed empowering her, even as Sae-byeok leaps in, and Finn advances; Sam has this, and knowing Sam's work, the ritual nears its end soon.
As the rite seems to reach it's peak, Sam just spreads out his arms, and like angry snakes, the pit erupts with coils of shadow that start to yoink the demons, the defeated shadowy husks, and the remaining restless dead into that pit. Sam trembles all over, the toll of arcanism clearly taking it's toll as he starts to waver, pain clear on his face as the jock shudders, even as the shadows continue their hunt.
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.