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Lanaeiss Ghost Banishing 250409
At the haunting grounds of Arkwright Cemetery, a dark and chilling mist filled with demonic presence engulfs Lanaeis, William, Liliane, and Edith in an eerie morning. William initiates a complex ritual to banish the arising spirits, drawing upon his arcane knowledge to create a powerful circle of protection marked by blood and ancient runes. As he works, the graveyard becomes a battlefield against the malevolent forces; Lanaeis, armed with a katar and golden flames, fiercely combats the hellhounds and smoke-monsters alongside Edith's summoned spectral hound and her mastery of dark sorcery. The mist conjures horrifying visions and instills a deep-seated fear, twisting the hearts of the defenders with the urge to succumb to their worst sins.
Amid the chaos, Edith, struggling with her own temptations, momentarily abandons the fight, cloaking herself in the comforting shadows of her necromantic powers while Lanaeis fights with renewed wrath, desperately avoiding the affliction of his vengeful urges. Meanwhile, William completes the intricate ritual. Infusing the drawn symbols with potent magic, he unleashes a final surge of energy that rapidly spreads an icy cold throughout the cemetery, immobilizing and then shattering the demonic entities into nothingness. The sinister smoke dissipates, leaving a serene silence in its wake. Their combined efforts successfully banish the spirits, reaffirming the power of their arcane abilities and the strength found in unity against the darkness lurking within and without.
(Lanaeis's ghost banishing)
[Fri Apr 4 2025]
On the Sprawling Hillside of Arkwright Cemetery
It is morning, about 55F(12C) degrees,
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.
As the dark mists roil in the cemetery, Lanaeis 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.
"Alright, I'm on it then" William says as he starts walking around the cemetery, looking around to try and find a suitable spot to begin the magic, and telling Edith "It'll not be as fast as you normally are, but as soon as you all cover me, things should go smoothly" He comments, watching the demonic mist start rising, he sighs out and comments "Unless that's the spirit, that one can mess without- Oh well, we'll just see how it goes..."
And with that, William ducks to the ground behind some gravestone, using it as cover as he reaches for a knife hidden within his clothes, and unseathing it, he drives it towards the palm of his hand, pressing it lightly and making a diagonal cut, closing the hand slightly after it to allow the red liquid to start pooling into his hand
Drawing his katar, Lanaeis motions for Liliane to stick close. "I can't say I've seen this particular brand of spook before." He comments. "Refreshing." He nods to William. As the cold sets in, he lifts a hand, golden flames brightening his skin as heat suffuses the air around him, the light pushing back the mists slightly, though not much.
Looking between William, Liliane and Lanaeis, Edith asks, "I assume this is one of you who caused this rising. It is not me." Then of course, the spirits rise and Edith sighs. Edith's sunglasses are removed, Edith squints at the daylight and then two fingers are raised to Edith's lips. A sharp whistle follows, a spectral red-black hound manifests from the crimson phantasmal mist and moves to Edith's side, drooling. "Demon spirits again. Most annoying." Edith opines. "Though at least I shall get to learn your arcane origin." she mentions casually to William. The shadows gather around Edith then, as she steps into the miasma of the mist, gaining cover-- Not from the spirits, but from the sun within the crawling gloom of a long abandoned memorial. "Dark sorcery and my hound shall do nicely." Edith tells Lanaeis and Liliane and William.
"I awakened them. But I'm no ritualist." Lanaeis says.
Liliane sticks close to Lanaeis, her body tense and steps uneven. She shivers and takes a deep breath, noticably calmer afterwards while her head flicks between the actions of Edith and William before she asks Lanaeis in a hushed tone, as if trying not to interrupt, "Does this happen often?"
As those insidious crimson mists roil around William, Lanaeis, Liliane and Edith like the haunting tendrals of those of the grave let loose in their dreadful desire for carnage, Edith shrinks further into the grim shadow of the towering angelic memorial that Edith hides within, the light of day, a hated thing ignored-- feared, though it is not for that reason Edith sinks into their comforting embrace. To the contrary, the fear, just as with the aesthetics of the grave are a weapon, and so, as William readies himself, Edith channels the shadows and the necromantic energy of the Arkwright cemetary, summoning to Edith the very power beyond the arcane; A globe of sorcery, ready to strike anything that emerges from the writhing chaos of the supernatural smoke.
"Arcane origin is a strong term... I just read a lot, listen to people who know more, and end up learning the rituals..." William comments with a tiny little shrug towards Edith, getting the tip of his index and middle finger with the blood, and then driving them slowly towards the ground, sinking them in slightly and starting to push the soil around, almost drawing with his fingers within the ground, not outright painting with blood, but seemingly happy enough with leaving vague hints of the red liquid behind, like traces upon the drawn lines in the ground, simply speckling.
First comes a sizeable enough circle, the moment of his arm practiced, getting the figure right with ease in a single go, and almost without slowing down, something considerable given it's a circle drawn without tools after all. Waiting for a second down on his knees on the ground, allowing more blood to pool in his palm before wetting the tip of his fingers once more
A twisted figure forms out of infernal smoke, shaped like a terrible canine shape. It's a hellhound, leaping towards Lanaeis with an awful snarl. When its mouth closes on %n, it has some phantom force, sending a vision of suffering in hellfire.
Moving to stand guard over William, Lanaeis keeps his free hand raised, golden fire leaping between his fingers as he stands as straight as an arrow. "Demon spirits?" He asks Liliane, voice similarly low as to not disrupt William's casting. "I usually see the armies. This is new to me. But no, its not terribly frequent. Occasional yes, but not too bad most of the time. If your worried about being in danger, you will be fine. Bill and Doctor Rose are incredibly talented. And I've handled spirits myself fairly often." When the hellhound leaps, it is met with a strike of his katar, his hand driving towards its face in a flash of brilliant light. "Bad dog." He mutters as he drives his weapon into its skull.
With a startled clench of her teeth Liliane takes a step back from Lanaeis, movement prompted by the hellhound's lunge. "If I was so worried about being in danger I would've run away screaming two weeks ago," Liliane muses, but her still quiet tone is anything but secure and her right hand is firmly clenched at her waist, grasping at an object beneath the fabric of her clothing. Without thinking, she flinches as the katar drives into the hellhound's skull but moves back closer to Lanaeis soon after.
After the main big circle of the ritual, another one follows, smaller than the original but concentric to it, around four fifths of it's radius, making the whole thing seem more like a band or some sort of ring rather than donut-shaped. As he draws, William glances upwards for a moment, noticing the hellhound and how Lanaeis deflects it, he decides to cast an illusory distraction to the side of the battlefield, at least one to distract the spirits for a little while, it's not like the action really takes much of his mental focus, just a little aside to make things easier for those who were covering him.
"Demon spirits." He confirms to Lanaeis, before commenting "Awfully insistent- They come from that mist-like substance, and they form shapes from it, that turn into the attackers- When struck hard enough, they simply become mist once more... An unending army- But their most annoying trait is how they are able to play with blood magic, or how they can manipulate people's emotions on the spot, slows down any attempts at stopping them"
The phantasm forms within the smoke; At first indistinguishable from all around it, though it becomes obvious soon after, its malicious form dark even within the mists. This though is what Edith waits for. This is the reason for the gathering of the energy and the summoning of the minion. Edith covers William as he paints in the colors of the grave soil, and another whistle. "Kill." Edith tells the geist of an english mastiff, and even as the hellhound launches for Lanaeis, Edith's minion, a hellhound itself reshaped and distorted tackles it, aiding Lanaeis in his fight with the monster, even as the acrid scent of hellfire, brimstone and rot and decay spread around it. Edith's place is the darkness and so the darkness answers Edith's call-- The roiling ball of dark energy strikes the hound almost as Edith's hound does, and still casually conversational, Edith asks Liliane, "This is your first banishment?"
Some figure forms in the smoke: tall, it has twisted horns and red eyes. It levels a gnarled finger at Lanaeis, beginning to chant in an unknown language as the air begins to crackle with magic. Immediately, Lanaeis can feel something like a vise closing on their heart.
Liliane offers a firm, quick nod towards Edith though her eyes remain on the struggle between two hounds before her. "Yes... Are they always so violent?" she asks, her attention drawn towards Edith momentarily as the larger figure forms within the smoke and causes Liliane to drift away from Lanaeis once more.
Giving Edith's hound a salute, Lanaeis smiles. "Appreciated Cuddles." A nod to Edith herself. "And impeccable aim as always Doctor Rose. Its appreciated. He grasps his chest as the phantasm forms, crumpling for a moment before forcing himself up. "Bastard." He grunts, one hand still clasped to his chest. In a sudden blur of motion, he rushes forward, katar flaring with golden fire as he engages the demonic figure, moving to grant Cuddles and Edith the perfect openings as he carves into the being with fire and steel. When the thing falls under the assault, he returns to William and Liliane.
Then, in that band-like space, between the edges of each of the circles, William sinks his fingers into the soil once more, this time drawing smaller figures rather than the sizeable circles. Runes. Slowly but surely, making sure that everything is drawn careful and precisely. Some might recognize the symbols as norse in origin, some of them being pretty well known runes for those knowing of the alphabet, others not so much, to the point they almost seemed made up on the spot.
Writting them slowly and circling around the whole thing, as if it was all just a long sentence without spaces, he keeps on drawing and inscribing the ground, the first noticeable rune to appear for those with some knowledge on the topic would be the Ehwaz, resembling an uppercase M, though with the middle spike being heigher up than normal, rather than at half the height of the whole thing, at around two thirds of it, normally used to ward out dangers, or used in times of need as something that provides support and strength, a ward of sorts, even if it literally translates as horse.
With a howl, some kind of winged monkey-demon swoops down near Lanaeis, its body made of living smoke. It's all grasping claws, striking hard to leave psychic scars that hurt like deep slashes. Other monkeys attack anyone nearby, with similar screeching, rending claws.
"I am far better with fleshcraft, the spirits, blood magic, necromancy and the control of the shadows." Edith says this off-handed, too. It's not a brag. It's not confidence, though there is an inevitability to the truth that resounds with my words. "I am also far far better with emotional control than they." Edith assures Lanaeis, proving Edith's point by raising a palm, another bar of pure shadow bursting out from Edith's bastion of umbral gloom, the aura of a true necromancer in true, unadulterated mortuum. A caller of the grave and mistress of the mystery of blood. The bar strikes, the mastiff launches alongside Lanaeis and then another working; Edith twists her fingers. Lanaeis's blood reacts and through pure haemomantic control, Lanaeis's hart is freed from the grip of the demonic spirit, forcibly beating like bellows until its disbatch. All the while, one eye is kept on Liliane, the other taking note of William's arcane workings. "I would teach you a more strictured method if you are interested." she tells the ritualist.
One hand snapping out, a monkey is caught and then, with a cracking sound, crushed into mist in the hand of Lanaeis, strength beyond any human on display as he turns, arm coming over Liliane and cutting monkeys out of the air with his katar before he turns to aid William if necessary, leaping into the air to engage the monkeys higher up. "I feel like these demons need to watch less of The Wizard of Oz." He comments as he lands again.
Another similar rune follows suit, the Algiz, that much like the previous, also represents an animal, the elk. Known often as the first symbol in runic alphabet, symbolizing protection, defense. It gets inscribed along with the long string of symbols, the further he keeps on drawing these symbols, William also takes his time to stain his fingertips again and again with blood coming from his cut palm, the size of the ritual drawing making it so that he isn't really using it as paint, but rather speckling it or staining the ground with it in order to simply leave a trace.
"Step by step..." Is the answer he offers Edith, not taking his eyes of the blood he's splattering all over the ground, sighing out softly as he starts imprinting some of his own magic into the circle and comments "I shouldn't even be doing things of high level, I started learning like four or five months ago..." The next familiar rune to come is the Eihwaz, similar in name to the first, very different in shape, consisting of a vertical line, the top edge parting into a little downwards towards the right diagonal segment, and, on the lower edge, another diagonal segment, this one towards the left and upwards, once more, a rune associated with protection, though often times with Yggdrasil, indicating a connection between mortals and the divine, protection though that bridge between the two, in a sense, one could see it as the very magic that is being wielded right now
"At will." Edith's words come as a whisper through the silence of the cemetery, the decreed edict as cold as death and twice as ostere, with the mastiff responding with a haste born of its nature as an arcane manifestation-- A spirit embodying Edith's will. The hound strides into the mist. It picks off monkeys, wrestling them, snapping and clawing. Its claws bat and its form barrel through, supporting Lanaeis as Edith supports William, blasts of dark sorcery bursting into anti-light, roiling globes of colorlessness that sap life from the world and render the air around them into deleterious shades of abject unlife before they can reach William.
A trio of horned smoke-monsters advance out of the mist. They have twisted weapons formed of smoke, and they descend on Lanaeis, howling in an incomrephensible, devilish tongue.
The image of Lanaeis's combat holds Liliane's attention for only so long, eyes and body drifting somewhere nearer to William and Edith as she focuses her attention on the symbols William scrawls upon the earth. "I don't really... Haven't spoken to anyone about any... sorcery I guess," Liliane mentions off-handedly and though she opens her mouth to speak more she falls silent, unwilling to introduce her words to the world. Her attention remains on the drawing within the dirt until a monkey's screech down low causes her to flick her head towards it while Lanaeis moves overhead. With a practiced move her pistol rips from its holster but she holds the gunfire as Edith's hound rips through the creature, knuckles white around the firearm as she exhales a relieved sigh.
Smoke meets fire in a blinding clash as Lanaeis engages the trio, katar sweeping out as he uses his near blinding speed to maneuver around the creatures to flank them with the unleashed hound, opening them to its attacks should it choose to join his fight. He keeps himself between the creatures and Liliane, golden fire still radiating from his free hand as he fights both mist and monster.
Soon enough the entire string of runes seems to be almost full, having just barely gone full circle around itself, and William takes a moment to breath and come back to reality, glancing upwards to look at the attackers he had forgotten before, he watches the figures decend upon Lanaeis, and once more reaches into his illusory magic to make two of them confuse another of their partners with the combatant, making it so that instead of stabbing Lanaeis, they instead attack each other.
And with that and a happy sigh, William returns to draw, the last noticeable rune that he draws into the band of runes seems to be the Inguz, notably known as the main norse rune to be used to fend of and ward against evil spirits, almost made precisely for a situation like this, spirits in needing of banishing from or protecting from. The shape of the rune also incredibly simply, a square, tilted to a side to resemble a rombus.
And as soon as he finishes with the band, he draws one last rune in the center of the circle, bigger than the rest and using more blood for it than he did for anything else. The Thurisaz. Maybe gaining more importance than it should because of its meaning, translating to "thorn", usually used to represent protection against trouble, or having to face adversity, but also having that double meaning that is laced with everything thorn-related. It will protect by causing damage to whatever tries to hurt.
"They get easier." Edith assures Liliane. "Though sorcery is incorrect. Very few have access to sorcery." A motion-- A flick of the fingers. An arcane word and one of the smoke monsters pauses-- halted in its tracks. Edith's mastiff leaps at it, ripping it to pieces as Lanaeis makes his way to the other two. William gets a casual nod and Edith performs another motion, puppeting the limbs of one of the other two monsters, forcing them to infight, making Edith's hound, Lanaeis and Liliane's task in this that bit easier. "You learn what those around you can do and you grow to appreciate what is and is not possible within your group."
For a moment, the dark smoke is still around Lanaeis ... but then a low, evil laughter begins to echo. It takes only a second to realize the laughter is echoing inside the heads of those who fight here, and with it comes a sudden urge to give into everyone's worst sin.
And the moment the whole drawing is done, William scoots a bit to a side, moving the hand dripping blood, the wound in it almost having healed by now, away from the picture, not wanting to stain the final result. And the hand that had been tracing and parting the ground, instead opens wide, putting his whole palm towards the central rune, pouring magic directly into the circle, and having the lines drawn start to glow in some light yet bright cyan color, with some light hues of green showing up here and there, almost creating some slight glow that hovers close to the circle but doesn't stray too far. The soil around the ritual soon becoming colder, and with a cracking and snapping sound, soon beginning to freeze, a thin layer of ice forming and spreading around the circle, almost like it was infecting the ground little by little
Sin. That is something that Edith is very much weak to. Though she is a master of necromancy, what Edith is is an embodyment of greed-- avarice, and that is something that Edith finds it hard to resist, even as the monsters go down-- A path is formed and...
In that same flash, Edith moves in from Liliane, then away, back to those shadows, Lanaeis, William and Liliane forgotten about as those shadows enshroud me once more, Edith's pale flesh glowing from the gloom, Edith's lips inhumanly crimson as Edith's tongue flicks out.
As the laughter rings through the heads of those gathered, a blinding fury enters the eyes of Lanaeis, his knuckles white on the grip of his katar. For a moment, his eyes flit to William, Liliane, and Edith, amber eyes filled with vengeful fire. For just a moment, he looks like he might give into it and strike out at the others... and then he tears his eyes from them, refocusing on the mist monsters as they appear. When he engages them this time, it is with an almost unnatural fervor, taking out his anger on the creatures in a blind frenzy. At one point he might have been alarmed or even angered at Edith suddenly drinking from Liliane, but now Lanaeis is too embroiled in the grasp of his own sin, becoming a whirlwind of wrath upon the spirits as to not turn on the others, in what would surely be a fatal confrontation for himself.
It takes a couple more seconds of focusing, which is made difficult due to the desire inspiring trickery of the spirits, but the ritual is already working its magic, in both ways. The speed a which the ice spreads growing faster and faster, to the point it seems like it will cover the ground of the entire cemetery within minutes, and soon enough, it's all that one can see, though, for some reason, it's not slippery to the combatants, it's almost like it isn't there. If it wasn't for the incredible cold that comes along with it. None of the alive people are affected, not even Edith for that matter, but within an instant, some ice seems to launch itself from the ground in the form of icycles, stabbing some of the mist around the place. Which seems to stop moving and reforming, freezing entirely just as fast as the ground did. The entire spirit attack ceases, and a moment later, it's nothing but an ice sculpture that takes barely a couple seconds to crack and break, leaving nothing spiritual behind, only those present during the banishing. No spirit to be seen, and William is done with the magic trick
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.
Amid the chaos, Edith, struggling with her own temptations, momentarily abandons the fight, cloaking herself in the comforting shadows of her necromantic powers while Lanaeis fights with renewed wrath, desperately avoiding the affliction of his vengeful urges. Meanwhile, William completes the intricate ritual. Infusing the drawn symbols with potent magic, he unleashes a final surge of energy that rapidly spreads an icy cold throughout the cemetery, immobilizing and then shattering the demonic entities into nothingness. The sinister smoke dissipates, leaving a serene silence in its wake. Their combined efforts successfully banish the spirits, reaffirming the power of their arcane abilities and the strength found in unity against the darkness lurking within and without.
(Lanaeis's ghost banishing)
[Fri Apr 4 2025]
On the Sprawling Hillside of Arkwright Cemetery
It is morning, about 55F(12C) degrees,
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.
As the dark mists roil in the cemetery, Lanaeis 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.
"Alright, I'm on it then" William says as he starts walking around the cemetery, looking around to try and find a suitable spot to begin the magic, and telling Edith "It'll not be as fast as you normally are, but as soon as you all cover me, things should go smoothly" He comments, watching the demonic mist start rising, he sighs out and comments "Unless that's the spirit, that one can mess without- Oh well, we'll just see how it goes..."
And with that, William ducks to the ground behind some gravestone, using it as cover as he reaches for a knife hidden within his clothes, and unseathing it, he drives it towards the palm of his hand, pressing it lightly and making a diagonal cut, closing the hand slightly after it to allow the red liquid to start pooling into his hand
Drawing his katar, Lanaeis motions for Liliane to stick close. "I can't say I've seen this particular brand of spook before." He comments. "Refreshing." He nods to William. As the cold sets in, he lifts a hand, golden flames brightening his skin as heat suffuses the air around him, the light pushing back the mists slightly, though not much.
Looking between William, Liliane and Lanaeis, Edith asks, "I assume this is one of you who caused this rising. It is not me." Then of course, the spirits rise and Edith sighs. Edith's sunglasses are removed, Edith squints at the daylight and then two fingers are raised to Edith's lips. A sharp whistle follows, a spectral red-black hound manifests from the crimson phantasmal mist and moves to Edith's side, drooling. "Demon spirits again. Most annoying." Edith opines. "Though at least I shall get to learn your arcane origin." she mentions casually to William. The shadows gather around Edith then, as she steps into the miasma of the mist, gaining cover-- Not from the spirits, but from the sun within the crawling gloom of a long abandoned memorial. "Dark sorcery and my hound shall do nicely." Edith tells Lanaeis and Liliane and William.
"I awakened them. But I'm no ritualist." Lanaeis says.
Liliane sticks close to Lanaeis, her body tense and steps uneven. She shivers and takes a deep breath, noticably calmer afterwards while her head flicks between the actions of Edith and William before she asks Lanaeis in a hushed tone, as if trying not to interrupt, "Does this happen often?"
As those insidious crimson mists roil around William, Lanaeis, Liliane and Edith like the haunting tendrals of those of the grave let loose in their dreadful desire for carnage, Edith shrinks further into the grim shadow of the towering angelic memorial that Edith hides within, the light of day, a hated thing ignored-- feared, though it is not for that reason Edith sinks into their comforting embrace. To the contrary, the fear, just as with the aesthetics of the grave are a weapon, and so, as William readies himself, Edith channels the shadows and the necromantic energy of the Arkwright cemetary, summoning to Edith the very power beyond the arcane; A globe of sorcery, ready to strike anything that emerges from the writhing chaos of the supernatural smoke.
"Arcane origin is a strong term... I just read a lot, listen to people who know more, and end up learning the rituals..." William comments with a tiny little shrug towards Edith, getting the tip of his index and middle finger with the blood, and then driving them slowly towards the ground, sinking them in slightly and starting to push the soil around, almost drawing with his fingers within the ground, not outright painting with blood, but seemingly happy enough with leaving vague hints of the red liquid behind, like traces upon the drawn lines in the ground, simply speckling.
First comes a sizeable enough circle, the moment of his arm practiced, getting the figure right with ease in a single go, and almost without slowing down, something considerable given it's a circle drawn without tools after all. Waiting for a second down on his knees on the ground, allowing more blood to pool in his palm before wetting the tip of his fingers once more
A twisted figure forms out of infernal smoke, shaped like a terrible canine shape. It's a hellhound, leaping towards Lanaeis with an awful snarl. When its mouth closes on %n, it has some phantom force, sending a vision of suffering in hellfire.
Moving to stand guard over William, Lanaeis keeps his free hand raised, golden fire leaping between his fingers as he stands as straight as an arrow. "Demon spirits?" He asks Liliane, voice similarly low as to not disrupt William's casting. "I usually see the armies. This is new to me. But no, its not terribly frequent. Occasional yes, but not too bad most of the time. If your worried about being in danger, you will be fine. Bill and Doctor Rose are incredibly talented. And I've handled spirits myself fairly often." When the hellhound leaps, it is met with a strike of his katar, his hand driving towards its face in a flash of brilliant light. "Bad dog." He mutters as he drives his weapon into its skull.
With a startled clench of her teeth Liliane takes a step back from Lanaeis, movement prompted by the hellhound's lunge. "If I was so worried about being in danger I would've run away screaming two weeks ago," Liliane muses, but her still quiet tone is anything but secure and her right hand is firmly clenched at her waist, grasping at an object beneath the fabric of her clothing. Without thinking, she flinches as the katar drives into the hellhound's skull but moves back closer to Lanaeis soon after.
After the main big circle of the ritual, another one follows, smaller than the original but concentric to it, around four fifths of it's radius, making the whole thing seem more like a band or some sort of ring rather than donut-shaped. As he draws, William glances upwards for a moment, noticing the hellhound and how Lanaeis deflects it, he decides to cast an illusory distraction to the side of the battlefield, at least one to distract the spirits for a little while, it's not like the action really takes much of his mental focus, just a little aside to make things easier for those who were covering him.
"Demon spirits." He confirms to Lanaeis, before commenting "Awfully insistent- They come from that mist-like substance, and they form shapes from it, that turn into the attackers- When struck hard enough, they simply become mist once more... An unending army- But their most annoying trait is how they are able to play with blood magic, or how they can manipulate people's emotions on the spot, slows down any attempts at stopping them"
The phantasm forms within the smoke; At first indistinguishable from all around it, though it becomes obvious soon after, its malicious form dark even within the mists. This though is what Edith waits for. This is the reason for the gathering of the energy and the summoning of the minion. Edith covers William as he paints in the colors of the grave soil, and another whistle. "Kill." Edith tells the geist of an english mastiff, and even as the hellhound launches for Lanaeis, Edith's minion, a hellhound itself reshaped and distorted tackles it, aiding Lanaeis in his fight with the monster, even as the acrid scent of hellfire, brimstone and rot and decay spread around it. Edith's place is the darkness and so the darkness answers Edith's call-- The roiling ball of dark energy strikes the hound almost as Edith's hound does, and still casually conversational, Edith asks Liliane, "This is your first banishment?"
Some figure forms in the smoke: tall, it has twisted horns and red eyes. It levels a gnarled finger at Lanaeis, beginning to chant in an unknown language as the air begins to crackle with magic. Immediately, Lanaeis can feel something like a vise closing on their heart.
Liliane offers a firm, quick nod towards Edith though her eyes remain on the struggle between two hounds before her. "Yes... Are they always so violent?" she asks, her attention drawn towards Edith momentarily as the larger figure forms within the smoke and causes Liliane to drift away from Lanaeis once more.
Giving Edith's hound a salute, Lanaeis smiles. "Appreciated Cuddles." A nod to Edith herself. "And impeccable aim as always Doctor Rose. Its appreciated. He grasps his chest as the phantasm forms, crumpling for a moment before forcing himself up. "Bastard." He grunts, one hand still clasped to his chest. In a sudden blur of motion, he rushes forward, katar flaring with golden fire as he engages the demonic figure, moving to grant Cuddles and Edith the perfect openings as he carves into the being with fire and steel. When the thing falls under the assault, he returns to William and Liliane.
Then, in that band-like space, between the edges of each of the circles, William sinks his fingers into the soil once more, this time drawing smaller figures rather than the sizeable circles. Runes. Slowly but surely, making sure that everything is drawn careful and precisely. Some might recognize the symbols as norse in origin, some of them being pretty well known runes for those knowing of the alphabet, others not so much, to the point they almost seemed made up on the spot.
Writting them slowly and circling around the whole thing, as if it was all just a long sentence without spaces, he keeps on drawing and inscribing the ground, the first noticeable rune to appear for those with some knowledge on the topic would be the Ehwaz, resembling an uppercase M, though with the middle spike being heigher up than normal, rather than at half the height of the whole thing, at around two thirds of it, normally used to ward out dangers, or used in times of need as something that provides support and strength, a ward of sorts, even if it literally translates as horse.
With a howl, some kind of winged monkey-demon swoops down near Lanaeis, its body made of living smoke. It's all grasping claws, striking hard to leave psychic scars that hurt like deep slashes. Other monkeys attack anyone nearby, with similar screeching, rending claws.
"I am far better with fleshcraft, the spirits, blood magic, necromancy and the control of the shadows." Edith says this off-handed, too. It's not a brag. It's not confidence, though there is an inevitability to the truth that resounds with my words. "I am also far far better with emotional control than they." Edith assures Lanaeis, proving Edith's point by raising a palm, another bar of pure shadow bursting out from Edith's bastion of umbral gloom, the aura of a true necromancer in true, unadulterated mortuum. A caller of the grave and mistress of the mystery of blood. The bar strikes, the mastiff launches alongside Lanaeis and then another working; Edith twists her fingers. Lanaeis's blood reacts and through pure haemomantic control, Lanaeis's hart is freed from the grip of the demonic spirit, forcibly beating like bellows until its disbatch. All the while, one eye is kept on Liliane, the other taking note of William's arcane workings. "I would teach you a more strictured method if you are interested." she tells the ritualist.
One hand snapping out, a monkey is caught and then, with a cracking sound, crushed into mist in the hand of Lanaeis, strength beyond any human on display as he turns, arm coming over Liliane and cutting monkeys out of the air with his katar before he turns to aid William if necessary, leaping into the air to engage the monkeys higher up. "I feel like these demons need to watch less of The Wizard of Oz." He comments as he lands again.
Another similar rune follows suit, the Algiz, that much like the previous, also represents an animal, the elk. Known often as the first symbol in runic alphabet, symbolizing protection, defense. It gets inscribed along with the long string of symbols, the further he keeps on drawing these symbols, William also takes his time to stain his fingertips again and again with blood coming from his cut palm, the size of the ritual drawing making it so that he isn't really using it as paint, but rather speckling it or staining the ground with it in order to simply leave a trace.
"Step by step..." Is the answer he offers Edith, not taking his eyes of the blood he's splattering all over the ground, sighing out softly as he starts imprinting some of his own magic into the circle and comments "I shouldn't even be doing things of high level, I started learning like four or five months ago..." The next familiar rune to come is the Eihwaz, similar in name to the first, very different in shape, consisting of a vertical line, the top edge parting into a little downwards towards the right diagonal segment, and, on the lower edge, another diagonal segment, this one towards the left and upwards, once more, a rune associated with protection, though often times with Yggdrasil, indicating a connection between mortals and the divine, protection though that bridge between the two, in a sense, one could see it as the very magic that is being wielded right now
"At will." Edith's words come as a whisper through the silence of the cemetery, the decreed edict as cold as death and twice as ostere, with the mastiff responding with a haste born of its nature as an arcane manifestation-- A spirit embodying Edith's will. The hound strides into the mist. It picks off monkeys, wrestling them, snapping and clawing. Its claws bat and its form barrel through, supporting Lanaeis as Edith supports William, blasts of dark sorcery bursting into anti-light, roiling globes of colorlessness that sap life from the world and render the air around them into deleterious shades of abject unlife before they can reach William.
A trio of horned smoke-monsters advance out of the mist. They have twisted weapons formed of smoke, and they descend on Lanaeis, howling in an incomrephensible, devilish tongue.
The image of Lanaeis's combat holds Liliane's attention for only so long, eyes and body drifting somewhere nearer to William and Edith as she focuses her attention on the symbols William scrawls upon the earth. "I don't really... Haven't spoken to anyone about any... sorcery I guess," Liliane mentions off-handedly and though she opens her mouth to speak more she falls silent, unwilling to introduce her words to the world. Her attention remains on the drawing within the dirt until a monkey's screech down low causes her to flick her head towards it while Lanaeis moves overhead. With a practiced move her pistol rips from its holster but she holds the gunfire as Edith's hound rips through the creature, knuckles white around the firearm as she exhales a relieved sigh.
Smoke meets fire in a blinding clash as Lanaeis engages the trio, katar sweeping out as he uses his near blinding speed to maneuver around the creatures to flank them with the unleashed hound, opening them to its attacks should it choose to join his fight. He keeps himself between the creatures and Liliane, golden fire still radiating from his free hand as he fights both mist and monster.
Soon enough the entire string of runes seems to be almost full, having just barely gone full circle around itself, and William takes a moment to breath and come back to reality, glancing upwards to look at the attackers he had forgotten before, he watches the figures decend upon Lanaeis, and once more reaches into his illusory magic to make two of them confuse another of their partners with the combatant, making it so that instead of stabbing Lanaeis, they instead attack each other.
And with that and a happy sigh, William returns to draw, the last noticeable rune that he draws into the band of runes seems to be the Inguz, notably known as the main norse rune to be used to fend of and ward against evil spirits, almost made precisely for a situation like this, spirits in needing of banishing from or protecting from. The shape of the rune also incredibly simply, a square, tilted to a side to resemble a rombus.
And as soon as he finishes with the band, he draws one last rune in the center of the circle, bigger than the rest and using more blood for it than he did for anything else. The Thurisaz. Maybe gaining more importance than it should because of its meaning, translating to "thorn", usually used to represent protection against trouble, or having to face adversity, but also having that double meaning that is laced with everything thorn-related. It will protect by causing damage to whatever tries to hurt.
"They get easier." Edith assures Liliane. "Though sorcery is incorrect. Very few have access to sorcery." A motion-- A flick of the fingers. An arcane word and one of the smoke monsters pauses-- halted in its tracks. Edith's mastiff leaps at it, ripping it to pieces as Lanaeis makes his way to the other two. William gets a casual nod and Edith performs another motion, puppeting the limbs of one of the other two monsters, forcing them to infight, making Edith's hound, Lanaeis and Liliane's task in this that bit easier. "You learn what those around you can do and you grow to appreciate what is and is not possible within your group."
For a moment, the dark smoke is still around Lanaeis ... but then a low, evil laughter begins to echo. It takes only a second to realize the laughter is echoing inside the heads of those who fight here, and with it comes a sudden urge to give into everyone's worst sin.
And the moment the whole drawing is done, William scoots a bit to a side, moving the hand dripping blood, the wound in it almost having healed by now, away from the picture, not wanting to stain the final result. And the hand that had been tracing and parting the ground, instead opens wide, putting his whole palm towards the central rune, pouring magic directly into the circle, and having the lines drawn start to glow in some light yet bright cyan color, with some light hues of green showing up here and there, almost creating some slight glow that hovers close to the circle but doesn't stray too far. The soil around the ritual soon becoming colder, and with a cracking and snapping sound, soon beginning to freeze, a thin layer of ice forming and spreading around the circle, almost like it was infecting the ground little by little
Sin. That is something that Edith is very much weak to. Though she is a master of necromancy, what Edith is is an embodyment of greed-- avarice, and that is something that Edith finds it hard to resist, even as the monsters go down-- A path is formed and...
In that same flash, Edith moves in from Liliane, then away, back to those shadows, Lanaeis, William and Liliane forgotten about as those shadows enshroud me once more, Edith's pale flesh glowing from the gloom, Edith's lips inhumanly crimson as Edith's tongue flicks out.
As the laughter rings through the heads of those gathered, a blinding fury enters the eyes of Lanaeis, his knuckles white on the grip of his katar. For a moment, his eyes flit to William, Liliane, and Edith, amber eyes filled with vengeful fire. For just a moment, he looks like he might give into it and strike out at the others... and then he tears his eyes from them, refocusing on the mist monsters as they appear. When he engages them this time, it is with an almost unnatural fervor, taking out his anger on the creatures in a blind frenzy. At one point he might have been alarmed or even angered at Edith suddenly drinking from Liliane, but now Lanaeis is too embroiled in the grasp of his own sin, becoming a whirlwind of wrath upon the spirits as to not turn on the others, in what would surely be a fatal confrontation for himself.
It takes a couple more seconds of focusing, which is made difficult due to the desire inspiring trickery of the spirits, but the ritual is already working its magic, in both ways. The speed a which the ice spreads growing faster and faster, to the point it seems like it will cover the ground of the entire cemetery within minutes, and soon enough, it's all that one can see, though, for some reason, it's not slippery to the combatants, it's almost like it isn't there. If it wasn't for the incredible cold that comes along with it. None of the alive people are affected, not even Edith for that matter, but within an instant, some ice seems to launch itself from the ground in the form of icycles, stabbing some of the mist around the place. Which seems to stop moving and reforming, freezing entirely just as fast as the ground did. The entire spirit attack ceases, and a moment later, it's nothing but an ice sculpture that takes barely a couple seconds to crack and break, leaving nothing spiritual behind, only those present during the banishing. No spirit to be seen, and William is done with the magic trick
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.