Patrollogs
Nikolais Ghost Banishing 241016
In the eerie ambiance of Arkwright Cemetery, under a waxing gibbous moon, Nikolai and his companions, Illyana and Ash, face a frightening incursion of demonic spirits manifesting as horned smoke-monsters. As the creatures advance with twisted weapons formed of smoke, the team prepares for battle: Illyana's fists glow with angelfire, Ash harnesses the power of quartz through a ritual, and Nikolai, wielding his hammer, commands divine light to fend off the infernal threat. Despite the fear gripping their hearts, wrought by the dark mists swirling with malevolence, the trio stands resolute. Nikolai, with words of Old Russian and flames of purification, attempts to banish the spirits, while Ash's ritual dance, marked by precision and empowered by Nikolai's flames, and Illyana's fierce combat protect them from the demonic onslaught.
As the confrontation intensifies, a tremendous black spider made of infernal smoke attempts to ensnare Nikolai in a spectral cocoon, but through sheer determination and aid from Illyana's angelfire, he breaks free. Meanwhile, Ash's ritualistic dance weaves magic potent enough to slice through the demonic entities with beams of quartz-infused light. A hellhound, embodying the threat of infernal wrath, momentarily overwhelms Nikolai, offering him visions of suffering. Yet, the group's unity and individual strengths overcome each sinister challenge. Illyana's wrath annihilates the hellhound, and Nikolai's sacred fire purges the remnants of the spectral forces. Ultimately, Ash's dramatic completion of the ritual banishes the smoke monsters entirely, reinstating peace to the cemetery. Through loyalty, bravery, and the melding of their unique powers, Nikolai and his companions emerge victorious, the lingering menace of the demons dispelled into the night.
(Nikolai's ghost banishing)
[Tue Oct 15 2024]
On the Sprawling Hillside of Arkwright Cemetery
It is night, about 49F(9C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey stormclouds in the sky. There is a waxing gibbous moon.
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.
Illyana says "The first is the one she has listed the twice as ownership and residential."
Ash says "Demons, excellent, I have my quartz focus."
Phone slipped away, Illyana grins. "Oh I like this one." she comments, her knuckles starting to glow with angelfire as she makes her fists a fiery weapon, her form glowing with a protective incandescence.
Ash holds out their hands, resting the quartz on them, then summoning their will o' wisps. With every one summoned, it immediately goes into the crystal, bringing it slowly to life as it slowly lights up more and more.
As the dark mists roil in the cemetery, Nikolai 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.
"Demons," Nikolai grunts, lifting his hammer out before himself, where it begins to kindle with nascent flame. "Or spirits from hell, anyway. Same thing." He glances at Illyana to offer her a brief nod in exchange for the provided information, but his attention's on the task at hand, now - and his skin begins to glow, and glow, and glow until he's blinding to be near; pitting divine light against infernal fear.
Ash shivers, then steps nearer to Nikolai, making use of his Forge flames. They push more and more energy into the quarts until its shape is impossible to make out. "Alright, Yana. Be careful. I don't think the light will hurt you, but just in case." They begin to focus on the crystal, focusing the light, until it starts to extend from the end, ultimately becoming a wand of quartz-infused light.
Though the fear takes hold, it doesn't do what the spirits may desire; Illyana is a creature of duality and her life is fear, hesitation and no little amount of frustration. To those ends, she doesn't retreat. To the contrary, Illyana, like Nikolai glows, and with that glowing, there is a steadily building demonic rage that is fueled all the more by the angelfire.
"Begone from this place which is sacrosanct," Nikolai rumbles, the words pouring from him in stately Old Russian. Whether or not his words are understood, there's ceremony and authority baked into his words. "Return to the sleep of the dead, restless spirits. This place is not for you."
A trio of horned smoke-monsters advance out of the mist. They have twisted weapons formed of smoke, and they descend on Nikolai, howling in an incomrephensible, devilish tongue.
Ash takes a deep breath before stepping away from Nikolai's warmth, to focus on the ritual at hand. Using the wand like a marker, they paint their finger and toe tips with light, adding a ring around their waist. Stepping forward, they move to to a point for the arcane circle. Rather than incanting, they begin a dance. The wand in one hand, fingers in the other, light trails behind them, and they begin to mark runes, sigils, and mystic symbols with the light. Their dancing draws three layers simultaneously, though the process requires precise footwork.
Hammer aloft, Nikolai extends his arm with ritual purpose, like a torchbearer passing on his issue. The nascent flames crackle, then burst into lashing tongues of scarlet flame, scourging the darkness from the demented spirits. All the while, a metallic sheen suffuses his skin, and the spectral weapons bounce and clatter away from him with a timpani of clinks and clanks. He is a burning statue of holy light, still and static beside Ash's dynamism.
Illyana, having no idea what Nikolai is saying advances to meet the smoke figures, meeting them with fire against smoke; Rage vs rage. Though there is validation to Illyana's claims, there is more focus here than the last time that Nikolai saw Illyana fight, more focus and there is the dawn of a nascent aura that if kindled and trained may blossom into a weapon in its own right. For now though, disruption duty and keeping Ash, the squishy caster away.
A trio of horned smoke-monsters advance out of the mist. They have twisted weapons formed of smoke, and they descend on Nikolai, howling in an incomrephensible, devilish tongue.
Ash moves with Nikolai as the centerpoint of the ritual, moving at an exact distance that requires them to slow and move more carefully around some tombstones, occasionally forced to make impromptu adjustments. And at regular intervals, they send out with the wand a laser line of quartz light to meet his flames, empowering the ritual with the flavor of his essence. And with the power of quartz within, the light slices through the demonic spirits with burning fury.
Meeting these latest combattents, Illyana steps into them, dispersing them for long enough for Ash to take aim, and Nikolai to focus in on them with the on-going ritual.
"Forget Hell," Nikolai commands the spirits, abjuring them in the supposed tongue of his forefathers. "Remember that you once were human, and humans must all die." He carefully steps back behind Ash, planting one hand heavily on their shoulder to ground the both of them, then reaches over them with his hammer to send lances of fire along the beam of quartz-light. He leaves his back undefended, trusting Illyana to intercept any issues he might have.
There is a look above -- and then, from an overarching tree, Nikolai 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 Nikolai into some awful cocoon.
Ash dances with more precision than passion, their body more focused on the act of incantation than how it looks. Exact steps, tracing runes in dirt and light. Their hands moving in exact shapes, drawing with precision, a focus only empowered by Nikolai, channeled through him. Even their hips form regular patterns, making every step significant. As such, they must pause when they flash that light across the spider, in an attempt to cut silk and spider in a ridiculously anime samurai style. And even then, the frozen pose for the follow through, and the slow but precise movement to follow only adds to the theme.
Well, that puts a damper on all Nikolai's old-world preaching. He staggers backwards almost blind, thrashing and tearing through the silken layers of the cocoon as they're spun around me, and the Russian that he spits out is much easier to understand: "Pizdec! Mudak - cyka /blyat/." He descends into further and more inventive cussing, then shreds through the last of the spectral confines, glaring most profusely at the spider-spirit already wisping away.
With Nikolai and Ash focused in, Illyana notes Nikolai's opened, undefended back. There is something of both bloodlines that speaks- Shouts- sings here though, and without vocal instruction, Illyana shifts herself to guard; The empathic and the purpose designed soldiery intertwining to create a smooth, whole as she watches for haunting threats. Then, it comes, and before Nikolai can be wrapped in that cocoon, Illyana is there, blazing- wrathful, infernally determined to fight and ruin her targeted objectives, even as instinct sets in for selflessness and bodily protection, not that the demigod helming this banishment needs it.
A twisted figure forms out of infernal smoke, shaped like a terrible canine shape. It's a hellhound, leaping towards Nikolai with an awful snarl. When its mouth closes on %n, it has some phantom force, sending a vision of suffering in hellfire.
"Fuck," Nikolai snarls, helpfully in English, then yanks his arm bank as the spectral hellhound latches onto it. A sweat rapidly breaks out, drenching his hair as his body responds to the baking phantom heat, beyond whatever normal resistance to fire his powers may or may not grant him. He whirls around, grabbing the semi-physical hound by the rear limb and swinging the yelping canine through the air into a gravestone, exploding the spectral thing into dust, only for it to reform a few paces away once more.
Ash continues on with their ritual, focusing on their movement and the play of fire and light, focused through quartz, and redirected as a force that makes its mark in the air, on the ground, and all around. They infuse the area with forge and fire and prismatic light, fighting back against the spirits in their own way, while leaving the specific hellhound to Illyana to fight.
Illyana cant do a thing for the cocoon, but the spider is exterminated with a chilling efficiency at odds with Illyana's usual behaviour. Those demonic strands though; Nothing in Illyana's experience cant be solved with the careful application of angelfire, and as Nikolai fights his way free, Illyana's flames aid, burning the webbing away and leaving the rushan unharmed as is their purpose from the creation of angels- To protect their deities. That hound though. As it moves for Nikolai, Illyana leaps with angelic speed, though Nikolai has already dealt with it as she lands, taking up protection detail once more.
For a moment, the dark smoke is still around Nikolai ... 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.
Glancing to Nikolai and Ash Illyana notes their safety before eyeing the hellhound, interposing herself between the ritualists and the beast. That smoke though. That is inviting. It /needs/ her to give into sin and at this point in time, that sin is wrath. She is enraged with demonic fury after all, so Illyana does allow that red rage to consume her. The next target is the hellhound, which finds itself repeatedly grappled, then bludgeoned against the nearest assortment of headstones until it returns from wence it came.
Nikolai's worst sin doesn't seem to be too pressing an issue out here in a fucking graveyard with so little to offer him, so the echoing laughter doesn't do much to annoy him.
"Buckle down," he grunts, then squats down, digging up a handful of grave earth. It turns hot and molten in his grip, and he tosses it like napalm debris, scattering specters with a mixture of holy fire and consecrated ground.
Ash does their best to focus on the ritual, their job... but something slows them, as they glance back to Nikolai during the process, concern on their face. But he dispatches the wolf, and they bring their focus back on the ritual... and then they slowly grin. They start to move with more passion, more dramatics, unneccessary movements as the freckles on their body start to glow. An illusionary train like starlight falls from their back, and their dress becomes a gown crafted from the cosmos themself. For a moment, they seem like they seem to become the most wondrous, fantastical thing in the room. Fortunately, at least... it spurs them to complete the circle with greater speed than before, just in time for the final consecration to finish.
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 confrontation intensifies, a tremendous black spider made of infernal smoke attempts to ensnare Nikolai in a spectral cocoon, but through sheer determination and aid from Illyana's angelfire, he breaks free. Meanwhile, Ash's ritualistic dance weaves magic potent enough to slice through the demonic entities with beams of quartz-infused light. A hellhound, embodying the threat of infernal wrath, momentarily overwhelms Nikolai, offering him visions of suffering. Yet, the group's unity and individual strengths overcome each sinister challenge. Illyana's wrath annihilates the hellhound, and Nikolai's sacred fire purges the remnants of the spectral forces. Ultimately, Ash's dramatic completion of the ritual banishes the smoke monsters entirely, reinstating peace to the cemetery. Through loyalty, bravery, and the melding of their unique powers, Nikolai and his companions emerge victorious, the lingering menace of the demons dispelled into the night.
(Nikolai's ghost banishing)
[Tue Oct 15 2024]
On the Sprawling Hillside of Arkwright Cemetery
It is night, about 49F(9C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey stormclouds in the sky. There is a waxing gibbous moon.
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.
Illyana says "The first is the one she has listed the twice as ownership and residential."
Ash says "Demons, excellent, I have my quartz focus."
Phone slipped away, Illyana grins. "Oh I like this one." she comments, her knuckles starting to glow with angelfire as she makes her fists a fiery weapon, her form glowing with a protective incandescence.
Ash holds out their hands, resting the quartz on them, then summoning their will o' wisps. With every one summoned, it immediately goes into the crystal, bringing it slowly to life as it slowly lights up more and more.
As the dark mists roil in the cemetery, Nikolai 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.
"Demons," Nikolai grunts, lifting his hammer out before himself, where it begins to kindle with nascent flame. "Or spirits from hell, anyway. Same thing." He glances at Illyana to offer her a brief nod in exchange for the provided information, but his attention's on the task at hand, now - and his skin begins to glow, and glow, and glow until he's blinding to be near; pitting divine light against infernal fear.
Ash shivers, then steps nearer to Nikolai, making use of his Forge flames. They push more and more energy into the quarts until its shape is impossible to make out. "Alright, Yana. Be careful. I don't think the light will hurt you, but just in case." They begin to focus on the crystal, focusing the light, until it starts to extend from the end, ultimately becoming a wand of quartz-infused light.
Though the fear takes hold, it doesn't do what the spirits may desire; Illyana is a creature of duality and her life is fear, hesitation and no little amount of frustration. To those ends, she doesn't retreat. To the contrary, Illyana, like Nikolai glows, and with that glowing, there is a steadily building demonic rage that is fueled all the more by the angelfire.
"Begone from this place which is sacrosanct," Nikolai rumbles, the words pouring from him in stately Old Russian. Whether or not his words are understood, there's ceremony and authority baked into his words. "Return to the sleep of the dead, restless spirits. This place is not for you."
A trio of horned smoke-monsters advance out of the mist. They have twisted weapons formed of smoke, and they descend on Nikolai, howling in an incomrephensible, devilish tongue.
Ash takes a deep breath before stepping away from Nikolai's warmth, to focus on the ritual at hand. Using the wand like a marker, they paint their finger and toe tips with light, adding a ring around their waist. Stepping forward, they move to to a point for the arcane circle. Rather than incanting, they begin a dance. The wand in one hand, fingers in the other, light trails behind them, and they begin to mark runes, sigils, and mystic symbols with the light. Their dancing draws three layers simultaneously, though the process requires precise footwork.
Hammer aloft, Nikolai extends his arm with ritual purpose, like a torchbearer passing on his issue. The nascent flames crackle, then burst into lashing tongues of scarlet flame, scourging the darkness from the demented spirits. All the while, a metallic sheen suffuses his skin, and the spectral weapons bounce and clatter away from him with a timpani of clinks and clanks. He is a burning statue of holy light, still and static beside Ash's dynamism.
Illyana, having no idea what Nikolai is saying advances to meet the smoke figures, meeting them with fire against smoke; Rage vs rage. Though there is validation to Illyana's claims, there is more focus here than the last time that Nikolai saw Illyana fight, more focus and there is the dawn of a nascent aura that if kindled and trained may blossom into a weapon in its own right. For now though, disruption duty and keeping Ash, the squishy caster away.
A trio of horned smoke-monsters advance out of the mist. They have twisted weapons formed of smoke, and they descend on Nikolai, howling in an incomrephensible, devilish tongue.
Ash moves with Nikolai as the centerpoint of the ritual, moving at an exact distance that requires them to slow and move more carefully around some tombstones, occasionally forced to make impromptu adjustments. And at regular intervals, they send out with the wand a laser line of quartz light to meet his flames, empowering the ritual with the flavor of his essence. And with the power of quartz within, the light slices through the demonic spirits with burning fury.
Meeting these latest combattents, Illyana steps into them, dispersing them for long enough for Ash to take aim, and Nikolai to focus in on them with the on-going ritual.
"Forget Hell," Nikolai commands the spirits, abjuring them in the supposed tongue of his forefathers. "Remember that you once were human, and humans must all die." He carefully steps back behind Ash, planting one hand heavily on their shoulder to ground the both of them, then reaches over them with his hammer to send lances of fire along the beam of quartz-light. He leaves his back undefended, trusting Illyana to intercept any issues he might have.
There is a look above -- and then, from an overarching tree, Nikolai 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 Nikolai into some awful cocoon.
Ash dances with more precision than passion, their body more focused on the act of incantation than how it looks. Exact steps, tracing runes in dirt and light. Their hands moving in exact shapes, drawing with precision, a focus only empowered by Nikolai, channeled through him. Even their hips form regular patterns, making every step significant. As such, they must pause when they flash that light across the spider, in an attempt to cut silk and spider in a ridiculously anime samurai style. And even then, the frozen pose for the follow through, and the slow but precise movement to follow only adds to the theme.
Well, that puts a damper on all Nikolai's old-world preaching. He staggers backwards almost blind, thrashing and tearing through the silken layers of the cocoon as they're spun around me, and the Russian that he spits out is much easier to understand: "Pizdec! Mudak - cyka /blyat/." He descends into further and more inventive cussing, then shreds through the last of the spectral confines, glaring most profusely at the spider-spirit already wisping away.
With Nikolai and Ash focused in, Illyana notes Nikolai's opened, undefended back. There is something of both bloodlines that speaks- Shouts- sings here though, and without vocal instruction, Illyana shifts herself to guard; The empathic and the purpose designed soldiery intertwining to create a smooth, whole as she watches for haunting threats. Then, it comes, and before Nikolai can be wrapped in that cocoon, Illyana is there, blazing- wrathful, infernally determined to fight and ruin her targeted objectives, even as instinct sets in for selflessness and bodily protection, not that the demigod helming this banishment needs it.
A twisted figure forms out of infernal smoke, shaped like a terrible canine shape. It's a hellhound, leaping towards Nikolai with an awful snarl. When its mouth closes on %n, it has some phantom force, sending a vision of suffering in hellfire.
"Fuck," Nikolai snarls, helpfully in English, then yanks his arm bank as the spectral hellhound latches onto it. A sweat rapidly breaks out, drenching his hair as his body responds to the baking phantom heat, beyond whatever normal resistance to fire his powers may or may not grant him. He whirls around, grabbing the semi-physical hound by the rear limb and swinging the yelping canine through the air into a gravestone, exploding the spectral thing into dust, only for it to reform a few paces away once more.
Ash continues on with their ritual, focusing on their movement and the play of fire and light, focused through quartz, and redirected as a force that makes its mark in the air, on the ground, and all around. They infuse the area with forge and fire and prismatic light, fighting back against the spirits in their own way, while leaving the specific hellhound to Illyana to fight.
Illyana cant do a thing for the cocoon, but the spider is exterminated with a chilling efficiency at odds with Illyana's usual behaviour. Those demonic strands though; Nothing in Illyana's experience cant be solved with the careful application of angelfire, and as Nikolai fights his way free, Illyana's flames aid, burning the webbing away and leaving the rushan unharmed as is their purpose from the creation of angels- To protect their deities. That hound though. As it moves for Nikolai, Illyana leaps with angelic speed, though Nikolai has already dealt with it as she lands, taking up protection detail once more.
For a moment, the dark smoke is still around Nikolai ... 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.
Glancing to Nikolai and Ash Illyana notes their safety before eyeing the hellhound, interposing herself between the ritualists and the beast. That smoke though. That is inviting. It /needs/ her to give into sin and at this point in time, that sin is wrath. She is enraged with demonic fury after all, so Illyana does allow that red rage to consume her. The next target is the hellhound, which finds itself repeatedly grappled, then bludgeoned against the nearest assortment of headstones until it returns from wence it came.
Nikolai's worst sin doesn't seem to be too pressing an issue out here in a fucking graveyard with so little to offer him, so the echoing laughter doesn't do much to annoy him.
"Buckle down," he grunts, then squats down, digging up a handful of grave earth. It turns hot and molten in his grip, and he tosses it like napalm debris, scattering specters with a mixture of holy fire and consecrated ground.
Ash does their best to focus on the ritual, their job... but something slows them, as they glance back to Nikolai during the process, concern on their face. But he dispatches the wolf, and they bring their focus back on the ritual... and then they slowly grin. They start to move with more passion, more dramatics, unneccessary movements as the freckles on their body start to glow. An illusionary train like starlight falls from their back, and their dress becomes a gown crafted from the cosmos themself. For a moment, they seem like they seem to become the most wondrous, fantastical thing in the room. Fortunately, at least... it spurs them to complete the circle with greater speed than before, just in time for the final consecration to finish.
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.