Anarchy Rising Book 2: A Hunted Wasteland

Jasmine

The room examination didn't show all that much that she didn't know. The back of the room was basically shredded, but it seemed the return fire of the defenders wasn't too numerous; if she was to judge by the bullet holes in the walls around the door. She didn't have a military training, but everyone was through their share of battles since the world... changed. Now if the attackers were indeed demons, they would probably be standing where those scorch marks were... that would imply them being in the fire line; that was of course obvious. The small number of bullet holes would then be a sign of the defenders being such good shots that most bullets found their target. However the lack of enemy corpses suggested that they either tanked the projectiles with no problems or that they dealt with the onslaught in some other way.

It was at this point that Zhi intervened with his completely inappropriate remark. Losing her focus, Jasmine straightened up and glared at the human. "I don't care who's in charge and you know that. But you should think it through before you try to order me around next time... she said in a threatening tone. What was he even talking about, anyway. She was examining the room from the get-go.

It was because of this distraction that she asked the question about Summers. The man's answer was exactly the kind she really didn't want to hear. Since Rho picked up the theme immediately, there was no need to question the man anymore. The vampire went back to listening, reconsidering her plan to go outside. Instead, her attention was drawn back to the scorch marks - she wanted to check their direction again. As she bent down to take a better look, something shiny caught her eye. Squinting at it up close, she then poked one of the droplets by the metal spike at the end of her spike to find out what it was made from. It could be either liquid or solid at a glance, and she was too cautious to touch it directly.

Zhi

"Doesn't matter if it's humans,demons,fae or gods, nobody ever learns and everyone just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over". Zhi commented on Rho's own comments about summers before turning his attention towards Jasmine.

"For someone who supposedly doesn't want to lead, you sure like telling others what to do." He retorted to the vampire with a joking tone, not phased by her earlier threat at all, he was used to them anyway.

With his focus again fully devoted to the patterns he would notice that rather then them being stationary as one would expect from teleportation, these seemed to lead somewhere making him rethink his earlier theory, they seemed to be leading towards towards the stairs which he would wager was where summers had or is beening kept. While the abundace of shell and only a few bullet holes in the wall suggested great accuracy, the other evidence pointed otherwise, lack of bodies and bodily fluids from both parties was suspicious to say the least, then there was also the strange shiny droplets near the burn marks. Putting it all together it would reach the conclusion that whoever or whatever attack had fire ability's of the highest caliber, the bullets had been instantly melted forming those droplets and the defenders simply incinerated to the point that there was nothing left.

"I really hope this wasn't done by a single person or we're in big trouble" Zhi spoke outloud before offering to share his thoughts about how the attacker(s) possessed very advanced fire powers and simply incinerated everything in their path, path that probably had something to do with summers.

Silver90 wrote:

Zhi:

Rho
"Yeah, it's just like the events of the 'Alien' series. Let's keep the seething vicious super alien killing machine and use it to our advantage, or at least we could make a quick buck off of 'em right!? Though I will say that when you're in that sort of situation it's awful tempting believe me. But the basement of an art museum is not the smartest place to try and contain your destructive beast, or supernatural Alien artifact, as the case may be." She rolled her eyes as the "monk" began to tease the vampire again, running her palm down her face once more.

"Quit provoking her Zhi, don't you have any better, more "monkly" ways of calming your own nerves besides instigating scraps with Jasmine?" She rested her face on her fist as she propped her elbow on the armrest of Dionysus's throne. "I mean it's one thing to have "virtues" and sit on your high horse about it." Her eyelids fell half shut, "But it's another thing entirely to not actually possess any of those "virtues" and just smugly judge and prod at others for their faults when you're really no better than they are... "

A screeching sound could be heard from behind the the three as Rho's familiar came back into the throne room with several corpses mangled together and sewn to each other. The first body was hanging part of the way out from it's zipper mouth, each body after that was just attached to the next and was being dragged along behind the familiar. "Oh and if you're going to get antsy about "desicrated corpses" I'd close your eyes if i were you," the lycan spoke in an amused tone. The familiar dragged the bodies with it as it came to stand next to Rho in Dionysus' throne. Upon closer inspection it could be seen that the creature was slowly ingesting the bodies. It would secrete the black substance as the bodies would disappear into it's bagged head, and then more flesh would be sucked in. The black substance however, always remained attached to the creatures body.

"Good boy!" Rho praised the creature as a proud owner would their small dog. "Ahem. Anyway yeah I'm not going to disagree that something powerful was here not too long ago, and it seems it was quite dangerous. All the more reason that we need to get to work bolstering our defenses. As soon as foggy here remembers what happened," she patted the timid and spacy second in command on the shoulder, "We can start securing our perimeter."

She was mostly finished with what she had to say but then her canine nose twitched and she looked over at the corpses. "Ugh... smelly as always though you big oaf...". She reached into one of her pouches and retrieved an aerosol can-like bottle and began spraying the air around the familiar and it's pile of corpses. The smell in the air was suddenly filled with the heavy scent of baby powder and lilac once more, leaving it to cover up the scent of death and brimstone that was everywhere.

Chryse, Rover, Ray, Carlos, Selena
The vines darted out from the trees like a mass of angry writhing serpents. It was an assault from all angles and the only hope was to stay in front of the writhing mass as the vines shook themselves awake in their fury. The Fae ran with an inhuman grace along the branches and over the uneven ground of the forest, every impossibly graceful movement seemingly blending to another as the impossibility of his movements just seemed so natural and easy.
“Seriously,” He yelled out as he nimbly slid between a dense thicket, “You’re in a strange and obviously magical land dripping in threat, and your first response is to destroy something!? And this seemed like a good idea to you because?”

The vines ripped at the dust that had been Rover, seeming to rip away more and more of the particles with each lash of thorn covered vines. Each time a vine smacked across a piece of the dust that had been rover it felt like a hooked whip had lashed across his mind. Sharp red pain exploding across his consciousness.

The graveyard loomed in the distance. The rows of white military tombstones seeming out of place in their organized contrast to the chaos of the writhing forest. However no trees seemed to grow on the consecrated ground though it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The forest was pushed right against the rusted decaying fence.


Ghosty (so sorry this took so long)
Mammon seemed to have finished his gorging as he dabbed his lips with the plush red table cloth, ignoring the wine stains on his expensive tailor made suit. “You don’t think I can sense the magic of the seal your forming human? I have been since before Lucifer rebelled against god, and I will be still once the world has seen its last sunrise, and you attempt to fool me with such a petty parlor trick as if I was child?” His voice growled with barely contained rage.

The air seemed to grow heavy and thick the taste of acrid smoke burned the groups lungs as their eyes watered, but nothing seemed to be present. The smell of sulfur wafting through the air. “Where do you human’s think you are, some desolate building in the carcass of a city.” It was hotter, sweat broke out on the group’s brows and stung their eyes and the air just seemed to grow hotter. “This is my house little human’s and my world, and you dare to give me ultimatums?” Mammom lifted his massive girth of the ornate chair, the wood creaking in protest as he made his way to the curtain. “Kill them” he muttered casually before disappearing behind the heavy curtains.
A pack of nightmares seemed to grow out of the table, each more grotesque than the last as the dining room exploded in movment.

 

Quote :

Leiv
Ghosty (so sorry this took so long)

Spoiler:

 
 
 Team M ~ M – R – S
 
“Aah!? Your greediness, I had such big plans for your world domination. It even had a coliseum…  Ah well, there goes the talks.” Maxwell would shake his head in disdain as Mammon’s back disappears behind the long red drapes.
 
"You-freaken-bastard!! Why couldn't you just show him your hand? If he is as old as he states to be, then maybe he would have realized that the seal wasn't any attack based, but a simple "hook, to jump back home" kind. Aaaargh!! You really get on my nerves. At times like these I really do wish that I could just kick you in the balls and take charge." Raven was clearly fumed at her partner’s actions.
 
 
The dark creatures, sprouting out of the table began making their way towards the trio.
 
 
"Enough your yapping woman and get us out of here." Surge ordered, as he constructed a lightning whip-esque attack from the Archistaff that he brought out from in between the palms of his hands.
 
"I'm already on it." COUGH "Just take care of the annoying fumes for me."  She coughed through the Sulphur fumes and the heat that she had yet to get accustomed to in her current form; unlike her team mate Maxwell, whose auto-regen had already kicked in and from where Surge was involved.. Well, let’s just say that he was the biggest actor amongst the three creatures attempting to pass on as mere mortal humans.
 
 
Clasping both her hands together, Raven began concentrating on opening up the gateway. Purplish energy tendrils, emitting around her, swayed like as if she was underwater. Though the water was non-existent, the flowing tendrils and her black silken hair pulsed in waves with flickering energy.
 
 
Staking one of the creatures that got close to them, a surge of jagged energy would be sent through the creature, simultaneously, Surge would wrap the lightning whip around the lower half of two other beasts and attempt to flip all three, creating a swirling fan out of them. Surge would send the electrifying monsters spiralling towards Maxwell, whom in turn would follow through by pointing his Arcane Staff towards the flying mass. Dragniir would be brightly illuminated as the air around the flung creatures would drop to absolute zero degrees. Maxwell would control the frozen iceberg of sorts from mid air, bringing it crashing down into an approaching set of monsters heading towards Raven whom would be preoccupied in accumulating the energy needed for her into creating the warp gate.
 
 
"What's taking you so long!? Isn't this place ripe with the kind of energy you require?" Surge would yell at their break-out-of-jail card over the crackling of a volley of energy bolts.
 
"Aaaargh!! Stop annoying me and if you want to help then send some of those at me for a boost. Plus it’s not like I've been doing this for a living you know. It’s not that easy for me at the moment." Raven would respond back without trying to break her concentration.
 
 
In the mean time, that Surge and Maxwell were battling the many nightmarish creatures that had appeared from within the large golden table; Surge would attempt to get in some small talk.
 
 
"Hah! Looks like it were a wise decision, to not have consumed any of the food that they offered us. Who knows what could have been running around in our insides at the moment?"
 
"What are you talking about? Looking at the nature of these creatures, none of us had anything to worry about, especially you, with that body of yours. Also, if Raven had eaten anything and the food did turn into some dark matter like the table; then she wouldn't have been so grumpy." Maxwell would respond back with a questioning look.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
“I heard that!! And screw it, I'm going overtime!!” A frustrated Raven would burst in.
 
 
An outward blast of Purplish energy exploded from where the dark leathered clothed fighter once stood. With a spine chilling, screeching blast, the energy around the area would be cleared and from within the mist, stepping out would be a creature, looking like something out of a fantasy book. A hue of blue energy, shimmering around the creature hosting a human like body for the most part, bar the top half of its face, that which appeared to resemble a beaked bird of sorts. At the place of its eyes, there seemed to be some kind of glittered galaxies; basically they seemed to have been fused within the creature’s upper face, versus being part of a normal bone structure.
 
 

Spoiler:

"Aaahh this is how it should have been." the bird creature's moan played like a string harp resonating around her surroundings.
 
"I wonder how long she can maintain herself."  Snickered Surge, to which Maxwell simply shrugged his shoulders, knowing well what his friend meant by that comment; the change in Raven's personality and mood, that is and how she gets when intoxicated by supernatural energy.
 
 
Another of the nightmarish creatures were struck by the lightning whip-esque energy in attempt to stun and immobilize them by chaining them to the ground; while the water Elementalist froze the surrounding area, trapping the creatures inside the zone, which would end up being turned into compressed irregular shaped blocks of ice. These forms of battle strategy and their variations, which the two would have started from the moment the table began deforming into the hellish creatures; would garner them a wall of frozen solid nightmarish creatures, may they be physical in nature or simply pure energy constructs. The ice itself, having mixed properties; one being the natural arcane element itself while the other being imbued with the Goddess of Death and Witchcraft's energy itself. These multi layered energy attacks, working in tandem would hopefully work in their favour for when Raven goes into her Hybrid form. Maxwell would utilize his control over the Water Element for lifting the ice blocks and tossing them over to the Bird Creature. Raven, whom in turn would have by this time, created her Blade of the Valkyrie; she would pounce on top of the ice pillars or chunks and stab the Nightmare creatures inside. Using her ability to siphon out arcane and other dark energies, Raven would attempt to overcharge herself, enough to the limit where she'll have enough energy to open the gateway portal, which would be anchored to the team’s earlier jump out point.
 
Though if for some reason the enemy would fail to be trapped by the efforts of Maxwell and Surge; they would at least buy Raven enough time, to change into her hybrid form and from then on, the Arcane beast would simply absorb the dark creature’s whole. Spreading out her wings, Raven would fly high, come swooping down to catch one or two and simply suck/drain the life-force which in this case would be the creature’s demonic energies; directly out off them; along with the energy emitting from the surrounding area, as they seemed to be located inside a plane of existence, brimming with supernatural energy.
 
If and or when successful in opening the portal; Maxwell would take the rear with Surge creating an electric field around the three, moving it along as the get closer to the gate. Raven would continue to soar above them and if necessary fire off her exploding projectile attacks to keep the enemies at bay. Upon reaching the realm linking warp gate, the three would quickly enter it together, but not before Maxwell would have formed spiked barricaded walls behind them, in attempt to hinder any remaining enemy forces from following them through.
 
 
“Hey, he was talking to us when he said to “Kill them”… right? We’re still in his good books… right? He was only testing us right, right? There still chance of talks… am I right or am-I-right? … Guys, come on say something… your silence is killing me… … ” Maxwell’s voice would trail away as the Gate closes behind them.
 
 
As soon as Team Maxwell gets through, the portal would dissipate leaving a shockwave behind in its wake, pushing forward the beginning to melt ice blockade in a spread out formation; for as soon as Maxwell’s presence was cut out from Mammon’s domain after he travelled through the gate, the Elementalist control over his prior surrounding area would have been lifted, leaving natural forces to take back hold over the zone.
 

Zhi

Zhi had become amused with rho's "lesson" about his behaviour and simply responded casually with a light tone, clearly not offended or seeming to mind being told off.
"Well i do, but none are as fun, what can i say, follow your teacher's advice not his example". Zhi first part was ment for Rho's comment about the verbal joust with Jasmine while the latter was an old saying delivered as a joke.

Zhi's further investigation revealed some additional details, like the idea that whatever they attackers took didn't go willingly but what really suprised him was the feeling of "wrong" that he got. Sure there was the hole yin-yang thing but that was having two opposite forces in balance and harmony, this felt more like forcefully locking them in the same room and having them "solve their issues".

Due to the increased number of visitors in the room, Zhi would stop speaking outloud, and instead walk over to personally to inform them as for the others to not hear. And about Rho's pet and his disgusting meal, Zhi just ignored him and was glad he had not eaten anything within the last hour.

Carlos and Selena

The two lycans would be running ahead at full speed in their hybrid form, only bothering to shoot at the vines that looked as if they possed a threat of blocking off their route, they knew better then to waste time and energy fighting an endless mass of magical plant tendrils. Their increased agility,even when compared to others lycans due to their feline nature, also ment they would also have an easier time making their way trough the swarm and less trouble with difficult terrain.

Sadly they couldn't afford to spare any help for the others, exept helping to keep the path ahead open by shooting at venis that looked as if they would prove troublesome, well each one dooing their best instead of letting others pick up the slack for them was what true teamwork ment.

Ghosty
The battle around the great dinner table was getting fierce and brutal. The mages managing to hold their own quit easily at first, after all their experience and individual power seemed to be more than a match for these grotesque monstrosities. However the things just didn’t seem to stay dead no matter how catastrophic the wound was. The lumpy mounds of broken flesh would reform and come back stronger and more reliant than before as they all seemed to revel in the sensation of pain and agony they both caused and received. And quickly the tides were beginning to turn as the group was doing all they could to simply not give up ground and provide Raven more time. Serrated claws and talons attached to muscle rippling with sinew whipped out at angles that seemed to indicate a lack of bones.

The ice managed to slow them for a moment, until their own little individual frozen prisons began to rumble and crack apart. However the team managed to get through the portal as the monstrosities bore down upon them in a mass of naturally cruel weapons and fangs.

The portal flared and sparked as they went through in a way that definitely suggested something was amiss and that it shouldn’t be doing that. And instead of reappearing in the run down broken house they had procured from the pack of new demons earlier. They found themselves briefly falling through the air only to hit the wet grass with a thump as the group fell atop one another in the order they had gone through the portal. “Hmm that isn’t where that was supposed to come out.” Said a mildly interested voice as if he had just found his car keys somewhere unexpected. The voice grew a little more ominous when accompanied by the metallic click of multiple automatic weapons being readied and aimed.
“Ahhh Mammon that would explain it.” The voice materialized from behind the wall of black visor guards with readied riffles. Though the person’s appearance really begged more questions than it answered. Nothing was visible of him aside from black gloves a very fine tailored suit and a brightly colored ceremonial African witch doctor mask.

Dark wood
The group managed to make it into the graveyard by the skin of their teeth. The roiling see of dark thorny vines slamming against the invisible barrier of the consecrated ground in a screeching mass as the magic’s warred against one another.
However it seemed like the small group of lycans, ray, rover and the fairy was safe for now. As everyone sat on the overgrown grass panting for air. Well everyone aside from the fairy who was lazily using a gravestone as a makeshift stool. “Seriously I never understand you mortals, why would you stuff your dead in a box and shove them in the groun…huh that’s new.” The fairy said with his ash eyes staring straight behind the group to the gaunt figure of Fenix.

Worse for wear was an understatement. His eyes were red and puffy with massive dark rings around them, his skin pasty and pale, and he seemed unsure on his own feet with the tattered remains of his clothes now seemed a few sized too big for him.

Jasmine

The vampire girl confirmed her suspicion about the glistening droplets on the ground and was about to move closer to the others and maybe share her findings, but it seemed that Rho was determined to make her angry. Her patronising remark was annoying enough, and Zhi's easygoing response only made it worse. She marched over to the other two, sure. But there would be no sharing. She had just about enough of this.

"Listen here, doggy girl. I'll explain, since you don't seem to understand. If I wanted to stop that human, I would. I really don't appreciate you patronizing me. And make no mistake, there is no 'us'. You go ahead and play ruler if you like. I am leaving. That woman, Zarina, made a fool of me, and I don't appreciate that either. Nod once if you get it. Now I'm leaving," Jasmine delivered a small speech, her voice dripping with sarcasm most of the time. She was si angry that she didn't even realise she indirectly admitted to not minding Zhi's antics. However he added to her foul mood at this opportunity, so she didn't give him even a glance and when she turned to leave, she didn't check if he followed... or intended to follow.

In her indignation, she completely ignored the familiar and his disgusting ways with the corpses, and instead made her way outside to check the battlefield outside again. The squad that infiltrated the fiefdom apparently came for Summers, and she was sure that white exorcist ***** was stalling them so they could get away with it easily. She wanted to make sure of the suspicion that was nagging her ever since they found the mess inside. The examination of the blast site confirmed it. There wasn't even one of those black gunmen corpses. No blood either. She was almost sure that most, if not all, of that unit was an illusion. It was all that more vexing since she was somewhat of an expert in that area, being a magician and considering her special power.

That meant revenge. She would go and find out if it really was Stein behind this. Even if it wasn't, those responsible would not be let off easy after mocking her. The only problem was that she didn't know where to start. There was no clue where the assailants went after the attack. Not willing to go back inside after what she told Rho, the vampire found a piece of shade and sat down on a piece of rubble, mulling over her options.

Chrys

In the last spurt of effort, the tiger and the boy riding it jumped over the fence of the cemetery and skidded to a halt, Ray jumping off at the last second as Chrys lost balance and rolled over the grass a few times due to her hind legs colliding with something as she jumped. Turning back to the hybrid form, she looked at the lounging fae. "What did you expect us to do, mister? Let the vine get one of us? If you had a better way to deal with it, you should have done so instead of just watching," she spoke haltingly while Ray threw her shirt over her shoulders and handed her the bow he kept for her while she was transformed.

When Fenix appeared, Chrys immediately focused her attention on him. He looked horrible, but of course a lycan would recognise him instantly by the smell. "Fenix! We thought you were dead!" she exclaimed and was about to run over to the boy; however Ray grabbed her by the collar to stop her. "Careful. He does look dead. You never know..."

Carlos and Selena

Somehow the group made it to the relative safe location, both Carlos and Selena taking time to regain their breath as they reverted back to human form. "Wonder why it can't reach us here" Sel spoke looking around curiosly as there seemed to be some sort of magical barrier preventing the forest from breaking trough.

Carlos was about to reply to the fae's pseudo question about burial rights, when his attention was also drawn to fenix being just as suprised as the others, obviously reading his gun because he was Carlos afterall and shoot first then shoot again if it still moves was the option he prefered using, however selena would stop him.

"What happened to him?" She spoke out loud, basically fishing for an answer from anyone while holding her hand extended in front of carlos as a symbol to prevent him from shooting, even though the male lycan would still be able to shoot at fenix without any trouble if he wished to do so.

Leiv wrote:

Ghosty

Spoiler:

Team-M


Using his lightning fast reflexes, Surge managed to maneuver his body, midair, by rolling diagonally and crashing onto the damp ground just a few feet away from where, Raven herself, crash landed at the same time, but managed to quickly twirl about onto her back. Maxwell, on the other hand, who got himself distracted by the mass of armed militia, failed to in timely fashion, register his lading spot as his gaze faced down towards the ground at the very end of the fall.


Surge grimaced in imaginable pain as a soft squelching sound escaped from the coupling between the water Elementalist and the humanoid mystical being. As much as it was painful to watch, the end was even that much.. wild.


“Get the *BEEP* off me!!” A furious, or possibly flustered woman, exclaimed as the hooded man on top of her was forcefully shoved off of her with surprising strength, for Maxwell flew quite the distance away from the remaining two members of his team.


A soaring Maxwell answered back, “Who'd want to kiss that foul mouth of yours on purpose!?”

Though this would appear to be the love-hate talk between two estranged couples on the surface, what really was working behind the scenes was completely out of perspective.


“There are about eight or ten or so of them behind you two, excluding their leader.” Maxwell telepathically informed his lady partner, as he surveyed the area during the motion of when he was flung over by Raven's strategical positioning.
“I can take the ones closest to me, you should land and ready your attacks.” Raven replied by via their mental link.


This time around, Maxwell successfully landed onto his feet, though with one knee almost touching the ground as he skidded a few feet back. “No need. Don't make anymore sudden moves. We'll wait for them to attack first; if it comes to that.”


Maxwell adjusted his open robe, specifically at his knee area to dust of any loose dirt from his intense air to ground acrobatics. As he straightened up, the other two followed his lead. Raven, who had already reverted into her human form almost instantly after the portal failed on them; too brushed her lower back upon rising from the ground. Surge stood beside her, with a far away gaze in his cobalt yellow eyes.


“You think we're going to find any hidden treasure around here?” Surge who had been silent since their exit from Mammon's domain, finally spoke out; pointing out to their escape strategist that they were way off course; yet at the same time, putting out the impression that they were simple treasure hunters.

“You implying something, monkey food?” Raven replied back with the implication of Surge being a banana; though that would be erroneous on her part as Surge's lightning like energy was in-fact purplish in nature; apart from the fact that it was a code for one of Surge's attack patterns.


Surprisingly her tone of voice did not carry any hostility, rather one could notice the femme-fatale unclench her fists.

It was Maxwell who finally addressed the leader of the militia, directly. “Ah yes, our apologies for parading on your search party. Our very green, navigator, must have miscalculated the drop out co-ordinates. If you would be so kind as to simply ignore us would-be-explorers, we would be on our way, then.” Maxwell thought of not including the matter of their hostile exit from Mammon's domain, as he yet did not know if this new group were pro or anti Mammon. Even though it seemed peculiar for the masked man to be knowledgeable of their escapade, Maxwell tried to play the oblivious card.

Chryse, Ray, Rover, Carlos, Selena
The Fae gave a light chuckle. If I interfered the Witch of Thorns would notice my and subsequently your presence. I was instructed to be a passive observer not an interloper. Funny enough finding your family little miss is not worth a major incident to my liege.” He gave a polite little smile that came across far more amused than understanding. “Now what is this thing here?” He said with a casual gesture towards Fenix.
“Dead, huh who are yo…chryse, where, vines, who Lycans?” And with that the sallow youth feinted by surprise or sheer exhaustion. It was hard to tell which as he crumpled into the overgrown grass draped across a neat white gravestone.

The Fae seemed to register Selena’s question. “Him? So that is what this is, strange he doesn’t look like a mortal.”

Team magic. (ghosty)
It was impossible to tell due the large heavy wooden mask the speaker was wearing but there was the distinct feeling that he was smiling ever so slightly, and not at the apparent banter. The ring of guards boasting large and angry looking automatic weapons stood very still, with the calm poise of crouching predator. “I feel like explorers rarely smell of sulfur and brimstone and…” a piece of ichor floated off of ravens hair “…they are rarely covered in actual demonic flesh given that demons cannot travel between the border without a host.” That same sense of a slight smile hung onto his words.

The man raised a tea cup to the slight hole in the mask which acted as the things mouth and took a sip with a delighted sigh, completely indifferent to the armed guards and the pile of mages which had just appeared out of nowhere. “And nonsense your ‘green’ navigator was doing a rather splendid job, I simply redirected the portal, so I must apologize on my own calculations being slightly off target. So you see it would make little sense to allow you to just go on your way with that debt you owe me left unfulfilled.”

Leiv wrote:

Team magic. (ghosty)

Spoiler:

"Ha!! I knew it that someone was messing with my mojo..." Raven chirped while jabing her finger towards her crimson robed partner in an, I-told-you-so manner of speaking.


"Ok ok pipe down little birdy. I was only messing with you." Surge tried to teasingly calm her down. "More importantly, when are you going to take care of those leftovers?" he motioned his head towards the few, lingering pieces of the aftermath, that were the demonic creature's flesh, which had somehow gotten through while getting stuck onto Raven's apparel.


"hey you two!! Break it up. Can you not see that we are in the presence of someone important"

Maxwell steadily made his way towards the others.

"I have to apologize on their behalf. It seems like i have been doing that for my ill-mannered partners, this whole day long..."

Maxwell, standing in between Raven and Surge, pushing them to either side of him, he continued, "first at our home, a.nd then at the regrettable meeting at mammon's, and even now." Maxwell signalled towards the firing squad by nodding his head, "though, if your men would relax their aim, it would then be safe to say that we jumped out of the frying pan and landed away from the fire."

After cleaning up, which was basically pecking at the leftovers and absorbing the residual energy from the "meat"; Raven haughtly crossed her arms with a gruntled "Hmph!" Maxwell rolled his eyes, knowing that his partner was thinking that she could take them all out if given the chance to do so.

"well, from what you say, I feel like there is no need to hide it anymore, it seems like you finally managed to locate me." Maxwell gave an appreciated nod of his head towards the man in the wooden mask. "so, my good old friend, what seems to be in your mind? What arrangements do you propose we do to settle our little score?"

Rho
Rho chuckled at the monk, "Actually Zhi I think I favor your example over your advice. At least you practice some of the proper traits a good mortal should." She made the reference to the monks mortality without meaning to provoke a debate of her supposed godhood, however she didn't care all that much if it did lead in that direction. The pieces she needed were coming together, she had people to care for, a stronghold to defend, and plenty of fresh resources reaped from the aftermath of the last battle.

Rho looked over to her familiar as it soon approached her side, "That is good." She immediately stuck her hand into the black mass oozing from the familiars mouth. "Now go and gather the rest, this will tide me over for now." The black mass quickly detached itself from the chained pile of corpses that dragged along behind the familiar and crawled onto the lycan woman; the familiar then turned sluggishly and made it's way back out towards the door, dragging it's enormous scythe, and it's collected corpses, behind it. The black mass soon hid itself presentably under the she wolf's robes or behind her in the throne, form fitting to her back, allowing an even more comfortable sit.

Rho maintained a stern but sympathetic expression as Jasmine approached, arms folded, even as the vampire began to reprimand her. It was obvious to the lycan that she had exacerbated a wound to the vampire's ego; she didn't want to make it worse so she simply looked back to her with a neutral expression. "Very well Jasmine, leave if that is what pleases you." She sat back in her throne and looked out onto the crowd as Jasmine walked away. Rho scanned the crowd, searching for someone who may have held secondary authority back when Dionysus was still around, she needed someone to help organize the people. Without organization, the remaining alcohol could not be salvaged, the walls could not be patched, and the party could not be resumed, and the lycan was quite bent on resuming the party where it had left off, the people deserved that much after what had just transpired. A hand full of black butterflies soon began crawling out of her robe sleeves and fluttering to life, flying into the crowd before her.

Jasmine would soon find herself in the presence of Rho's familiar as it slowly made it's way out of the throne room. It turned it's head and seemed to stare at her for a moment, but of course it had no eyes. but it just... stood there... it's head turned attentitively towards her. After a moment though it eventually turned and went back to grabbing up the corpses on the ground and sowing them together with the chain it had already accumulated. It was not long after that black butterflies began to float through the air around the palace.

Zhi

"I only do whatever i think it's right, nothing more, nothing less, though it's nice to see someone else who agrees" Zhi casually replied to Rho when she complimented his morality.

When it became apparent that Jasmine would leave while Rho would stay, Zhi was faced with the decision of either leaving or staying, and he didn't really feel like doing either. On one hand staying behind would be safer, but without dyonisus, the place would sooner or latter come under assault from the other barons, so just waiting around doing nothing was a pretty bad option. Venturing outside, either in search of answers or a new safe heaven would be the better choice in the long run but then he would have to worry about being out in the open again.

"There is a chance that some of the other fiefdoms might of been hit as well, it's probably best if we establish some sort of contact, if you're going to hold down the fort here... can you use your powers to make a long range comunication device, preferably one that cannot be jammed or spied upon? If not i guess we could take a convetional mean of comunication and risk it" Zhi spoke to rho outloud informing her of his thoughts and if she didn't have the ability to fulfill his suggestion he would ask for a walkie talkie instead before leaving with jasmine.

"So where to?" Zhi would happily ask jasmine once he caught up to her

Chrys

Seeing Fenix faint, Chrys got away from Ray's grip and ran over to the boy, not really paying attention to what the rest of them were saying. While Ray was temporarily distracted by retorting to the fae ("So that means you didn't have a safe way to deal with the vine either, doesn't it. So stop being condescending to us who at least did something! "), the lycan girl crouched down by the youth and placed her palm on his forehead. "Fenix! Hey, what's wrong with you?" she called out directly to his soul, using her communication with spirits skill. Should there be no reponse, she would try more drastic measures. Her own soul leaking out through the palm of her hand, she would use astral projection and enter his mind directly, the same way that she used when trying to save Ty 6 months ago. This would of course be noticed by the others, since her body would suddenly slump forward and collapse on top of Fenix.

Jasmine

The vampire girl sat, quietly seething with anger. The time alone allowed her to calm down, however, and oncr she did, she could consider their options. Personally, she was quite sure that Stein was responsible. Nevertheless, he was a hard man to find. There were just no leads at all, just vague rumours.

That meant looking for information. There was the vampire faction... though Jasmine considered them too self-centered and opportunistic to want to have anything to do with them. The other option was Coyote. While she didn't enjoy his way of doing things, he had results. She knew since she was there and saw it all first hand.

So when Zhi appeared and casually asked where to next, she got up and simply stated "Coyote" in an emotionless voice. She would be ready to go right away, so unless Zhi or Rho's familiar, who was creeping around collecting bodies, had something to say or do to stop her, she would set off in the direction of Coyote's fiefdom.

Carlos and Selena

"Wait..." Carlos wanted to warn chrys but she just rushed straight for fenix, making the male lycan sigh in resignation and just watching the two bodies with his finger on the trigger of course.

Selena meanwhile was more curios about the fae's words, more specifically those refering to fenix.
"What exactly do you mean by not mortal like?" she asked a bit worried about him being possessed by something

Rho
The she-wolf smirked slightly and uncontrollably. "Actually I do have a quiet way of communicating long distance, Zhi, but I doubt you'll wanna go for it." She laid back in the throne and rested her head on her fist. "I can establish a link with your mind, but the cost of it is that I have access to your soul. I wouldn't mess with it while you are alive." The she-wolf looked down at her nails and scratched something off the canine like nail on her middle finger. "But I would like to take your soul before you die. I don't have a sinister master plan, like the others around here seem to, I'm simply a goddess trying to look out for my disciples, and really anybody who will let me. You believe in reincarnation right monk? Personally I can't put my faith in such things, and I hate to see people die without having any idea where they'll end up, the afterlife is so uncertain. But I do have a certain afterlife to offer to those who are interested. Unfortunately the afterlife and the mind link is package deal. If you enjoyed yourself in Dionysus' fiefdom, perhaps you would be interested, but I suppose that all depends on how much faith you have in your personal philosophy. I did come here because Dionysus' place feels more like home, even if he was a bit more prideful."

Rho did not feel the need to go searching through the city to go unravel further mysteries, she had other ways of getting that done. She began looking around the room to check and see if there was a decent speaker system still intact, she would need that in addition to the alcohol and other ingestible pleasures if she was to restart the party. She eye'd the small box and decided it was time to do something about it, she grabbed it to test and see how firmly attached it was.

Ghosty
The mask made it all but impossible to tell what was going on behind it, the wood impassive and the bizarre tribal design of the thing seemed to give little indication as to the beings intent. The man gave a little nod and the swat team lowered their weapons all of them however rested their hands on the triggers even if the barrels weren’t pointed towards the newcomers. His eyes seemed to linger on Raven as he cocked his head to the side.

The masked man’s voice remained even and seemed to lack any inflection when he spoke. It wasn’t a monotone simply neutral and dispassionate. “Funny that you should mention that actually. I have some business with the Witch of Thorns that I would like you to carry out on my behalf.” He took a little sip of the class to clear his throat. “Of course this is a request and not an order, you have complete right of refusal and should you choose to turn down my request there shall be no hard feelings. I will simply return you unharmed to where I found you.”

“But I am afraid that given the nature of this favor that you must accept before knowing the specific details.”

Chrys, Ray, Carlos, Rover, Selena

Fenix seemed…cold. His skin was cool to the touch like the unused side of a pillow on cold crisp night. Hi breathing was shallow but steady, and Chrys could feel how light he was just by touching him indicating the weight the already slight youth must have lost over the previous 6 months.

She reached out to the spirits but there was nothing, absolutely nothing. It was an unsettling feeling. Human kind ad existed for millennia and over that time a nice big stock pile of spirits, human animal or other had built up around the world. Thus wherever you went there was bound to be some semblance of even a feint spirit lurking around, but here there was simply nothing. A matter made all the more disconcerting given they were in a graveyard and such places were normally packed to bursting with the spirits of the deceased.

To make things worst Fenix seemed to be completely unresponsive. Chrys’s spirit pulled away from her body as it had half a year ago in that church in an attempt to save Ty from a fallen, and it seeped into Fenix, her body slumping down next to him.

There was a brief blink of darkness and then suddenly it seemed like she was in a new world. A cold mist seeped through jagged rows of broken gravestones. The sky was a dark swirling vortex which seemed to be sucking a large landmass into its depths. And all around her the ghostly pallid outlines of countless people drifted with seemingly no direction.

Outside Fenix’s chaotic and cartoonily spooky mental realm the Fae seemed to be taking particular delight in taunting Selena. “Well Ms. Mensa candidate, when things aren’t mortal they are what? What would the opposite of mortal like be? Come on I know your pretty butI am sure even you can put the pieces together.” He gave a glance at the slumped over Chrys “oh…OH! That’s probably not good, looks like the little miss is unconscious.”