Supernatural Isekai IC *Still Recruiting*

[ArlEammon]

Emma McLaren, one of the ten most powerful witches in the entire world, has summoned all of you to this version of Earth. Currently, you have been summoned to Phoenix, Arizona for some as of yet unknown purpose. At an exclusive, very ritzy. hotel on the outskirts of the city, for very "eccentric" clients, some of them permanent residents, The Elysian Hotel. A golden chandelier hangs in the lobby, which is composed of a white marble flooring. Currently, Emma is standing right there, waiting for you to start asking questions. She is dressed in elegant apparel, and though she is deceptively polite, she makes no bones about her reasons for bringing you here. Something in the world of magic is very wrong, and it concerns her. She is threatened, the entire Hotel might be threatened, with it, her fortune, as well as her life could be lost, if she isn't able to discover this threat and take it out. Or have it taken out. Or SOMETHING!

She is waiting for your questions.

[gawwy]

Mads, wanting to play up the stereotypical image of German humor takes the initiative on questions.

"Vat are zee symptoms of the vague wrongness with ze vorld of magic.."

Mads is quite pleased with his joke, and can't help but smile widely.

"Ya?"

Utter hilarity.

[ArlEammon]

Mads, wanting to play up the stereotypical image of German humor takes the initiative on questions.

"Vat are zee symptoms of the vague wrongness with ze vorld of magic.."

Mads is quite pleased with his joke, and can't help but smile widely.

"Ya?"

Utter hilarity.

"Namely, the wizards. There aren't supposed to be any. Wizards have always been fairy tales since the falling of Camelot more than 1500 years ago."
"Even men are called witches, or something else other than wizards these days, and have been among the world of magic for centuries."
"The problem's not just what their called. Wizards are terrifyingly weird even for most of us. For example, these wizards all claim that they have always been here, even know some of us by name and our histories, sometimes our innermost secrets, and none of us remember them."

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan was still looking at their hands, it was strange still to feel different and yet utterly at peace with your body. They looked up as Mads spoke, pulled from their contemplation and introspection by his words. Then came the reply and that caused them to tilt their head to the side.

"Is there a difference?" They asked puzzled by the distinction. "Between a Witch and a Wizard I mean," they added to clarify their question.

As far as they knew those words could be used interchangeably by most, but they were somewhere new, so maybe those words had more weight to them.

"How can you identify the differences?"

[ArlEammon]

Rowan was still looking at their hands, it was strange still to feel different and yet utterly at peace with your body. They looked up as Mads spoke, pulled from their contemplation and introspection by his words. Then came the reply and that caused them to **** their head to the side.

"Is there a difference?" They asked puzzled by the distinction. "Between a Witch and a Wizard I mean," they added to clarify their question.

As far as they knew those words could be used interchangeably by most, but they were somewhere new, so maybe those words had more weight to them.

"How can you identify the differences?"

"It's hard to explain. Witches are generally Human beings who can learn magic, borrow magic via contract and or pact with a magical being, or can learn magic spells in other ways."
"We witches are generally, even if born with magical ability, still different from Wizards."
"For witches, our powers are about growing in strength most of the time. But Wizards are empowered somehow, by mysterious forces. Thus they harness power from them, and usually have some responsibilities witches don't. The power of wizards are not very well understood anymore, even by us. "

[gawwy]

Mads, not really seeing the distinction as important asks the next most obvious question.

"And zees vizards existing are an issue how?"

[ArlEammon]

Mads, not really seeing the distinction as important asks the next most obvious question.

"And zees vizards existing are an issue how?"

"They know our secrets! They know our innermost thoughts and feelings! We have no idea who these weirdos are and they are acting like they've known us all our lives! We can't trust them, and we need to find everything out about them! We can't trust them, and worse, some of us are beginning to disappear. I'm sure these wizards have something to do with it."

[Thunder999]

"Are you sure they're not just reading your minds?" Asks Edward, after all he can do that, sort of.

[ArlEammon]

"Are you sure they're not just reading your minds?" Asks Edward, after all he can do that, sort of.

"Not all of us." Emma stated flatly. "Surely they could do that to some of us, even some our best, but not all of us at once."

[Thunder999]

"What can you tell us about those who've disappeared?"

[ArlEammon]

"What can you tell us about those who've disappeared?"

"Most of them are pretty much the best we have, outside The Circle Of Nine, and myself. Those who lack absolutely enormous power are impressive in other important ways."

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan was listening intently to the back and forth of the two now speaking, the witch and the one named Edward.

"So you think they are taking your people, but that's not related to the knowing things part right? They knew things before your people went missing?" They were curious if they got that right. "Do they have a base? Somewhere that they could be investigated? Or are they scattered about?"

[ArlEammon]

Rowan was listening intently to the back and forth of the two now speaking, the witch and the one named Edward.

"So you think they are taking your people, but that's not related to the knowing things part right? They knew things before your people went missing?" They were curious if they got that right. "Do they have a base? Somewhere that they could be investigated? Or are they scattered about?"

"No base. In fact, there are two of these so called Wizards right here in the Hotel. Morty, the Mute, and Mister Lindmer, well, Lindmer Word'sworth."
"It may be a good idea to start here. I already tried to question them, though it didn't go well, I have enough power to mask your true natures and agendas, even from the wizards, with my divination and illusion spells."
"These "wizards" are looking for students. Might I suggest enrolling?"

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan raised their finger to their lips thinking for a moment. "I don't have magic, but maybe I could pass off something as magic." looking to the others "Any of you magical?"

[FrightKnight0]

Jason hums thoughtfully, waiting before he speaks, letting others get some of the more obvious questions asked first. "I think we've glossed over something important, Miss McLaren," he says, speaking clearly and calmly in a practiced tone from a few years on debate team. "While the way you've brought us here is impressive, and the side benefits are nice, you did still summon us all here without asking. Why should we fall in line with what you want us to do? The way I see it, between ripping us all from our homes and granting us these abilities," he taps the metal rings on his left arm with the knuckles of his right hand, "we're about square, honestly. Why shouldn't we walk away and let you deal with these wizards yourself? Not trying to be confrontational, you understand, but... I don't want to just go running around doing tricks for someone who just decided they were going to kidnap me."

[ArlEammon]

Jason hums thoughtfully, waiting before he speaks, letting others get some of the more obvious questions asked first. "I think we've glossed over something important, Miss McLaren," he says, speaking clearly and calmly in a practiced tone from a few years on debate team. "While the way you've brought us here is impressive, and the side benefits are nice, you did still summon us all here without asking. Why should we fall in line with what you want us to do? The way I see it, between ripping us all from our homes and granting us these abilities," he taps the metal rings on his left arm with the knuckles of his right hand, "we're about square, honestly. Why shouldn't we walk away and let you deal with these wizards yourself? Not trying to be confrontational, you understand, but... I don't want to just go running around doing tricks for someone who just decided they were going to kidnap me."

"That's a very good question. There are two answers. First of all, you are compelled by spell to do so. Second of all, if you find a way to counter or circumvent the spell, I can make you." She states honestly. "Before you go about trying to just do whatever you want, let me warn you, it is never wise to offend someone more powerful than you."

[FrightKnight0]

An observer could be forgiven for thinking that Jason smiled, though saying he showed his teeth might be more accurate. "Ah, slavery and kidnapping. Of course, Master," he responded, slipping into an Igor style lisp on the last word. "How silly of me to think that I'd been kidnapped by someone with ethics. I'll play ball." The obvious 'for now' at the end of the sentence went unspoken. "Is there an exit clause or are we all just stuck being your good little pod people for eternity? If it's the latter, I'd like to refund my immortality, because I don't want to live as a good little puppy for ten thousand years."

[ArlEammon]

An observer could be forgiven for thinking that Jason smiled, though saying he showed his teeth might be more accurate. "Ah, slavery and kidnapping. Of course, Master," he responded, slipping into an Igor style lisp on the last word. "How silly of me to think that I'd been kidnapped by someone with ethics. I'll play ball." The obvious 'for now' at the end of the sentence went unspoken. "Is there an exit clause or are we all just stuck being your good little pod people for eternity? If it's the latter, I'd like to refund my immortality, because I don't want to live as a good little puppy for ten thousand years."

"I'm not above kidnapping OR bribery. But for now you'll have to be satisfied with a bit of flattery."
She chuckles momentarily. "Anyway" She says, half ignoring your question. "On your merry way. . . " She disappears.

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan tilts their head again and looks concerned with that "Excuse me, if whoever is taking people, takes you. Do we lose our umm gifts?" they asked quiet curious if they lost these cool upgrades. "If they mind-controlled you, could they make you take these from us or something?" then she popped out of existence "Well, that complicates things."

[FrightKnight0]

Jason had to fight the urge to hit something, quietly fuming as the witch (who he mentally promoted to have a 'b') disappeared. "Right. Well. This went from cool to awful in about five seconds. Excellent." He folded his arms across his chest, taking a deep breath to center himself. "Right. I guess introductions are in order. I'm Jason Glass," he says, looking around at the other poor saps caught in the brown stuff with him. "High school debate team, IT professional, and the witch shoved magic kung fu into my noggin and gave me magic punching rings. What about you guys?"

[ArlEammon]

An NPC: George

Name and Pronouns: George, He/him/his
Character Fun Fact: He was a lazy couch potato in his day to day life until he recently made a name for himself as a programmer.
Newfound Appearance: No newfound appearance. You see what you get.
Inspiration Character: A Final Fantasy black mage.
Inspiration Fun Fact: Yes, he's based off George Costanza.

George looks around at the assembled team and face palms. "What the hell is going on here!?"

[gawwy]

"Hello Her Jason Glass it is nice to meet you, I am Mathaius Michaelson but you can callen me "Mads"" Mads introduces himself in his thickest accent.

Mads then offers his hand to Jason for a firm but friendly handshake. Before going around the circle repeating the process introduced himself almost robotically.

Being new to his powers he unknowingly uses it to absorb any injuries, curses, afflictions, buffs, active spells, or effects using his powers. If you have any let me know OOC so we can rp that.

He ends with the newcomer

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan would shake Mads hand, but of course had no injuries, and then looked to the others. "Oh, I'm Rowan Inglis." they began and tried to look presentable. Their cropped red hair and blue eyes standing in stark contrast with one another. "My gifts, well they come from a tv show's main character. Before that well, I was called a nerd a lot. I liked movies, tv shows, books, comics, and video games. Especially young adult and super hero like stuff."

[ArlEammon]

"Excuse me!!!" George demanded to know in a shrill voice. "Is nobody else freaked out by the fact we're all witches, and warlocks now?"

[Thunder999]

Rowan raised their finger to their lips thinking for a moment. "I don't have magic, but maybe I could pass off something as magic." looking to the others "Any of you magical?"

In reply Edward grins, drawing a wooden wand from his pocket and waving it in a deliberate pattern, conjuring a circle of comfrotable armchairs (as many as there are people) from nothing, he sits in it and says "Why yes, I most certainly am."


"Right. I guess introductions are in order. I'm Jason Glass," he says, looking around at the other poor saps caught in the brown stuff with him. "High school debate team, IT professional, and the witch shoved magic kung fu into my noggin and gave me magic punching rings. What about you guys?"

Edward introduces himself politely, but feels no desire to elaborate on prior circumstances, "Edward Nelson, I suppose I should be more upset about the whole thing, but I've got a magic wand, a head full of spells, some neat little tricks and we're in the fanciest hotel I've ever seen. I've had worse holdiays, even if this seems to be a working one, please do have a seat." he gestures to the conjured chairs, still smiling.

When George speaks up again, Edward looks him in the eye "Not really, pretty good deal as far as I'm concerned, my magic seems dead convenient, never lose my keys again when I can summon them, not that I need keys anymore on account of the teleportation, and the spells to lock and unlock doors."

[gawwy]

"Excuse me!!!" George demanded to know in a shrill voice. "Is nobody else freaked out by the fact we're all witches, and warlocks now?"


please do have a seat." Edward gestures to the conjured chairs, still smiling.

When George speaks up again, Edward looks him in the eye "Not really, pretty good deal as far as I'm concerned, my magic seems dead convenient, never lose my keys again when I can summon them, not that I need keys anymore on account of the teleportation, and the spells to lock and unlock doors."

Mads does take a seat, sitting bolt upright in the comfy chair and in his most serious voice saysZee voice on zee telephone was quite clear, go downstairs, get hit by ze truck. gain powers and take job...

Your powers seem quite a bit more flexible zan mine though, Mister Nelson. I think I can do something with wounds? Maybe I stay back while you and the others who can do ze magic go and make friends with ze wizards, ya?

If you get into trouble you can use the code "Help we are in ze trouble and require aid" and we will know to come in and help. Ya?

[JNAProductions]

"Um," Sarah lets out. "Wouldn't the proper term for your 'wizards' be warlock? Wizards are generally those who study magic, while warlocks are pact-makers. I mean, minor practioners can make pacts and not reach the status of warlock, but something about the terminology feels off." She pauses a moment. "How the hell do I know that?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Another person arrived alongside the rest of you. About halfway through Miss Emma's spiel about wizards, a stocky, quiet woman seemed to notice her reflection in the polished marble floor, then wandered entranced to the elevators on the other end of the lobby.

She stares in wonder at one of the ornate mirrors, installed by the hotel to pacify impatient tenants eager to get to their rooms upstairs. She touches her face. She pinches her hand. She tries and fails to adjust her glasses. After a moment of silent hesitation, she holds up her arm and watches waves of orange and silver morphogenesis wash over it as she wills sleeves and hair and muscle to shlorp in and out of existence.

She smiles.

She lurches slightly, then takes a sudden breath, only now realizing that she hadn't breathed since she'd gotten here. She laughs softly, and shocked by the sound of her own voice, takes another breath and laughs harder, locking her into an unstable feedback loop of maniacal giggling. She rolls her shoulders and steps back from the mirror so she can see her whole body as she wills her sweater to melt and reform into a flowy blue shirt more suited to the ritzy atmosphere.

"Okay. Okay!" She takes a deep breath in a moderately successful attempt to contain her excitement and turns to rejoin the party. "So, to summarize: We have this witch person, McLaren. She is part of a secret society of witches here in Arizona. They have been dealing with a second, even secreter society of wizards, which seems to have shown up out of nowhere." She starts pacing as she counts the facts on her fingers. It really is a lot to unpack. "The wizards left McLaren with the impression that they already know everything there is to know about her witches, despite never having met them before. This made her uneasy. She's an illusionist, she can't deal with someone knowing all her tricks. So, to get the upper hand, she decided to recruit some help from people these wizards couldn't possibly have researched beforehand."

Her counting fingers become pointing fingers. "That would be us. She cast some spell, and pulled us all here from... wherever we're from. And in the process - maybe as part of the spell, maybe as some side-effect of us being from a place without magic - we each came in with some extra powers. Right?" She looks to everyone for confirmation. George already admitted it, and Sarah seems to have gotten some bonus knowledge, so it seems everyone has caught that part. "Right! But, her spell also did a couple other things. One is a... I want to say geas? As long as we're here, we HAVE to do as she says. It's like part of the premise of our being here, somehow. It's not quite mind control, but... well, you can all feel it too, right? Right!" She resumes pacing. "The other thing is, our minds and identities are undetectable with magic, because McLaren doesn't want the wizards to know about us or trace us back to her. Our mission, whether or not we choose to accept it, is to infiltrate some kind of wizard meeting and get some intel on them. Origins, identities, intentions... it sounded like the witches were pretty much in the dark, so I guess anything, really!"

She stops suddenly. She's still smiling, as she has been throughout even the most depressing parts of this monologue, but you can see panic in her eyes. "Aaaaand I just realized I just said all of that out loud in a very open hotel lobby, in the same building where the people we're supposed to be keeping this secret from are meeting! Hahaha! Whoops!"

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan looked around thinking, they weren't one to pace but walking always helped them think too. But that was before, this didn't seem like walking would help them get close in their thoughts and work out matters. Especially not with all these abilities to control. "Right so, that about sums up what I got from all this." They agreed though they too were looking to see if anyone noticed any of this around them.

"We don't know how the magic that brought us here chose us, why it chose which powers or abilities we obtained. It seems like a crap shoot, with random powers and abilities. Nothing equal about it." they were thinking out loud now too for that part "But the witch wants us to get these Wizards to trust us and give us information. How do we go about gaining the trust of people who might be stronger than the lady who just threatened us with how strong she is? What's the first step? Introduction sure but exactly how?"

[FrightKnight0]

Jason happily sank into the plush conjured armchair after trading handshakes with Rowan. He felt a strange interaction between the man and the Ten Rings on his arms, but it faded quickly as he let go and he didn't think there was any lingering effect. Maybe it was some kind of metaphysical static or something. "Well, we've got two names and no descriptions, as our illustrious mistress decided to be a diva and swan out of the room on being questioned. If she can't be asked to hide our pow-wow from these wizards or put us somewhere private, then that's her lookout. I'm only compelled to do what she told us to do, not to make up for her own shortcomings." He shrugged helplessly. "Way I see it, we've got an easy three teams. One team to go see about this Morty the Mute, one for Lindmer Wordsworth, and one in reserve. Problem is figuring out the best approaches, but it sounds like these men are here separately from each other, so we get to try two approaches."

He holds up his left and right hands, weighing them back and forth. "Morty the Mute sounds frustrating to approach normally. Is anyone here good at stealth or tracking? I can shadow normal people, apparently the guy I got skills from was trained as an assassin even if he wasn't great at the whole 'killing people with no remorse' part of the job, but I don't know if that's enough for wizards. Might be easier with McLaren shielding us from their detection, but I don't know how much I trust that protection since she opened by saying her people didn't have a defense against these wizards." Lifting the other hand, he added, "Lindmer Wordsworth, presumably not mute and looking for students, would be good to approach more directly. The problem is we don't know if he wants magic users or normals." Dropping his hands onto the plush chairs, he added, "and having a couple of us in reserve in case one of these approaches goes sour would be nice for safety's sake. Communication becomes a problem, though. I think I'm more than a little out of area for my cell phone plan," he said, checking his pockets to see if he even still had his beaten up, secondhand Samsung.

[gawwy]

Mads raises his hand to join the discussion,

"I vould suggest two groups maximum, coordination of three becomes problematic, especially in tense situations.

I would like to be vith zee group that sees the mute, Ja? And possibly we put one of our own wizards in each group?"

[Thunder999]

Edward

"Different world, different terminology, those words seemed pretty interchangable to em, outside of fantasy roleplaying games at least."

"I can kind of do stealth, got a spell to be pretty much invisible, not much of a liar and the spell's not infallable though Is splitting up really the best move?"

[gawwy]

"A wizard may be intimidated by a big group of six, two smaller groups can also cover more ground. Besides we are in a public hotel, surely they wouldn't try anything murdery here? Mads replies

[FrightKnight0]

Jason shrugged. "Two it is. I volunteer for sneaky team, between me and Harry Potter over here," he jerked a thumb at Edward, "we should be able to mix our two mostly good stealth abilities to get a pretty great one. One more person for the even split and we should be able to tail Morty pretty effectively."

[JNAProductions]

"I get the feeling I'm better at big booms than subtlety," Sarah says. "I could probably throw a glamer up? But nothing great."

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan chewed their lip and thought "I can do stealth, I can go invisible, even walk through walls" They didn't want to seem like they were that strong, but it might be useful for them to know. Best to know what the group was capable of.

[gawwy]

"As I am not particularly suited to zee shtealth, either vis a vi power or stature, I will elect to join zee walk-up-and-ask-to-study-under-him team"

Mads stands up and positions himself on the opposite side of the room from Jason and Edward, as if picking sides for a dodgeball team.

" I recommend the other actual wizard's join team walk-up-and-ask-to-study-under-him. But you are of course free to make your own choices Sarah."

"I do have zee one question for Cassie and her impressive demonstration of shapeshifting, what happens when you get injured? Can you shape-shift back to being uninjured?"

Mads stares pointedly at Cassie as he asks his question.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"I think so, yeah!" says Cassie. She seems a lot more sure of herself than when she absently shook Mads' hand and whispered her name the first time. "I don't think I'd bleed out if you cut me. I don't really have organs, except maybe my eyes. Breaking my bones would hurt, but I should be able to just re-do them. The only other thing..."

She runs her hand through her hair and stops to examine a lock of it. "This is all part of me. My clothes, too. If I cut it off..." She hesitantly holds up two fingers in a scissors shape as she considers the notion, then changes her mind and puts it back. It's hard to tell whether her reluctance is some changeling self-preservation instinct or whether she just doesn't want to ruin the perfect hair she always wanted.

"Anyway, I can turn into a bug or a tiny object, too, so I should be able to ride with either team if we're splitting up. Let me know if you need me to scout or something."

[gawwy]

"Anyway, I can turn into a bug or a tiny object, too, so I should be able to ride with either team if we're splitting up. Let me know if you need me to scout or something."

Mads sorta stares for a moment before launching into a semi manic ramble.

You have variable mass? Zat is so cool! How big can you go? Vere does zee mass go when you shrinken? What happens if un bit gets cut off you? Can it rejoin you later or is it just stuck in the shape et was in when et was seperated? How fine control do you have? Do you have to be a sensicle shape or can you be a house with legs? Could we trick a wizard into entering you in the shape of a room and then just remove the doors and boom traped wizard? Can you become a piece of urainum and just irradate everone to death. What happens if you shape shift into somthing without a brain are you just stuck like that?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Cassie takes a step backward, suddenly cognizant of the looming tank of a man who's so eagerly watching her. "I'm... not really comfortable with this line of questioning. I'll experiment later. Privately. On my own."

[gawwy]

Mads realizing the effect his exuberance was having straightens up a bit and drops to his normal neutral accent in a quiet voice.

"My apologies, I spent some time as a material scientist so all this is incredibly interesting." He says.


Mads then immediatly switches back to his full ham german accent and loudly announces,
"OK Im going to zee reception to find out vhich room zis Lindmer is in. Any who vant to are velcome to join me."
He then departs the room.

[JNAProductions]

"I'll stick with you, big guy," Sarah says, following.

[ArlEammon]

Morty The Mute
A red haired man, he looks like he could be no older than his early forty's. Not exactly a teen or very young man, but definitely not the stereo typical old man with white hair, beard and moustache with a pointed hat. He did, instead of a staff, have a cane. He was standing in front of a mirror as the team sent to spy on him were approaching his room. He was dressed in a dapper suit, and quickly tied himself, giving a pleasant smile with the mirror. The reflection did not return his pleasantries. This man was standing six foot two and a half inches tall and unusually thin. This was a person who had black eyes, black hair, and his facial hair was also black. Perhaps dyed coal black.

Lindmer Word'sworth
This man was closer to the archetypical wizened man in robe and pointed hat, sans the robes and hat. He was definitely a man who was at least in his seventies. Though in truth he was well over one hundred years old. This man was sitting down in his very large suite, 2,000 square feet, which is a hotel lair larger than some people's house. He had green eyes and was lithe, slender and very deceptively athletic. Lindmer was sitting in front of a large table, made of black marble. On this table there were books, and he was diligently studying the largest. As the team approaching him came, he telekinetically opened the door for his guests.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers

The young woman with the punk aesthetic had been there from the start, of course. She'd been summoned the same as any of the other misfortunate souls in this mess. Yet, for all the clamor and discussion, she ultimately held her tongue, silently observing with an increasingly darkening expression... one that changed to a deceptively calm blankness the moment the matter of the geas came up.

That witch is going to die.

The thought struck as if it were the only natural response. It was nothing less than an oath, a promise made with full conviction. Despite having never killed another person in her life, she was almost surprised by the sheer fervor and confidence that accompanied the internal declaration. There was no prevarication. She would find a way to kill that damn witch, to break the geas and have her freedom and damn the consequences. Try to enslave an American, would she? Big mistake.

Hadn't this arrogant fool ever seen those stories that started like this? Summoning "champions" to fight those you can't and mistreating them, acting like they owed you anything for being unwillingly kidnapped and enslaved to do your bidding, to risk their lives for your aims? Hah, complete buffoonery. That was always a perfect recipe to have your little "tools" join the very enemy you wanted them to defeat out of spite. In fact, provided these "wizards" didn't give her a personal reason to give a damn about their aims, that was exactly what the punk girl was planning to do. The enemy of her enemy was her friend, right? Sure, the "wizards" weren't necessarily altruistic beings, and she held at least a little caution towards them... But they weren't the ones stripping her of her human rights and liberties, now were they?

Of course, Mia didn't showcase any of her overtly murderous, rebellious intent outwardly. No, this wasn't the time for recklessness. Given the basic understanding of her new powers the summoning had provided her, she knew that time was a precious commodity to her right now, specifically the time she needed to train and improve her ability. She needed more power, reliable allies, information on this "Emma" and her weaknesses and -most importantly- a way to remove the geas. She needed time to figure out who amongst her fellow summons was trustworthy and time to study this world without the interference of the slaver witch's biased information interfering and skewing assumptions.

Undetectable to those present, a ghostly muscular arm briefly overlaid Mia's right arm to clench its fist in suppressed fury, and she marveled and at the tactile feedback of the action. Calling forth and moving this arm... It came intuitively to her, naturally, as if she were moving her own arm. And the act didn't seem to split her attention any. Inherent multitasking? That seemed to be the case. She recognized what this entity was, of course, even as it faded away, and her brain was already whirling with possibilities.


"Right. Well. This went from cool to awful in about five seconds. Excellent." He folded his arms across his chest, taking a deep breath to center himself. "Right. I guess introductions are in order. I'm Jason Glass," he says, looking around at the other poor saps caught in the brown stuff with him. "High school debate team, IT professional, and the witch shoved magic kung fu into my noggin and gave me magic punching rings. What about you guys?"

"Mia," the punk girl replied succinctly, omitting her last name. Maybe it was just paranoia, but in a land of unknown magic, she was wary of the concept of names having power. The less people knew about her, the better, especially in a position where her safety was already questionable.

As other members of the group began openly sharing their new powers for strategic purposes, Mia frowned, brow furrowing. Her memory brought into sharp relief the reminder that their vile summoner had claimed to have magical proficiencies in divination and illusion, and even with a basic RPG understanding of those concepts, Mia was already rightfully wary of the idea that the group was under constant surveillance. There was little doubt in her mind that anything they revealed could be known by magical spying, and she had no reason to think their paranoid "patron" wasn't engaging in such. Therefore, assuming Emma didn't inherently know what all their powers could do already, actively revealing that information for no gain was foolish. Not even getting into the debatable trustworthiness of the other summoned "champions" besides.

For a Stand User, information was power. Battles were often lost and won entirely by proficiency in OPSEC and the ability to exploit weaknesses. Revealing her powers here didn't serve her interests in any fashion. The longer she could keep the true nature of her ability concealed from others (especially the damn witch), the better her chances of exacting righteous retribution once the opportunity arrived.

It was for that reason that when it came around time for her to contribute her own tactical worth to the discussion, Mia easily and glibly lied, "I seem to have some form short-ranged telekinesis with a kinetic and scrying component." The deception left her lips with practiced ease, not a single tell in her body language. The description was satisfactorily vague, but it should still at least cover for the abilities she intended to display openly. She hoped to look useful but not stand out overtly; being underestimated was a valuable commodity, and she intended to cash it in.

She made a note of the abilities the others revealed as best she was able, becoming only more confident in her plan the more she heard. None of these people seemed to be Stand Users as well. In which case, it should be simple to uphold her deception of her powers' nature. Especially since the anti-mind-reading protection the witch had supposedly put on them should theoretically block even any other potential mind-readers among the summoned people. They wouldn't be able to see how she was doings things, merely the fruits of her spiritual guardian's labors. She'd exercise caution, of course, but so far... this might be doable.


"My apologies, I spent some time as a material scientist so all this is incredibly interesting." He says.

Mads then immediatly switches back to his full ham german accent and loudly announces,
"OK Im going to zee reception to find out vhich room zis Lindmer is in. Any who vant to are velcome to join me."
He then departs the room.

Crossing her arms, Mia's lips pursed in consideration, as the group split in two to investigate both the wizards they'd been pointed at simultaneously. She didn't bother resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Mads' overblown blatant farce of a German accent. Even before he'd briefly dropped it to apologize, she'd already smelled nonsense. No real German actually talked like that; it was entirely a fabrication perpetuated by movie stereotypes. And frankly, he wasn't all that good at faking consistent "language barrier dialogue" regardless. All in all, it was pointless and irksome.

Watching the ridiculous German wander off with three others in tow, Mia didn't even consider not going with the other group. She got to avoid that pest, even out the groups to 4-4 and stick with Jason, who was the only other member of the group to openly broach the idea of defying the witch, making him a potentially valuable ally, so really, that was just a win-win-win as far as she was concerned.


Jason shrugged. "Two it is. I volunteer for sneaky team, between me and Harry Potter over here," he jerked a thumb at Edward, "we should be able to mix our two mostly good stealth abilities to get a pretty great one. One more person for the even split and we should be able to tail Morty pretty effectively."

"I'll tag along with you guys then, I think," she said to Jason, briefly inclining her chin in something of a nod. "Despite my... somewhat loud appearance, I can be clandestine when I want to be." She shrugged, not yet up to elaborate upon her proficiency for skullduggery. "Worst comes to worst, I shouldn't be a burden."

That said, she moved to travel with Jason's group and shoved her hands in her pockets, as her brow ever so slightly pinched in thought. As they started heading towards the Morty the Mute's room, Mia took a moment to address Jason, Edward and Rowan with her thoughts in a whispered murmur. "I feel we should be cautious here and not make swift assumptions, particularly given the... less than altruistic nature of our summoner. Information should be our priority before committing to a course." She paused, huffing in consternation. "We're strangers here, who know even less than our summoner. We need to know more about this world and not just swallow preprepared biased information..." Of which Emma's most certainly was implied to be.

Her jaw worked for a moment in consideration, before a brief noise of remembrance escaped her. "Also, we shouldn't take our... 'patron's' little protection for-granted." She tapped the side of her head with one finger, frowning. "Just because our true natures and agendas are supposedly shielded doesn't mean that we won't look suspicious regardless. I mean..." She snorted with disdain. "If you were in one of these wizards' place and were abruptly approached by a bunch of people who were all warded by anti-information magic, wouldn't you find that super suspicious anyway?" Mia shook her head, clicking her tongue. "Best we take care not to do anything to tempt someone to actually try and magically read us to begin with, is all I'm saying."

As the group neared Morty the Mute's room, Mia hung back a little and glanced around the area surrounding the entrance, keeping an eye out for potential observers. [Star Platinum]'s head manifested above her, the Stand's incredibly keen sight peering around to see if anything about the environment seemed off in some way. All the while, she pulled out her phone and pretended to be occupied with something on the screen, leaning against a wall with a faux lack of awareness, as she kept the rest of the group within roughly 3 meters. If anything dangerous happened, that should be close enough for her to stop time and jerk... Hmm... maybe two of them out of the way? She doubted anything crazy would occur, but caution paid dividends.

Mia considered walking by the wizard's door and phasing her Stand through the wall to get a look inside without entering, but she eventually elected to save that for later in case other info-gathering methods failed. Right now, she wanted to get a better idea of what her apparent allies could do, and this would be a good trial run of their capabilities. Information was power, she reminded herself yet again. The more she learned without returning the favor, the better.

[gawwy]

Lindmer Word'sworth
This man was closer to the archetypical wizened man in robe and pointed hat, sans the robes and hat. He was definitely a man who was at least in his seventies. Though in truth he was well over one hundred years old. This man was sitting down in his very large suite, 2,000 square feet, which is a hotel lair larger than some people's house. He had green eyes and was lithe, slender and very deceptively athletic. Lindmer was sitting in front of a large table, made of black marble. On this table there were books, and he was diligently studying the largest. As the team approaching him came, he telekinetically opened the door for his guests.

On the way to Lindmer's room Mads quietly attempts to discuss strategy with the others
"I think we should let Sarah do the talking here 'cause it seems like she actually knows something about wizards and or warlocks and might know whatever kind of etiquette they would be used to."

He whispers to the group.

"Or Emma here could I suppose." he says jerking his head at George with a snarky grin.

[JNAProductions]

"I take it we are invited in?" Sarah asks Lindmer. "We wouldn't wish to cross the threshold, no matter how minor, without your permission."

Assuming he nods or otherwise shows agreement with her statement, she walks in. "Thank you-and good day. Mind if we talk for a bit?"

[ArlEammon]

"I take it we are invited in?" Sarah asks Lindmer. "We wouldn't wish to cross the threshold, no matter how minor, without your permission."

Assuming he nods or otherwise shows agreement with her statement, she walks in. "Thank you-and good day. Mind if we talk for a bit?"

"Of course! Come on in! There's a long list of applicants." Lindmer responded. He had a pleasant smile on his face, and there was an aura of enormous strength coming from him, even though it seemed that the entropic effects of age had rendered him weak.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward takes a moment to think about the others in his group, he doesn't recognise any of their powers, but they're not exactly revealing much. Most of them seem to be less than thrilled with the whole thing, different priorities perhaps.
He notes that Mia has yet to meet his eyes, usually a sign someone's lieing, though perhaps she recognises his particular set of abilities and doesn't trust him not to have a peak in her head, seems paranoid enough, though perhaps she's just feeling ripped off, her powers as described do sound quite lackluster, perhaps she's just not using them right? He understood his magic immediately, but perhaps that's only because it's useless otherwise.

"I'm all for learning more, but there's really not much choice in our course of action, geas remember. I'm not too worried about the protection arousing suspicion, with how shady the locals seem it'd probably be stranger not to be concealing anything."

WIth that Edward taps himself, then those others who can't handle their own invisibility, on the head with his wand, rendering them functionally invisible with an exceptionally potent Disillusionment Charm, they might not need it, but it can't hurt.

"So I could open his door easily enough, but a door opening itself isn't exactly subtle. Anyone got a better plan?"

[ArlEammon]

A Big Nosed Neighbor
A stereotypically dressed witch wanders by Morty's room. She lives across the hall, and is infamously nosey, but also infamously smart. She walks up to Edward. "Whoah! What are you doing so close to Morty's room?! By the way, I couldn't but help to hear about you wanting to get into Morty's room! That's a very bad idea!" She said with visible concern. This woman had purple eyeliner, wore a pure black robe and the pointed hat that people usually saw in cartoons or other media. Maybe even saw them in the pictures of books.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Well so much for sneaking about, still maybe Rowan can do some intangible snooping while he talks to whoever this is.

Edward was never a good liar and the cat is out of the proverbial bag, so he doesn't even try to deny that they're snooping "Observing, apparently far less sneakily than we thought. He's apparently some sort of special wizard, didn't think someone called 'The Mute' would be very talkative so we figured we'd just snoop around a bit, see what he actually does. Only his door's closed. Not really planned further than that." he shrugs, unure whether the woman can see him.

Maybe this whole trying to sneak up on the super powerful wizard thing wasn't such a good idea.

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan would be invisible, they could bring one perhaps two others into their invisibility but only with continual contact. But their intangibility, this wasn't something you easily brought another with, possible but dangerous. Rowan would allow the witch to discuss things with Edward while they moved along the walls and phased through, or attempted to. Seeing if there was a ward or barrier to prevent such a gift from working. If not they would try to sneak enough of themselves into the room while invisible to hear or see anything.

[ArlEammon]

EDWARD

Well so much for sneaking about, still maybe Rowan can do some intangible snooping while he talks to whoever this is.

Edward was never a good liar and the cat is out of the proverbial bag, so he doesn't even try to deny that they're snooping "Observing, apparently far less sneakily than we thought. He's apparently some sort of special wizard, didn't think someone called 'The Mute' would be very talkative so we figured we'd just snoop around a bit, see what he actually does. Only his door's closed. Not really planned further than that." he shrugs, unure whether the woman can see him.

Maybe this whole trying to sneak up on the super powerful wizard thing wasn't such a good idea.

"Well don't. Morty's as bad as Emma thinks he is. I don't know about the other wizards, but Morty? He gives me the creeps. He's so creepy even my Patrons are afraid of him." Mildred thinks to herself. "I can help. If you insist. Whatever he's up to, he has to be stopped. I'm sure I've seen him smuggle entire people inside his room. The only reason I haven't involved myself in it until now is because he's so strong. I can feel his aura of power on the other side of the hall past the wards."

@Rowan There were actually wards set up in every room of the Hotel, however, Emma's spell allowed them to phase through anyway. Morty was gone at the moment, while the man in the mirror, looking identically like Morty was banging on the mirror to be let out. He could be seen yelling, though no sound was escaping through the mirror. Luckily for the protagonists, Morty was sleeping in his bed room at the moment.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

"Oh, you know Emma, she's the one who put us up to it actually, but she disappeared rather quickly, if you've got any advice I'd be very happy to hear it."

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan appraised the situation then looked back toward Edward and pulled themselves out of the wall. "He is in there, sleeping I believe." they said sounding unsure. "There is another in the mirror, screaming. Its disturbing and makes me deeply uncomfortable."

[ArlEammon]

EDWARD

"Oh, you know Emma, she's the one who put us up to it actually, but she disappeared rather quickly, if you've got any advice I'd be very happy to hear it."

"I would suggest doing whatever you need to do immediately, not waste time, and get out. It sounds like Edward has an unwilling "guest" in there. Maybe freeing the person in the mirror. I think I can do that."


Rowan appraised the situation then looked back toward Edward and pulled themselves out of the wall. "He is in there, sleeping I believe." they said sounding unsure. "There is another in the mirror, screaming. Its disturbing and makes me deeply uncomfortable."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Team Study - Cassie

After a minute of indecision, Cassie found herself with the group that was going to Wordsworth's room, despite her awkward interaction with Mads. She's honestly not sure why more than one person is needed to check on either of them, but as a strategy, just talking to the wizards seems like the most straightforward way to get the information we need.


Mads

"I think we should let Sarah do the talking here 'cause it seems like she actually knows something about wizards and or warlocks and might know whatever kind of etiquette they would be used to."


Lindmer Word'sworth

He was definitely a man who was at least in his seventies. Lindmer was sitting in front of a large table, made of black marble. On this table there were books, and he was diligently studying the largest. As the team approaching him came, he telekinetically opened the door for his guests.


Sarah

"I take it we are invited in? We wouldn't wish to cross the threshold, no matter how minor, without your permission."


Lindmer Word'sworth

"Of course! Come on in! There's a long list of applicants."


Sarah

...she walks in. "Thank you-and good day. Mind if we talk for a bit?"

"Oh! Um," Cassie clutches her own arm nervously. She doesn't mind playing jumpy and naive. "Is this supposed to be a one-on-one interview? I can wait outside..."

[ArlEammon]

Team Study - Cassie


"Oh! Um," Cassie clutches her own arm nervously. She doesn't mind playing jumpy and naive. "Is this supposed to be a one-on-one interview? I can wait outside..."

"No. Not at all. I'm accepting several students at the moment. Normally I would only do this one at a time, but I can take four of you at a time for now."

[gawwy]

Mads takes a gable on speaking up.

"vhat does being students of yours entail, oh magnificent Lindmer? Would we cloister in study?" he asks.

[ArlEammon]

Mads takes a gable on speaking up.

"vhat does being students of yours entail, oh magnificent Lindmer? Would we cloister in study?" he asks.

Lindmer instantly snaps his fingers.
"To put it simply, Wizards such as I are gathering an army, for lack of a better word, to prevent an Apocalypse."
"Something catastrophic is going to happen. We are here to contain this terrible event, prevent it entirely, or at least mitigate it as strongly as possible."

[gawwy]

Lindmer instantly snaps his fingers.
"To put it simply, Wizards such as I are gathering an army, for lack of a better word, to prevent an Apocalypse."
"Something catastrophic is going to happen. We are here to contain this terrible event, prevent it entirely, or at least mitigate it as strongly as possible."

Mads snaps up in a stiff (American) salute.
"Sir! So to zee front lines vith us, SIR!

[ArlEammon]

Mads snaps up in a stiff (American) salute.
"Sir! So to zee front lines vith us, SIR!

Lindmer cringes visibly, as the faux German accent smacks him across the face. He resists the urge to snap at Mads, though it took a strong force of will to do so. Then he just smiled. "Anyway, to more accurately answer the original question, you would be mostly reading books, attempting the spells I allow you to read, learning potion recipes, etcetera. There are other things you'd be doing, but now I must ask you, who among you has experience with magic, so far?"

[JNAProductions]

Sarah raises her hand. "I think I do? We're... A bit new to this whole thing, but I feel confident I could manage some magic."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Cassie seems alarmed. "Um. Are we... glossing over the apocalypse part? Is that something I'm supposed to know already? I knew global warming was getting really bad..."

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

"Lets be on with it then!" Edward points his wand at the door, unlocking it with a spell and leads the way inside.

[ArlEammon]

Cassie seems alarmed. "Um. Are we... glossing over the apocalypse part? Is that something I'm supposed to know already? I knew global warming was getting really bad..."


Sarah raises her hand. "I think I do? We're... A bit new to this whole thing, but I feel confident I could manage some magic."

"I'm not talking about Global Warming. I'm talking about a Cataclysm that could be responsible for re-arranging the face of the world, in more ways than one."
"That's good.


EDWARD

"Lets be on with it then!" Edward points his wand at the door, unlocking it with a spell and leads the way inside.

Morty the Mute, or whoever the man was, was sleeping while the identical man resumed his yelling on the other side of the mirror. Edward could plainly see this man, who was identical to the one now sleeping. The others couldn't have known, except for the one who phased through the wall. Inside this living room, the lighting was still on, despite the fact that Morty was asleep. The team could see that there was a flat screen television hanging on the wall, there were fanciful paintings also hanging on the wall, and other than the mirror that was placed near the kitchen, everything else seemed normal.

[FrightKnight0]

Team Sneaky

Jason walked into the room, his feet practically silent, posture rigid and imperious as he took in everything at once. He didn't know how far he trusted the witches, but if this one said she could help whoever was stuck in the mirror, great. In the meantime, he'd put Shang-Chi's childhood training to work, swiftly and quietly searching the room for anything useful; itineraries, diaries, spellbooks, cell phones, the works.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker

Shivering at the feeling like an egg breaking over her head that accompanied the Disillusionment Charm, Mia didn't bother suppressing a scoff at the defeatist wording of Edward's response. After all, geas or no geas, they were only obligated to obey Emma's orders, right? How they went about them was another matter entirely. Only a fool wouldn't look for loopholes in this situation.

They got to Morty's room easily enough, but the abrupt and completely unwelcome introduction of a loud nattering local almost had the Stand User clocking her over the head to knock her out and silence h. Unfortunately, she wasn't close enough to stop the blithering ingrate from practically hollering to the world about them, having somehow overheard their discussion.

Practically grinding her teeth, Mia nearly popped a blood vessel when Edward actually came right out and admitted their intentions, instead of waving off the accusations and shooing this annoying woman away. "Do... do you not understand the concept of OPSEC?" she hissed in disbelief. Pushing off the wall, she stepped closer, glowering in dissatisfaction and shooting a furtive glance around with her Stand. She had to click her tongue at the witch's paranoid gossiping about Morty; she gave off exactly the same air as every annoying neighbor who ran around starting absurd rumors.

Didn't mean there wasn't a grain of truth to them perhaps, but... time and freaking place, lady!

Just... do shut up, woman.

Rowan had disappeared to places unknown, but now that she was close enough, Mia took a moment to phase [Star Platinum] through the wall of the hotel room. Before the Stand's eyes, she could see the place was apparently deserted. "Morty the Mute" was nowhere in sight... What was in sight, however, was an animated mirror, the contents of which seemed both "lively" and rather dissatisfied with their living conditions. And as Rowan gave his report, Mia withdrew her Stand and nodded. "I can second that. Morty isn't in the entrance room, but there's a mirror with a man in it."

She rolled her eyes at the witch's resulting fearmongering. "It could be a trapped person, or it could just be an enchanted mirror. Some people just have a twisted sense of humor." She nodded her head Edward's way. "Kinda like those animated portraits magic can make, right? No reason to assume it's someone trapped." Of course, the opposite might also be true, but Mia preferred not to make assumptions, especially when the people spouting off about this wizard were hardly trustworthy themselves.



EDWARD

"Lets be on with it then!" Edward points his wand at the door, unlocking it with a spell and leads the way inside.

As Edward and Jason seemingly committed to this course of action, Mia suppressed a sigh of frustration at the abruptness of it. Was no-one here actually interested in keeping to the original plan? Weren't they supposed to watch and wait, gather information and evidence? They could have easily retreated until the nosey witch was gone and returned right after with better precautions. She had no desire to deal with this nattering woman in any capacity; it just seemed like a terrible flight risk. Besides, once they did this, Morty would know someone was in here, and he'd likely be prepared for future intrusions. Taking this action was going to lose them the element of surprise!

Fine, whatever, let's just get in and out, Mia groused internally. At this point, she had no choice but to make do with the team's recklessness. Honestly... she'd hoped for better.

Mia's Stand flickering into existence, its body overlaying hers, as she proceeded to take advantage of several combined attributes. Stands could fly? Check. Stands had selective tangibility? Also yes. Stands could lift their Users? Why, would you look at that! And all of that combined?

Mia's feet left the floor by several bare millimeters, a smirk crossing her lips. You get flight.

Mia entered Morty's hotel room behind Jason, her own "footsteps" completely silent for an entirely different reason. Though she was apparently walking as normal on a visual level, not a single one of her steps was actually touching anything but air, her spectral guardian halting each footfall the barest distance between it and the ground with its surgical precision, the Stand acting as a functional midair platform for each foot.

Waving a hand back at the nosey neighbor witch sharply, Mia whispered, "You, stay where you are, outside the room. If you can really do something about the mirror, better to do it elsewhere." And the fewer people that entered the room, the less likely they'd trip some sort of ward hopefully.

Frowning, Mia watched Jason begin to search the room with some envy. If the situation weren't what it was, she'd have loved to help with that. Unfortunately, the presence of the nosey and irritatingly loud neighbor made every second they wasted a perilous one that she might alert the room's owner. Therefore, Mia's primary objective could be no other.

The Stand User swiftly crossed the room, making a beeline for the enchanted mirror. Getting close to it, Mia's eyes narrowed at the figure of the man banging on the inside. Having never actually seen what Morty the Mute looked like, the implications of this man in the mirror looking like him presently escaped her, as [Star Platinum's] right arm stopped overlaying her own right arm to lash out and firmly -but deceptively gently- seize the enchanted mirror and pick it up.

In the back of her mind, Mia cautiously kept a finger on the proverbial trigger, ready to Stop Time and move away if touching the mirror triggered any sort of misfortune. Assuming it did not, however, she would quickly race back outside the hotel room with the mirror in her Stand's grasp and move to place it some distance outside in the hallway. That way, hopefully, any efforts made to break the mirror's enchantments wouldn't be close enough to be heard by the sleeping Morty.

[ArlEammon]

Team Sneaky

Jason walked into the room, his feet practically silent, posture rigid and imperious as he took in everything at once. He didn't know how far he trusted the witches, but if this one said she could help whoever was stuck in the mirror, great. In the meantime, he'd put Shang-Chi's childhood training to work, swiftly and quietly searching the room for anything useful; itineraries, diaries, spellbooks, cell phones, the works.

Right smack dab on the table, Morty's spell book, well one of them, could be seen. In addition, there was a journal of some sort on the same table. Well that was easy. . .


[CENTER]
-snip-

Mildred, or as some people called her, "The Kravitz Witch", named after the nosey neighbor from the old sitcom "Bewitched", made some odd hand gestures, and tapped the mirror with her fore fingers. . . stepping back, Morty managed to walk through the mirror. He breathed heavily, looking back towards his apartment/hotel room.

[gawwy]

"I'm not talking about Global Warming. I'm talking about a Cataclysm that could be responsible for re-arranging the face of the world, in more ways than one."
"That's good.


"And.. uh vhat is the cause of this cataclysmic event? Mads prompts.

"Not that it changes anything I still vant to learn magic, when can ve start?"

[ArlEammon]

"And.. uh vhat is the cause of this cataclysmic event? Mads prompts.

"Not that it changes anything I still vant to learn magic, when can ve start?"

Wincing at Mad's faux German accent, the old wizard laughed. "Well, first of all, I need to know what you're capable of first. What specifically are your talents? If not magic, then what?"

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker


Mildred, or as some people called her, "The Kravitz Witch", named after the nosey neighbor from the old sitcom "Bewitched", made some odd hand gestures, and tapped the mirror with her fore fingers. . . stepping back, Morty managed to walk through the mirror. He breathed heavily, looking back towards his apartment/hotel room.

After setting the mirror down against a wall, Mia stepped back and watched warily, as the witch -whose name she still didn't know, given the lack of introductions- performed some kind of thankfully silent spellcasting. The punk girl's brows rose, as the witch's earlier accusations were proved quite seemingly correct by the man in the mirror stepping out with what sounded like a sigh of relief.

"So, he really was trapping people..." she quietly mused with a frown, her brows furrowing at the mirror. "Which now begs the question... what exactly were those other people being used for?"

Seeing the man that had escaped the mirror glancing back towards Morty's hotel room, Mia cocked a single questioning brow. "Well now, how unexpected. I take it there's quite the story to how you got trapped in that mirror," she said to the tall, thin dark-haired man, crossing her arms. She was still speaking fairly lowly, keeping her words soft and difficult to hear at a distance.

[gawwy]

Wincing at Mad's faux German accent, the old wizard laughed. "Well, first of all, I need to know what you're capable of first. What specifically are your talents? If not magic, then what?"

" I am a healer of sorts I can take wounds onto myself where they are less intense. This also extends to curses.

I'm also something of a materials scientist and an ex-cult member if that ever comes up"

Mads explains with a broad smile.

[FrightKnight0]

Jason carefully noted where the journal was before picking it up to leaf through it, skimming it for useful information.

[ArlEammon]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker



After setting the mirror down against a wall, Mia stepped back and watched warily, as the witch -whose name she still didn't know, given the lack of introductions- performed some kind of thankfully silent spellcasting. The punk girl's brows rose, as the witch's earlier accusations were proved quite seemingly correct by the man in the mirror stepping out with what sounded like a sigh of relief.

"So, he really was trapping people..." she quietly mused with a frown, her brows furrowing at the mirror. "Which now begs the question... what exactly were those other people being used for?"

Seeing the man that had escaped the mirror glancing back towards Morty's hotel room, Mia cocked a single questioning brow. "Well now, how unexpected. I take it there's quite the story to how you got trapped in that mirror," she said to the tall, thin dark-haired man, crossing her arms. She was still speaking fairly lowly, keeping her words soft and difficult to hear at a distance.

"I'm Morty. The real one. This new guy had me trapped in the Hotel for decades, and I've been trying to get out for a long time. What year is it? Have I lost track? There's something called a. . . television now. Computers. . . even some thing called an Eye-Pad?"

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward talks in a somewhat loud whisper, simultaneously trying not to wake the sleeping guy, but also to be heard by Mirror-Morty "If you're Morty, then who's that guy?"
He also points his wand towards the sleeping man, it's probably not going to go well if he wakes, so best to be ready.

[ArlEammon]

EDWARD

Edward talks in a somewhat loud whisper, simultaneously trying not to wake the sleeping guy, but also to be heard by Mirror-Morty "If you're Morty, then who's that guy?"
He also points his wand towards the sleeping man, it's probably not going to go well if he wakes, so best to be ready.

"That's Mordos. He's the most powerful warlock I have ever seen. He's even a little stronger than I am, and he isn't your ordinary warlock. Be careful dealing with him. I've been his prisoner since 1935."

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker


"I'm Morty. The real one. This new guy had me trapped in the Hotel for decades, and I've been trying to get out for a long time. What year is it? Have I lost track? There's something called a. . . television now. Computers. . . even some thing called an Eye-Pad?"


Mia frowned. “The real Morty?” Well now, that was an interesting turn of events. And the way this guy was talking made her wonder how he… No wait, she did see a television in the room with the mirror, and there was no doubt the “fake Morty” (assuming this guy was telling the truth) wouldn’t gloat in from of his captive while he enjoyed the fruits of the future.

Shaking her head, Mia snorted humorlessly. “You’ve been out of the loop for a while then. Those are non-magical technologies that run on electricity, like the lightbulb. Think of them as super-powerful calculators… That’s really what they boil down to, despite how much more they are capable of.” It was useful to know for Mia as well, because with that fumbling question alone, she could now deduce the approximate technology level of this new Earth. That is to say, this would seemed to be modern or modern-adjacent.

Though, at the moment, a more pressing issue came to mind: the False Morty, they were clearly going to need to deal with him or risk him retaliating against them later, and Mia didn’t particularly fancy sharing the fate the Real Morty had for the past… 80 or 90 decades? Yeesh. Edward’s own questioning earned several other answers, pegging the fake as a warlock named Mordos. And if the term “warlock” was in any way equivalent to what the D&D term meant… Well, caution was definitely warranted.

Her expression and tone growing serious, Mia’s jaw set with resolve. “How did the fake trap you in the mirror?” the punk asked the real Morty. “I can only assume you’d prefer him dealt with to retake your life, and as it happens, seeing him get what’s coming to him serves our interests as well. Even so…” She frowned. “His apparent magical prowess is a concern. Do you know what sort of magic he specializes in? Does it have any notable tells or casting requirements? How can we avoid falling prey to being trapped like you were?”

[ArlEammon]

Her expression and tone growing serious, Mia’s jaw set with resolve. “How did the fake trap you in the mirror?” the punk asked the real Morty. “I can only assume you’d prefer him dealt with to retake your life, and as it happens, seeing him get what’s coning to him serves our interests as well. Even so…” She frowned. “His apparent magical prowess is a concern. Do you know what sort of magic he specializes in? Does it have any notable tells or casting requirements? How can we avoid falling prey to being trapped like you were?”

"He was my student, Mordos, but he already had the knowledge of black magic. I taught him various forms of white magic, which he somehow reverse engineered into a corruptive form of the same spells I taught him. He knows how to somehow merge various dimensions together, such as the dream world, the mirror world and the shadow world, with his strongest magic all being dark magic."
"On Earth, dark magic is partially dealt with through various kinds of rare wood, magical herbs, sometimes incense, salt and cold iron. I tried that and he managed to bust through all my defenses with sheeer will power. I think he's. . . a Human become Devil. He's no longer just a person."

"Anyway, the way he trapped me in the mirror was kind of embarrassing, I tried to trap him in a magic circle with the aforementioned salt, in a room with four doors all with cold iron knobs, with incense wafting through the vents, and had a magic staff made of Elder Wood. Finally I cast a spell that weakened his powers and he still bust out of my trap through an outburst of rage. A windstorm burst out of him and then he knocked me hard, through the walls and I woke up in the mirror."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Team Study - Cassie

The shorter of the two women stays silent for a moment. It crosses her mind that Wordsworth might already be onto the group. He may just be pressing us for free information before the other shoe drops. Of course, it's hard to tell that she's thinking that. Even a proper mind reader would have to contend with her not technically having a brain. From where Wordsworth's standing, Cassie probably just looks shy.

When it becomes clear that everyone is expecting an answer from her, she hesitantly stammers one out. "I, um. I turn into a rat sometimes. I don't really know how or why, but, when I heard someone was teaching people about magic, I thought, maybe I could learn to use it..."

[ArlEammon]

Team Study - Cassie

The shorter of the two women stays silent for a moment. It crosses her mind that Wordsworth might already be onto the group. He may just be pressing us for free information before the other shoe drops. Of course, it's hard to tell that she's thinking that. Even a proper mind reader would have to contend with her not technically having a brain. From where Wordsworth's standing, Cassie probably just looks shy.

When it becomes clear that everyone is expecting an answer from her, she hesitantly stammers one out. "I, um. I turn into a rat sometimes. I don't really know how or why, but, when I heard someone was teaching people about magic, I thought, maybe I could learn to use it..."

"Well, you've all come to the right place. All I need to do now is see your expertise in action." He snaps his fingers, and you all seem to appear in the vastness of space. George begins to panic.

[gawwy]

"Well, you've all come to the right place. All I need to do now is see your expertise in action." He snaps his fingers, and you all seem to appear in the vastness of space. George begins to panic.

Mads heart skips a single beat as the room is replace with a stary void. He starts running through the training he went through for this exacr situation, breath out so your lungs don't explode, Close eyes to try and save the from simultaneously freezing and exploding, hope someone saves you before you die one of the worst deaths imaginable...

After Mads had spent 4 seconds and his blood had not started boiling he experimentally breathed in and deduced they were either not in space or protected from the void by magic.

He opened one eye and hopped a minute amount, the nonexistant floor broke his fall.


An illusion Mads deduced. Pretty neat, the terrifying implication being that he can't trust his sight for the foreseeable future.

He wondered what horrors George was being shown to have such a reaction.

Oh he could check if there was an effect being applied to him and figure out how it works.

Mads power reveals nothing afflicting him for him to move around. A glamer not a figment then.

With nothing he can do to stop the illusion, other than attempt to punch the wizard out he settles for the next best thing.

Mads locks eyes with the wizard, put on his widest smile, thickest accent and says.... "Neat"

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker


"He was my student, Mordos, but he already had the knowledge of black magic. I taught him various forms of white magic, which he somehow reverse engineered into a corruptive form of the same spells I taught him. He knows how to somehow merge various dimensions together, such as the dream world, the mirror world and the shadow world, with his strongest magic all being dark magic."
"On Earth, dark magic is partially dealt with through various kinds of rare wood, magical herbs, sometimes incense, salt and cold iron. I tried that and he managed to bust through all my defenses with sheeer will power. I think he's. . . a Human become Devil. He's no longer just a person."

"Anyway, the way he trapped me in the mirror was kind of embarrassing, I tried to trap him in a magic circle with the aforementioned salt, in a room with four doors all with cold iron knobs, with incense wafting through the vents, and had a magic staff made of Elder Wood. Finally I cast a spell that weakened his powers and he still bust out of my trap through an outburst of rage. A windstorm burst out of him and then he knocked me hard, through the walls and I woke up in the mirror."

"In other words, you didn't actually witness the spell he used to trap you in the mirror at all?" Due to being knocked out already. Well... all that was both ominous and somehow largely unhelpful to hear... at least for Mia's purposes. What was she supposed to do with potential magical counters, when she didn't even know if she could cast magic at all? For all her Stand's power, she was presently worse than a novice when it came to any practical use of magic. Even if she was already resolved to try and rectify that somehow later, that didn't really help her deal with an uber-warlock in the present. She supposed she'd have to fall back on her far more magically proficient comrades in this instance to cover that angle. Hopefully, Edward was getting a decent takeaway from this information...

Mia's eyes briefly drifted to the wand Edward was waving around, and the shape suddenly stuck out to her, something almost akin to a line of spider silk dotted by dew droplets. Her eyes briefly widened in recognition. Is that... the Elder Wand?! A spark of realization hit her, several things clicking into place in a realization she'd only half grokked to prior, but given the situation at hand, she forced herself to set aside that musing for later and focus on the moment.

"Did you... ever manage to actually hurt him during your fight?" Mia asked Morty, her brow furrowing. "It kinda sounds like you barely even touched him." And seriously, what was that "bust out with an outburst of rage" protagonist BS? That wasn't helpful at all! What were they supposed to do against someone that was just going to pull a damn zenkai boost out of their rectum anytime they were mildly inconvenienced?

Shaking her head, Mia asked. "Ignore how hard he is to hurt and assume someone actually managed to bypass his spell slinging. Do you think it'd be possible to put him down with brute force if you could actually hit him? Would he die?" Frankly, if it came down to a matter of sheer brute force, Mia doubted any of her comrades could muster as much concentrated kinetic power as her Stand. If they worked together and she was able to get within 2 meters of the warlock, that would normally be curtains. Her Stand was so wildly physically powerful that it could probably turn Mordos into fleshy Swiss cheese and giblets in mere seconds. The only problem was actually getting close enough to a likely ranged fighter to do it. "Alternatively... How close do you think you were to successfully defeating him before? If you had help, do you think a rematch would be in your favor, or..." Mia frowning, considering another very real possibility. "Or has the time you've spent trapped widened the gap in your powers to the point of making victory an impossibility?"

[ArlEammon]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker

Shaking her head, Mia asked. "Ignore how hard he is to hurt and assume someone actually managed to bypass his spell slinging. Do you think it'd be possible to put him down with brute force if you could actually hit him? Would he die?" Frankly, if it came down to a matter of sheer brute force, Mia doubted any of her comrades could muster as much concentrated kinetic power as her Stand. If they worked together and she was able to get within 2 meters of the warlock, that would normally be curtains. Her Stand was so wildly physically powerful that it could probably turn Mordos into fleshy Swiss cheese and giblets in mere seconds. The only problem was actually getting close enough to a likely ranged fighter to do it. "Alternatively... How close do you think you were to successfully defeating him before? If you had help, do you think a rematch would be in your favor, or..." Mia frowning, considering another very real possibility. "Or has the time you've spent trapped widened the gap in your powers to the point of making victory an impossibility?"

"I didn't manage to harm him per se, but he was red in the face and straining very hard before he managed to push through all the wards. I don't know if he's more or less powerful than he was before, but I have noticed that he does SEEM a little weaker than he used to be. Sometimes he seems to be in pain and straining for air. It is conceivable, but maybe not a good idea for a confrontation by ourselves. I can sense your power and you are not anywhere near your potential. "

@Z3r0gamer
It seems that Mordos has been weakening over time. Despite growing in power by technicality since he's gained knowledge over the years, his longevity spell has ran out, and he's only walking around through sheer will power. His somewhat young appearance is only a magical facade. However, he states that he's been draining people of their souls to reverse the aging process. If he absorbs one more person, he will totally reverse his venerable age.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker


"I didn't manage to harm him per se, but he was red in the face and straining very hard before he managed to push through all the wards. I don't know if he's more or less powerful than he was before, but I have noticed that he does SEEM a little weaker than he used to be. Sometimes he seems to be in pain and straining for air. It is conceivable, but maybe not a good idea for a confrontation by ourselves. I can sense your power and you are not anywhere near your potential. "


Mordos was actually potentially getting weaker? That... was unexpected good news. Of course, this was only Morty guessing here, but he'd had plenty of time to observe that Mia felt she could likely give his intuition an above average amount of credence.

Her gaze sharpened at the comment about her power. Mia wasn't certain if Morty was referring merely to her or the group as a whole, but... "You... aren't wrong." He definitely wasn't wrong, not by any means. She hadn't even tried stopping time yet, wary of the attention it might draw, but she knew she could. Similarly, she was certain -had an instinctive intuition- that she couldn't do it for long, barely a moment. The only reason she could stop time at all was that it was something she knew for a fact she could do, despite the absurd notion it was to wrap her mind around the feat. She needed time to practice and get stronger, to also reshape her way of thinking to more properly perceive this ability as only natural. And beyond that... Well, there was other potential she might be able to unlock. It was a long shot, but... No, thoughts for later.

Sighing, Mia glanced back at Morty's hotel room, frowning deeper. "It's not a confrontation any of us want, true-" Well, any that had a sense of self-preservation. "-but when Mordos awakens and finds you missing, it's a confrontation you are almost certainly going to get regardless, like it or not." Shaking her head and clicking her tongue, Mia's brow furrowed in thought. "If not us, then who is going to deal with this guy?" She rolled her jaw, closing her eyes in thought. "Maybe if we went and got the others, but would that make a difference?" Her brow then tightened, as a far more irritating thought struck her.

Opening her eyes after a moment, Mia's lip curled in distaste, as she begrudgingly suggested, "Or... we could always alert our... patron-" she practically sneered out the word. "- of the situation. Surely, one of the so-called 'most powerful witches in the world' can handle a little eviction notice like this?" She chuffed, adopting a wry smirk. "Besides, I think we technically just accomplished our half of the mission." She said to Edward. "We found out what the 'wizard' was up to here, and now Emma will have the evidence of his malintent enough to make a move, right?" Unless Morty was the 'wizard' in this situation, but Mia didn't think so. It sounded like Morty was a regular 'witch', and it was his student, Mordos, that was the 'wizard', having drawn upon fell powers from elsewhere to perform his magic. Well... they could very well both be 'wizards', but she'd need more information to make a better guess. In the meanwhile...

"It sounds like it's time for us to report back and get this settled." Really, in hindsight, wasn't this for the best? They could let Emma do all the really dangerous work and not put their own lives at risk. The more Mia thought about it, the more she preferred this option; she wouldn't have to potentially reveal her power's true nature like this.

[ArlEammon]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker

Opening her eyes after a moment, Mia's lip curled in distaste, as she begrudgingly suggested, "Or... we could always alert our... patron-" she practically sneered out the word. "- of the situation. Surely, one of the so-called 'most powerful witches in the world' can handle a little eviction notice like this?".

"Huh, one of the most powerful witches in the world? I'm curious, which Supreme is your patron? And why do you dislike them?" Mortimer asked. He was genuinely curious.

[gawwy]

As the others continue various panic attacks. Somthing else occurs to Mads

"You didn't seem to do any hand or vand vaving and there was no incantation. Is all magic that fast to execute?"

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward files that comment about sensing power and potential away, not really an immediate concern, but interesting to hear.

"I'm all for letting Emma handle this guy, who knows, he might be behind a few other disappearences and she certainly seemed confident in her power, pity she vanished without leaving any method of communication."
He turns to look at Mildred (not that he knows that's her name) "You know her right, do you have a number for her or something?"

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker


"Huh, one of the most powerful witches in the world? I'm curious, which Supreme is your patron? And why do you dislike them?" Mortimer asked. He was genuinely curious.

Pursing her lips, Mia gave it a moment of thought. "Oh? I don't know much about any 'Supremes', but I believe she called herself Emma McLaren. She's the witch that owns this hotel. As for why I dislike her?" Mia scoffed, unable to entirely conceal her discontent any longer. "Wouldn't you also be a bit miffed to be summoned to another world and enslaved with a geas to do another's bidding?" she drawled with a scowl.

[ArlEammon]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker



Pursing her lips, Mia gave it a moment of thought. "Oh? I don't know much about any 'Supremes', but I believe she called herself Emma McLaren. She's the witch that owns this hotel. As for why I dislike her?" Mia scoffed, unable to entirely conceal her discontent any longer. "Wouldn't you also be a bit miffed to be summoned to another world and enslaved with a geas to do another's bidding?" she drawled with a scowl.

"OOOOOH! Her! Well she's not the owner of the Hotel, but she's second in line after the current owner. You're in luck! As thanks for saving me from Mordos, I can set you free from the geas! Wizards are generally better at geasi and getting rid of them than other mages. By the way, Supremes are basically the Nine witches chosen to represent the witches in this dimension."

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker


"OOOOOH! Her! Well she's not the owner of the Hotel, but she's second in line after the current owner. You're in luck! As thanks for saving me from Mordos, I can set you free from the geas! Wizards are generally better at geasi and getting rid of them than other mages. By the way, Supremes are basically the Nine witches chosen to represent the witches in this dimension."

Mia's eyes widened in surprise and burgeoning elation. She hadn't thought she'd run across a solution for her biggest obstacle right now, but if this was legitimate, she'd be a fool not to accept. Sporting the first genuine smile she'd worn since arriving in this world, Mia nodded firmly. "I don't know if the others will have any reason to turn you down, but for my own part, I'll gladly accept. Thank you. Sincerely."

Even recalling the vague threat Emma had levied towards the group before parting ways about breaking free, there was no hesitation in Mia's heart. How did that saying go? She'd rather die free than live a slave? Yes, even though she wasn't certain what she'd do next, she knew that this needed to happen before anything else. Of course, she didn't dismiss Emma's threats entirely. Running away at this stage wasn't likely feasible. And besides, she still hoped to exact some sort of retribution against her captor. So, for now, the smart play was probably to pretend to still be compelled even once she was free and stick with the summoned group... at least until an opportunity to put an end to this "partnership" arose.

In the meanwhile, she carefully filed away the additional information about Emma and the Supremes that Morty had supplied, along with the apparent implication that he was also a wizard of some stripe, just like his apprentice. She mentally corrected her prior assumption of his nature. But also... "Familiar with the concept of alternate dimensions, then?" That seemed clear enough, given he'd shown no confusion over the concept of summoning people from another world. "You clearly know a lot more than us about this world. Even though you've been stuck out of the loop for a while, I don't suppose you know what's been happening to the local witches? The entire reason we were summoned is because Emma is falling into a pit of paranoia over the disappearance of members of her kind. She's been fingering wizards as a whole for being responsible, but personally, I can't help but be skeptical."

[ArlEammon]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker



Mia's eyes widened in surprise and burgeoning elation. She hadn't thought she'd run across a solution for her biggest obstacle right now, but if this was legitimate, she'd be a fool not to accept. Sporting the first genuine smile she'd worn since arriving in this world, Mia nodded firmly. "I don't know if the others will have any reason to turn you down, but for my own part, I'll gladly accept. Thank you. Sincerely."

Even recalling the vague threat Emma had levied towards the group before parting ways about breaking free, there was no hesitation in Mia's heart. How did that saying go? She'd rather die free than live a slave? Yes, even though she wasn't certain what she'd do next, she knew that this needed to happen before anything else. Of course, she didn't dismiss Emma's threats entirely. Running away at this stage wasn't likely feasible. And besides, she still hoped to exact some sort of retribution against her captor. So, for now, the smart play was probably to pretend to still be compelled even once she was free and stick with the summoned group... at least until an opportunity to put an end to this "partnership" arose.

In the meanwhile, she carefully filed away the additional information about Emma and the Supremes that Morty had supplied, along with the apparent implication that he was also a wizard of some stripe, just like his apprentice. She mentally corrected her prior assumption of his nature. But also... "Familiar with the concept of alternate dimensions, then?" That seemed clear enough, given he'd shown no confusion over the concept of summoning people from another world. "You clearly know a lot more than us about this world. Even though you've been stuck out of the loop for a while, I don't suppose you know what's been happening to the local witches? The entire reason we were summoned is because Emma is falling into a pit of paranoia over the disappearance of members of her kind. She's been fingering wizards as a whole for being responsible, but personally, I can't help but be skeptical."

"Here's the thing. I'm one of the last wizards born on planet Earth. I haven't found more than a handful of other Wizards in all my two hundred seventy five years. Wizards aren't necessarily as close knit in communities like witches are. But Mordos did say something about the witches and wizard's fate merging into one another. I don't know what that means, but Mordos DID also say something about stopping something so destructive he needed help from others to stop it. He decided instead of draining my soul, he'd need to sacrifice me if the time came for a "Double portion of his power."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Team Study - Cassie


"Well, you've all come to the right place. All I need to do now is see your expertise in action." He snaps his fingers, and you all seem to appear in the vastness of space.

George begins to panic.


"Neat"


"You didn't seem to do any hand or vand vaving and there was no incantation. Is all magic that fast to execute?"

After going wide-eyed from the sudden change of scenery, Cassie's first instinct is to look at each of her teammates to make sure they're okay. Unless George is really in dire straits, she follows Sarah's lead and remains silent until the training course starts. This place has holodeck vibes written all over it.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker


"Here's the thing. I'm one of the last wizards born on planet Earth. I haven't found more than a handful of other Wizards in all my two hundred seventy five years. Wizards aren't necessarily as close knit in communities like witches are. But Mordos did say something about the witches and wizard's fate merging into one another. I don't know what that means, but Mordos DID also say something about stopping something so destructive he needed help from others to stop it. He decided instead of draining my soul, he'd need to sacrifice me if the time came for a "Double portion of his power."

Mia's brow furrowed in thought, one hand rising to rub her chin with a thumb. "If I recall... the way Emma spoke, it was like wizards were basically extinct by the present day. She was practically hysterical over the fact that so many of them have supposed shown up in the present." Crunching some mental numbers, Mia nodded to herself. "She claimed wizards had been nothing but fairy tales since the fall of Camelot 1500 years ago, but by your reckoning, you were born less than 300 years ago." The Stand User frowned. "Emma spoke like her claim was fact, but it has to be simple ignorance, right? The local wizards never truly went extinct; they've just been laying low? And moreover, if they were always still around, they must have been making an active effort to conceal themselves from witches? I'd wonder why."

The news of Mordos's intentions brought a curdle of concern to Mia's gut, as the punk girl wondered what that could all be about. "Witches and wizards... fate merging together?" A chill crawled down Mia's spine at the word; for in the Stand User cosmology, Fate was a very real and very dangerous thing. Immediately a rather wild theory leapt to mind that the ravenette with pink streaked hair couldn't help but voice. "I wonder if the disappearances of witches are linked to that... Witches disappear while wizards reappear... Like an..." Her brow furrowed, before she briefly worried her bottom lip with her upper teeth. "Like equivalent exchange..."

Mia's eyes widened, as another thing she recalled potentially clicked into place. She snapped the fingers of her free hand, looking baffled. "Emma was practically hysterical, because she spoke of the wizards somehow knowing things they shouldn't, knowing people in ways they shouldn't. She said they were interacting with witches as if they'd known them all their lives, even when the witches didn't know them at all."

Mia paused, organizing her thoughts over the absurd conclusion she was drawing with the present information. It seemed so far-fetched, but... "Could it possibly be that the reason wizards are reappearing is because history, fate itself, is being rewritten? As the fates of both wizards and witches are being merged, the one in the majority is being exchanged for the minority, balancing them out until they become equal. The witches are distributed a share of the 'fate of extinction' wizards should have suffered, and wizards in turn are distributed the 'fate of survival' that witches once monopolized." In a lot of ways, it sounded crazy, but as absurd as it was, it actually made a certain amount of sense. She'd need to gather more evidence, but this was Mia's going theory. "I can't even... imagine how this could have started happening, the sheer power it would require... Could any wizard possibly be responsible for such a thing? And if not them, who? And why?" she wondered aloud, before snorting and rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. "Or maybe I'm just tweaking out and going on a tinfoil hat tangent." She grinned, shaking her head.

If her guess was even slightly correct, the scale of this disaster was... Well, it was almost enough for her to understand Emma's position. And then there was the cataclysm Mordos had been preparing for... Was that same event one and the same with whatever was altering Fate? Mordos had seemed like complete scum, but even scum could work with others when the world was on the line. He must be desperate. But now, assuming this cataclysm Mordos was preparing for was the same one that had caused the witches to start declining and wizards to reappear... Mia had to wonder just what result the perpetrator was even aiming for. Wizard supremacy? Witch extinction? Was it only the fates of wizards and witches being merged, or were other supernatural forces rising and falling unseen to this cataclysm?

[ArlEammon]

EDWARD

Edward files that comment about sensing power and potential away, not really an immediate concern, but interesting to hear.

"I'm all for letting Emma handle this guy, who knows, he might be behind a few other disappearences and she certainly seemed confident in her power, pity she vanished without leaving any method of communication."
He turns to look at Mildred (not that he knows that's her name) "You know her right, do you have a number for her or something?"

"Emma huh? Okay well, I can tell her what happened. I just need to get back to my apartment to my summoning circle."

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

"Thanks for the help, you had excellent timing. Before you do go, it occurs to me we never exchanged introductions, you can call me Edward."

Well, this is going in a direction Edward really didn't expect, the very stereotypically dressed witch is pretty helpful, the dangerous wizard they were meant to be spying on actually seems nicer and more informative than Emma, and something apocalyptic is happening.
Mia certainly has an interesting theory, though given she's no better informed than he is, Edward's not about to leap onto that particular train.
That offer to remove the geas is tempting, Edward isn't nearly so upset as the others, but he'd certainly rather have his freedom. Might not be worth pissing off Emma though, given that she's apparently one of the strongest witches, and therefore people, in this entire dimension, and he just asked someone to fetch her. It's not like he's been forced to do anything he wouldn't have done anyway. He doesn't say anything for now, waiting to see what Morty does.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker


"Emma huh? Okay well, I can tell her what happened. I just need to get back to my apartment to my summoning circle."

Mia was dragged from her musings by the nosey witch's words, as she nodded, acknowledging the convenience of the neighbor's aid. "I had my doubts," she said to Mildred, "but your intuition was pretty accurate. Thanks for the help." In more ways than one! If it weren't for Mildred, they might not have been able to free Morty from the mirror and earn their own freedom from the geas as his gratitude.

Speaking of which...

Mia turned her attention back to Morty. "Well, I suppose if we're going to remove the geas, it's now or never." Before Emma was given reason to arrive. "So, how does this work? Will it take long, and would you be able to get all of us?" She jabbed a finger over her shoulder at Edward and in the direction of Jason and Rowan. "Those guys were also summoned with me." Mia could admit to some internal anxiety over the matter. After all, if she lost out on this chance, who knew when another might come along.

[ArlEammon]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker



Mia was dragged from her musings by the nosey witch's words, as she nodded, acknowledging the convenience of the neighbor's aid. "I had my doubts," she said to Mildred, "but your intuition was pretty accurate. Thanks for the help." In more ways than one! If it weren't for Mildred, they might not have been able to free Morty from the mirror and earn their own freedom from the geas as his gratitude.

Speaking of which...

Mia turned her attention back to Morty. "Well, I suppose if we're going to remove the geas, it's now or never." Before Emma was given reason to arrive. "So, how does this work? Will it take long, and would you be able to get all of us?" Mia could admit to some internal anxiety over the matter. After all, if she lost out on this chance, who knew when another might come along.



Mia Mathers
Team Stalker

Mia was dragged from her musings by the nosey witch's words, as she nodded, acknowledging the convenience of the neighbor's aid. "I had my doubts," she said to Mildred, "but your intuition was pretty accurate. Thanks for the help." In more ways than one! If it weren't for Mildred, they might not have been able to free Morty from the mirror and earn their own freedom from the geas as his gratitude.

Speaking of which...

Mia turned her attention back to Morty. "Well, I suppose if we're going to remove the geas, it's now or never." Before Emma was given reason to arrive. "So, how does this work? Will it take long?" Mia could admit to some internal anxiety over the matter. After all, if she lost out on this chance, who knew when another might come along.

Mildred smiled. "My name is Mildred. It's nice to meet you, Edward." Meanwhile, Mortimer/Morty was also in a pleasant mood. "Sure why not!" Snapping his fingers, he then answered Mia's question. "Done! Normally removing a geas could take an hour or a little more, but since you already did some of the work by freeing me, the geas did not require a ritual to remove it."

[B]"Okay, that's everyone. . . Now, this Hotel and Resort is the largest in the world. Why don't we all settle down for a nice meal in. . . All of a sudden, Mordos, aka Mortimer's doppleganger could be seen staring at the team of protagonists and helpful NPCs from inside his room. . . Mildred was gone at the moment, but she was getting Emma.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Stalker


Mildred smiled. "My name is Mildred. It's nice to meet you, Edward." Meanwhile, Mortimer/Morty was also in a pleasant mood. "Sure why not!" Snapping his fingers, he then answered Mia's question. "Done! Normally removing a geas could take an hour or a little more, but since you already did some of the work by freeing me, the geas did not require a ritual to remove it."

"Okay, that's everyone. . . Now, this Hotel and Resort is the largest in the world. Why don't we all settle down for a nice meal in. . . "All of a suddenly, Mordos, aka Mortimer's doppleganger could be seen staring at the team of protagonists and helpful NPCs from inside his room. . . Mildred was gone at the moment, but she was getting Emma.


Mia inhaled sharply, suddenly feeling a metaphysical weight leave her shoulders that she hadn't even realized was there. Furthermore, maybe it was her imagination, but her thoughts almost seemed to run more smoothly. Yet, she couldn't tell what had changed. It was like whatever the geas had done, she'd not even realized what had changed. Unnerving. Still, she raised a brow at Morty's words, even as she smiled widely. "Name's Mia," she added her own introduction, because why not? She was finally in a good mood! "Hoh? So, breaking a geas has some sort of equivalent exchange aspec..."

Mia's words trailed off at the appearance of Mordos, a cold stone of dread dropping into her gut. Without hesitation, Mia found herself falling back on her Stand's perceptions, as [Star Platinum] manifested invisibly between her and Mordos. Having gone down the hallway away from the doorway, she was still too far away to reach him with her Stand, around 7 meters away. Getting closer would take precious moments... time she didn't have.

For a brief moment, it was as if time had come to a halt. Mia felt the thrum of her soul, as a deep reverberating sensation rippled out into the world, colors leeching from existence, the distant chorus of a ticking clock sounding in the back of the Stand User's consciousness. 「Star Platinum」 flashed from her position, inhumanly fast to-

"ORA-ORA-ORA-ORA-ORA!"

-tear into the white marble floor in front of her, ripping out and compressing rubble to-

Geh... It really is just a moment... barely half a second. 'Tch, time moves again.

-gether into an apple-sized ball that it cocked back like a baseball pitcher to-

Gasping for air from the effort of stopping time, her Stand's throwing motion sharply aborted, Mia's eyes widening and teeth grinding together in frustration, as she suddenly recalled that Rowan was somewhere in that area with Mordos, invisible. She didn't know enough about his powers to say if he could actually survive what she had been about to do, but if he was over there, she would no doubt hit him in the spray. "Damn it!" she quietly hissed to Edward, "I can't just fire blindly while allies are hidden!" Grinding her teeth together, chest still heaving in an effort to catch her breath, Mia could only helplessly lament that she was going to lose out in the initiative here, as she made to back up and put Edward and Morty between herself and the enemy. She ordered 「Star Platinum」, meanwhile, to help defend them, as she waited for her Time Stop cooldown to expire. It was her first time actually using the ability, and now, she fully understood why Jotaro had been strained by it. It wasn't something she could just use consecutively, not yet.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward reacts quickly, though not as fast Mia, who ripped up the floor with her telekinesis way faster than he expected, she makes a fair point about disillusionment, it doesn't seem to have helped much, though maybe they were just heard, his first action is to end the spell on Jacob, Mia and himself (Rowan never needed it).
Now for the offensive, three jets of red light leave his wand in quick succession, one to the warlock's left, another to his right and finally one in the middle. He's unsure how well it will work, on one hand this guy sure looks human, on the other hand he shrugged of Morty's ambush, so maybe he's magic resistant.

[ArlEammon]

Mister Word'sworth/The Study Group
George seems to be doing the Hokey Pokey, while the rest of the group's illusions have been dispelled. How odd.
Well anyway, George is shuffled off to a pocket dimension to finish dancing while the rest of the group moves on.
"Very well." Lindmer stated, satisfied with the other members of the team. "You have done well. Your first lessons. . . is firstly, you must learn, and speak your True Names. Learning your True Names will give you power, and thus you can invoke your True Names. As a wizard teaching you your True Names, I do not have the power to use them against you, as it is against my oaths." Taking a breath.
"This is the Book Of Enlightenment. Merely read this Book, your True Name is written in it. Speak it. None of you can hear the other's name, and I can't, not only won't control you with it." ((OOC: State your True Name in the OOC.)

[gawwy]

Mister Word'sworth/The Study Group
George seems to be doing the Hokey Pokey, while the rest of the group's illusions have been dispelled. How odd.
Well anyway, George is shuffled off to a pocket dimension to finish dancing while the rest of the group moves on.
"Very well." Lindmer stated, satisfied with the other members of the team. "You have done well. Your first lessons. . . is firstly, you must learn, and speak your True Names. Learning your True Names will give you power, and thus you can invoke your True Names. As a wizard teaching you your True Names, I do not have the power to use them against you, as it is against my oaths." Taking a breath.
"This is the Book Of Enlightenment. Merely read this Book, your True Name is written in it. Speak it. None of you can hear the other's name, and I can't, not only won't control you with it." ((OOC: State your True Name in the OOC.)

"Sure sure", says Mads as he waits patiently for his turn with the book. Slightly perturbed by George's disappearance, he would've expect him to be fine if it was indeed Emma in disguise. Maybe he had made the wrong call.

"Is he going to be ok?" he asks, feeling guilty for not taking him seriously.

"Thank you, lets see what god calls me behind my back.[B]" He says as he accepts the book.

He flips open the heavy gold tome to its first page, a minutely thin golden page with a mirror finish, he turns it to see another identical mirror. Then another, and another he pages through quicker and quicker making no progress through the book. "[B]Huh was this thing blank for anyone ellllllsss Mads trails off ass the pages flicker past impossibly fast, his reflection changing slightly each time.

The effect is hypnotizes Mads and a sense of vertigo washes over him as he falls into the fluttering pages of the book letting out an involuntary yelp.

Mads falls through the void surrounded by uncountably many earths, all rapidly approaching him as he tumbles.

Instead of hitting the floor mads is treat to a rapid progression of flashes of what he realizes to be alternate versions of himself, some from previous jumps he couldn't recall others just stood in alternative worlds, after what felt like an eternaty a word booms out searing itself across his brain.

Polymundus

Then Mads flips over one more time falling out of the book and snapping back into his body with a resounding gong, followed by silence.

His knees feely wobbly and Mads looks up to see the wizard watching him.

"oh" he lests out quietly. That was a hell of a read he says still shaken and hands the book to the next victim student.

"Whats next? I say my name right? It seems a bit weird to introduce myself a third time today but hi Im

Polymundus

[FrightKnight0]

Team Russian Stealth

Jason just about jumped a foot off the ground as his speed-reading was suddenly interrupted by the sound of pulverized stone behind him. As signals go, it was one hell of a good one. Mordos wasn't likely to have the best of intentions for them; taking in the scene, Jason reacted to the floating ball of rubble held in front of the telekine and threw out his left arm in a sweeping motion. Four of the five rings on that arm launched out in a wide arc, circling around Mordos and passing in front of the party before looping back around to Jason, a shining golden band of energy linking them as he caught the fifth ring with his right hand. He yanked back hard, attempting to throw the wizard to the ground with a savage jerking motion, before the energy dissipated and the rings flew back to his hands. He grabbed the journal from where it had fallen and scooped up the spellbook as he rushed to get clear of whatever Mia was about to do to this room with a musket-load of cracked and pulverized stone.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Team Study - Cassie

Blue text girl receives the magic book. From her perspective, Polymundus only had the thing for a second. She supposes that its pages just kind of... manifest the true name of whoever holds it?

In her case, that's all that happens. She leers at it for a second. It doesn't seem very profound at first glance.

"Cassandra Pellius Whatever."

Her first name, the one she chose for herself. Her family name, a weird anglicized spelling of the Greek Peleus, which she retained. Her Epithet, appended at the end by a witch who conjured her into a new existence. Three words, with three syllables each. She understands them all.

...she passes the book over to Sarah.

[TheAlmightyKue]

While the others were dealing with what was called the real Morty, Rowan was listening intently to the mind of Mordos with their telepathy. They wouldn't be able to hear too deep yet, this wasn't a skill they were familiar with, but they could hear the surface thoughts, and could spend time digging down deeper. It would take effort to really dig into the thoughts. But the arrival of the helpful nosey witch had broken their concentration causing them to look away from Mordos.

Suddenly Mordos was up and Rowan leaped away from Mordos but was still between the Warlock and the group. Frowning for a moment they felt the time-stop power trigger and it took a little effort to adjust to it before it ended. Rowan was never a fighter, but they possessed numerous abilities to fight now. They were still invisible and decided while they might be able to do damage to the warlock, they also needed information, perhaps more than they could glean from his sleeping mind.

Rowan would become visible as they phased through the ball of rubble that Mia had created as if it weren't there. "Trouble" they said and looked back toward the Warlock "We need information, we can't kill him." the androgynous person said to Mia "Least not yet".

[ArlEammon]

Mordos Fight

Struck by numerous stunning spells, Mordos is managing to move, though he moves with difficulty. Meanwhile, Jason knocks him to the ground with his expertly managed martial arts attack, giving Mortimer/Morty the opportunity to unleash a simply conjured lightning bolt against the demon warlock. Mordos is struck with convulsive electricity, which courses through his body, as he unleashes a demonic shriek which fills the air. Still speaking with Emma, Mildred's reinforcements still hasn't arrived yet.

Not so much hurt, so much as annoyed and infuriated, Mordos begins to stand. . .

Word'sworth

George manages to stop dancing, and waited for the Book of Enlightenment. On taking the Book, he looked into the blank pages for his name and winced. "It's George."
"George. . . ?"

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Team Russian Stealth


Mordos Fight

Struck by numerous stunning spells, Mordos is managing to move, though he moves with difficulty. Meanwhile, Jason knocks him to the ground with his expertly managed martial arts attack, giving Mortimer/Morty the opportunity to unleash a simply conjured lightning bolt against the demon warlock. Mordos is struck with convulsive electricity, which courses through his body, as he unleashes a demonic shriek which fills the air. Still speaking with Emma, Mildred's reinforcements still hasn't arrived yet.

Not so much hurt, so much as annoyed and infuriated, Mordos begins to stand. . .

Things started happening very quickly indeed, as Mia’s thoughts flew like the wind. Despite her prior concerns, the team fell into synch with admirable precision and coordination, taking Mordos to the ground with their combined efforts. Mia’s eyes narrowed at the lackluster effect of Edward’s unknown spells, however. Were those intended to be nonlethal? She shook her head, dragging her thoughts back to the present.

”I doubt we have that luxury…” she muttered to the reappeared Rowan’s assertion that taking the warlock alive was preferable. In theory, Mia would agree… In practice, now informed enough to hopefully avoid friendly fire, she didn’t hesitate for a second.

Mia lunged forward, feeling like her heart was no longer beating too fast, her breathing merely a bit deep rather than low gasps, as she changed her angle in relation to Mordos, ensuring what was behind him was largely Morty’s room, rather than the hotel’s hallway. There was a whip-crack of displaced air, as 「Star Platinum」 wound up and hurled the large handful of shattered marble it held in an underhanded throw at Mordos. The mass of rubble skipped off the smooth tiles of the hotel floor and immediately shattered violently, sending a wide, nearly supersonic spray of shrapnel tearing through the air all across Mordos’s general direction. The shower of rubble would normally violently eviscerate a mundane human. Though it might not punch through the walls of Morty’s hotel room, depending on how it was warded, there would still be quite the dangerous spray through the open doorway behind Mordos.

Whatever the result, Mia wasn’t idle. As soon as the rubble left 「Star Platinum’s」hand, her Stand flickered back to her position, overlaying her body and kicking off the floor explosively, leaving a small crater and sending Mia hurtling towards Mordos, hoping to close the distance before he could regain his bearings. Mindful of her allies, the angle of Mia’s lunge still left Mordos wide open to ranged attacks from her allies with little risk of Mia being in the crossfire as long as they had half-decent aim.

[ArlEammon]

Mordos VS Team Stealth
@Rowan
Rowan can hear the surface thoughts of Mordos. They are disturbing. In his thoughts he is massacring the party members and Mortimer in very disturbing ways with a knife. However, Mordos, taking the pelting and his skin shredding shrapnel launched at his person, was covered in unusually small wounds. . . it seemed he was regenerating very quickly. Meanwhile, he took a deep gasp of air and quickly made hand signals, casting some form of spell against his enemies. The entire apartment was suddenly pitch black, and the door slammed shut to his apartment. You could tell from his surface thoughts that he was intent on slicing the party up with his claws, which he transformed his fingers into. Suddenly, he managed to telekinetically target the enemies outside and inside the apartment, and was fiercely jerking them all inside.

Mildred's door opens on the other side of the hallway. . .

[FrightKnight0]

Team Russian Stealth VS Mordos the Demon Warlock

Jason's eyebrows lifted as the group's telekine began to close to melee combat at speed instead of throwing more rubble bombs. He followed her into the room, the darkness making him hesitate slightly, before a sudden telekinetic pressure started dragging him violently inside. Thinking fast, he spun around, swinging two quick jabs at either side of the door frame. Eight of the Ten Rings flew off his arms to embed themselves in the stonework, a network of glowing golden bands forming a cat's cradle over the door behind him and hopefully keeping anyone from outside from getting dragged into this mess. "I'll set him up, you knock him down, Mia," he said, taking a deep breath and sliding one foot in a wide arc around himself, centering himself and preparing to receive an attack from Mordos, one shimmering gold ring on each wrist, palms open. If Mordos tried to attack him, he ought to be able to hear the movement and react. The telekine who ripped stone out of the floor could definitely hit harder than he could while eight of his rings were tied up negating the warlock's attempt to turn the fight into a brawl in the dark.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward isn't all that surprised to see the warlock still moving, though it's still a little disappointing the most efficient combat spell he knows doesn't work.

As the group are pulled forwards he acts quickly, a simple transfiguration has the stone floor grow up to hold him in place, then he turns his wand on Mordos, a stream of fire blazing forth to roast the man.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Battle With Mordos

The blast of stone shrapnel hadn't hurt Mordos much, and unfortunately, it had even knocked him back from her a bit further. Yet, Mia didn't fret over that inconvenience, because the tradeoff was worth it. She now knew that less than 「Star Platinum’s」 full power was enough to hurt this guy. He was more resilient than a normal man, could even apparently regenerate... but that wouldn't matter if she got close enough to make him catch hands directly.

Does your regeneration have a limit? Shall we find out?

Mia's eyes narrowed, as the warlock flashed through somatic casting motions, filling the room he'd landed in with darkness. When the telekinetic force struck her and began yanking the Stand User forward a smidge faster, she had mixed feelings, as she fell back on her Stand's enhanced perceptions to think. On the one hand, she really didn't want to get pulled into an obvious trap- "ORA!" -which an ineffectual punch from 「Star Platinum」 to the wall beside the doorframe revealed would be hard to escape. Not to mention, there was no-one else in the room right now. If she just caught herself on the doorframe, she could stop anyone else from getting dragged in as well. She didn't know what effects the magical darkness might have either, and facing the warlock in a prepared battlefield didn't typically smack of common sense.

But on the other hand, this was exactly the direction she wanted to be going. After all...

I can't beat the hell out of you without getting closer.

Resolved to her course of action, Mia allowed herself to be dragged through the doorway, plunging into darkness, before 「Star Platinum」overlaid her body more firmly and forcibly ripped her from the telekinetic grasp with its super strength. Hovering a few inches off the floor under her own "telekinetic" power, Mia glared around the murk blindly, before a skidding noise and bloom of golden light earned a brief glance over her shoulder at the arrival of Jason to the party. The darkness obscured nearly everything, but she could at least determine Jason and the door's locations by the dim golden glow piercing through the pitch-black murk.

Hearing Jason's simple yet attractive plan, Mia chuckled and dropped to the ground, quickly shifting to stand back-to-back with the ring-bearer. Grinning ferally, she raised her fists and forearms in a tight guarding position before her face and torso, 「Star Platinum」 practically bristling in anticipation beneath her skin. "Sounds good to me," she replied, bracing herself for an incoming attack from her unseen foe. Focusing on her Stand's inhumanly keen senses, Mia listened for movement in the darkness, searched for disturbances in the air.

All the while, her grin gained a sharper edge to it, as she felt the remains of her earlier bout of lingering strain finally wear off, her body no longer aching from the new form of exertion. Time Stop was ready again, and Mia prepared to act. Centering herself, she inhaled deeply... and focused.

Remember, Mia, you can control time. You must believe in that absolute fact with unwavering conviction. It must be like breathing to you, a trivial accomplishment. You must truly believe it is only perfectly natural for you to do it, that there is nothing unordinary about the feat for you! Your strength will grow. Now that you know you can stop time, your capacity will be self-reinforced with every use. Believe that! That is the secret to mastering this power.

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan
Battle with Mordos

Rowan was reading the fiends mind, so could gather a bit of useful intel. Like his sadistic nature and his desire for pain and destruction. But also that the darkness felt good, made them feel so much stronger. This unsettled Rowan, they didn't have a darkness power, so they were not at home in the dark like Mordos. Instinctually they reached out for a source of light, finding nothing their hands erupted into blue flame that danced brightly over their skin but did not seem to affect their clothing at all. It would, unless Mordos' power devoured light or somehow obstructed it, bath the area in blue light. "He's stronger in the dark" they cried out as their hands roared with fire.

"He wants to do unspeakable things to us." they added coldly their eyes glued on the evil man before them. "Think the lady will be mad if I catch the building on fire?" they asked as an afterthought. But at least the area might be filled with light, they could see, which might help them fight.


Powers Used:
Pyrokinesis (advanced) - Blue Flame (2600 - 3000 degrees F)

[ArlEammon]

Mordos
Struck by the attacks, the multiple blows were causing him minor pains, though his body was being knocked around. As he was about to be knocked down, he struggled, successfully to keep his ground, though it took some effort.
The demon in the magical darkness was currently humanoid. He was about to transform into an arachnid demon monster, but for now, his fury towards Rowan was worst. "I'll SWALLOW YOUR SOUL!" The monster declared with an ear splitting, sonic boom for a voice. The windows burst open and all glass in the apartment shattered. The magic of the Hotel wing prevented the fires from Rowan from catching to the building it'self, but the light source was interferring a little with the monster's empowerment. Acting on his newfound opportunity, though the light then revealed that he had morphed into a large, monsterous demon, he immediately acted, biting towards Rowan and Mia with alacrity.

Mildred and Emma were walking towards the apartment, noticing the noise, which though magically contained in the apartment, was still disconcerting to anyone who heard it in the hall. Turning towards the pitch black, red flickering apartment, Emma scowled. Meanwhile, the fire spell cast from Edward was causing little harm to the magical fire demon.

[gawwy]

Team Study


Word'sworth

George manages to stop dancing, and waited for the Book of Enlightenment. On taking the Book, he looked into the blank pages for his name and winced. "It's George."
"George. . . ?"

Mads looks quizzically at George, "So you embody the archetype of George, interesting, I probably owe you an apology then. I was totally expecting you to be Emma in disguise. But Kinda hard to fool a truename. Wait does that mean you control the taxation of land?"

After giving George a chance to respond he looks to Wordsworth.
"Not going to lie was expecting the first lesson to be somthing like, go kill a dozen wolves or somthing, learning truenames is pretty sweet. Whats next on the books teach?"

[JNAProductions]

"..."

"Huh," Sarah finally says. "That's... Something."

[ArlEammon]

Team Study


Mads looks quizzically at George, "So you embody the archetype of George, interesting, I probably owe you an apology then. I was totally expecting you to be Emma in disguise. But Kinda hard to fool a truename. Wait does that mean you control the taxation of land?"

After giving George a chance to respond he looks to Wordsworth.
"Not going to lie was expecting the first lesson to be somthing like, go kill a dozen wolves or somthing, learning truenames is pretty sweet. Whats next on the books teach?"

George wonders how to answer Mad's question. "I guess."
"For now, learning the True Names is all there is. You have a day to do whatever else you want."

[gawwy]

George wonders how to answer Mad's question. "I guess."
"For now, learning the True Names is all there is. You have a day to do whatever else you want."

I would like to spend at least a portion of my day being briefed on this apocalypse that needs canceling? Seems like zee most important thing. Details too please, I do hate playing zee pronoun game.

[ArlEammon]

I would like to spend at least a portion of my day being briefed on this apocalypse that needs canceling? Seems like the most important thing. Details too please, I hate playing the pronoun game.

"Ah. Okay. Well, I don't know how to put this in layman's language. . . The forces of reincarnation and destiny are at odds."
"No. That's not it. Okay, here's something as simple as I can make it. There are deities of different worlds that are very powerful."
"Imagine, if you will, that there are many diplomatic problems between rulers, in this instance, rulers of entire dimensions."
"Something very very bad is going to happen soon that no one is likely to stop, and relations between rulers is not likely to improve."
"So, us wizards are a sort of an army of "mitigation" so to speak."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Team Study - Cassie

Cassie listens intently to the cagey wizard. On the inside, she's kicking herself for actually saying her name when she could have held back as Sarah did.

"Um, you keep saying something is going to happen, but you're avoiding saying what it is... is that because the something is a secret, or because you don't really know? Or is it that you don't know, but it's a secret that you don't know, so you have to act like you know...?"

[ArlEammon]

Team Study - Cassie

Cassie listens intently to the cagey wizard. On the inside, she's kicking herself for actually saying her name when she could have held back as Sarah did.

"Um, you keep saying something is going to happen, but you're avoiding saying what it is... is that because the something is a secret, or because you don't really know? Or is it a secret that you don't know?"

"I know of many things that COULD happen. Only a few of these things are certain to happen. Soon, a magical asteroid, which is already nearing Sol, will merge dimensions and infuse the entire universe with magical energy. We don't know when the comet's power will merge the realms, whether it will be before it even enters Sol, or it could even be in a few years."

"The Benefactor, and other Higher Powers know that the merging worlds will happen. Soon. Just not precisely when. When that happens, The Merging will change the very species of intelligent Humans, may even change the laws of physics and create talking, intelligent animals out of the normal beasts, and cause great chaos." He takes another breath. "We must make sure to stall this if possible, to prevent the loss of lives, the fall of governments, and other unfortunate events that will occur as a fallout of this."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Merging?" Cassie blinks. "Um, so... you say it's going to happen soon, as in, you don't think it's already happened? Is happening?"

She pauses as though for a response, but there aren't a lot of things Wordsworth can say to change her follow-up.

"...how long have you been cooped up in this hotel?"

[ArlEammon]

"Merging?" Cassie blinks. "Um, so... you say it's going to happen soon, as in, you don't think it's already happened? Is happening?"

She pauses as though for a response, but there aren't a lot of things Wordsworth can say to change her follow-up.

"...how long have you been cooped up in this hotel?"

"I don't think it's happened yet, no. I've not been here long. Mortimer has. Perhaps one year for me."

[gawwy]

"Merging?" Cassie blinks. "Um, so... you say it's going to happen soon, as in, you don't think it's already happened? Is happening?"

She pauses as though for a response, but there aren't a lot of things Wordsworth can say to change her follow-up.

"...how long have you been cooped up in this hotel?"


"I don't think it's happened yet, no. I've not been here long. Mortimer has. Perhaps one year for me."


Are you thinking that our showing up here is the start of the merging Cassie?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Or the middle, if he's been here a whole year. I... don't want to sell anyone out, but she basically admitted she doesn't know the whole story, so..."

Great, now Cassie is playing the pronoun game, too. What fun.

"But, also," she looks to Wordsworth, "there must be situations where worlds interact more predictably, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't know about them at all! So, another witch or wizard like you might have the power to move between them, or summon people from one to another..."

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Battle With Mordos

The explosive entrance of Rowan as well to the fray came with the welcome addition of a searing blue glow that finally served to drive back the darkness enough to see their opponent. Mia’s eyes narrowed at the confident warning declaration from Rowan that the apparent demon -who was rapidly shedding his human guise and shrugging off both Rowan and Edward’s flames- was also stronger in the darkness. That didn’t really surprise her at this point, annoying as it was, but now that she could see clearly again…

Mia grinned in anticipation, raising her guard further, as she watched Mordos morph into a large, looming arachnid monster. The boom of his wrathful roar was muted by her Stand’s protective overlay of her body, preventing her eardrums from breaking or ringing from the thunderous noise. The opportunity Mordos sought to capitalize on after his attempted(?) stunning strike therefore made the unaffected Mia… a poor target.

As the fangs of the demon’s mandibles came within a foot of Mia, a deep rippling sensation leeched color from reality for the second time. In a world of greyscale, it would perhaps be only Rowan able to perceive that only Mia remained in color and moving in this effect.

“You’re in my range...”

"OOWREAHH!"

A thunderous, lightning-fast counterattack was aimed at the frozen Mordos from below, an uppercut with enough force to send even cars hurtling through the sky now aimed to lift the giant demonic arachnid completely off his feet and suspend him above Mia, held captive and hopefully helpless to escape her continued attacks or those of her allies.

Despite having less than a second to stop time, 「Star Platinum」 was fast enough to spell doom for nearly anyone in melee, especially a non-speedster. Even if by some misfortune the demon was able to move in stopped time, it wouldn’t matter. It had failed to dodge the shrapnel before, and 「Star Platinum」 was wildly faster by comparison to an attack it had been actively holding back on.

"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!"

Super-speed, super-strength and utterly inhuman precision acted in concert, as 「Star Platinum」 held nothing back, unleashing a furious barrage of attacks that individually could have shattered diamonds and compromised the structural integrity of a large building from just the impact tremors. And every last blow was thrown with deadly, targeted purpose.

"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!"

Eyes were aimed to be punctured and splattered with precision finger stabs. Fangs were aimed to be violently wrenched from flesh with hooked blows. The Stand’s selective tangibility went into play to completely ignore the demon’s likely more durable exterior and attack its internal organs directly. A barrage of blows went for the brain to try and inflict a disorienting, disabling concussion or worse, aimed to puncture and rupture the venom gland, stabbed at joints with knife-hand strikes and generally aimed to wreak complete internal havoc, as-

The passage of time resumes.

-a further series of thunderous supportive blows would continue to rip upwards to do Mia’s best to try and completely juggle the demon midair and punch actual holes in its outer layer, not ceasing her attacks for a single moment in her merciless, brutal assault. All the while, the Stand paid attention to grab its target and wrench the demon back every few attacks, so that Mordos wouldn’t get the chance to be sent flying out of its range from the force of its own blows and break the attempted stun-lock.

.6 seconds that time. Nowhere close to Jotaro’s learning rate, but that I’m improving at all is already a win.

Releasing a gasp of exertion and sucking wind, Mia’s chest heaved once more from the effort of stopping time. Yet, despite the objective potentially deadly stakes of this fight, the gleeful smile on her lips was something she could not deny, the sheer hype of the experience of using such a power -of feeling tangible improvement- filling her with an incomparable elation, a joy that made her soul sing. Grinning wildly, she bellowed to her allies in a rallying cry, “Don’t hold back! Let that parasite have it!”

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Apparently in this world, fire isn't the solution to regeneration, how could decades of rpgs have misled him so cruely.

Physical violence seems to be having more effect than spells, which does make sense in hindsight, this guy overpowered their new wizard friend (Edward is rather doubtful of Emma's assumptions that the wizards are behind all her problems, though it Mortos here was pretending to be one, it's an understandable conclusion).
He can work with that, he's a master of transfiguration, a sweep of his wand and over a dozen iron daggers appear in the air before him, conjured from nothing, a sharp jab sends them speeding towards Mortos' restrained body.
He's not entirely sure if they count as the Cold Iron Mordy mentioned, but they've never felt a forge's heat, a moment ago they were nothing, now they are iron.

[FrightKnight0]

VS: MORDOS

Rowan pulling aggro was something Jason hadn't anticipated, but the higher level of light in the room and the cessation of the spider-demon's telekinetic pull meant that he could go from reacting to acting. He wasn't sure what all Mia had done to the creature, but he aimed to not give it time to rally. Recalling the rings from the wall, he let them fly through the air behind him as his soft stance melted into something harder, his legs swiftly propelling him towards the creature and into the air. All ten rings gathered behind him like a halo before flying out beneath him as he leapt. With an acrobatic flip, he kicked down on one ring, lined up with the center of the spider-creature, and golden light flared from it to the other nine as they all slammed down, nine rings slamming into the floor as the tenth hurtled towards Mordos's back, a shimmering mystical net that would hopefully keep the creature occupied for a moment, holding it in the path of Edward's transfigured blades.

[ArlEammon]

The Fight Between Mordos And The Others
Emma witnessed the fight between The Archwarlock and the protagonists, as well as Mortimer. She tapped her fingers on the side of the door into Mortimer's entrance. Mordos snarled from the vicious barrage of physical assaults. The cold iron daggers, the martial arts of Mia and Jason, and other attacks seemed to be doing a number on him. Mortimer resumed casting his thunder bolts at the arachnid demon, and it seemed as if victory was a foregone conclusion. Though as a monstrous demon he was healing past all injury. Finally, the monster shrieked again as hotel security slowly made their way through the Hotel corridors. "ENOUGH!!!" Mordos screamed in a demonic roar. "PLAY TIME IS OVER!" The demon spider's maw opened, this time ejecting a purple miasma. Emma hand waved a ward shielding the Hotel corridors from the cursed miasma, and the magic of the attack was debilitating. It would instantly drain the protagonist's life force if they didn't have a counter for it, not killing them but instantly boosting his own life force. Meanwhile, Mildred, attempting to be helpful, pointed her wand towards the miasma and launched what only be described as "magic missiles", five of them to be precise, which honed in on Mordos, pelting him and causing him sufficient annoyance to wince a little, buying the protagonists time to either counter his assault or try something else.

[gawwy]

"I don't think it's happened yet, no. I've not been here long. Mortimer has. Perhaps one year for me."



"But, also," she looks to Wordsworth, "there must be situations where worlds interact more predictably, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't know about them at all! So, another witch or wizard like you might have the power to move between them, or summon people from one to another..."


Are you thinking that our showing up here is the start of the merging Cassie?


"Or the middle, if he's been here a whole year. I... don't want to sell anyone out, but she basically admitted she doesn't know the whole story, so..."

Great, now Cassie is playing the pronoun game, too. What fun.



Actually that's a really good question Cassie. Mads turns to Words'worth, How many parallel realities are there here? Would you permit me to touch you to see if i can find alternate you's?

[ArlEammon]

"But, also," she looks to Wordsworth, "there must be situations where worlds interact more predictably, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't know about them at all! So, another witch or wizard like you might have the power to move between them, or summon people from one to another..."

"yes. That is an accurate assumption."


"Or the middle, if he's been here a whole year. I... don't want to sell anyone out, but she basically admitted she doesn't know the whole story, so..."

Great, now Cassie is playing the pronoun game, too. What fun.

Actually that's a really good question Cassie. Mads turns to Words'worth, How many parallel realities are there here? Would you permit me to touch you to see if i can find alternate you's?

"There aren't a lot of alternate realities. More like, extra dimensions, if that makes sense. But yes. Go ahead."

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward's first reaction to the fog is defensive, with a thought a Shield Charm pops up around him, the sphere of magic blocking the fog from getting close. He then attempts to Vanish it.

[gawwy]

"yes. That is an accurate assumption."



"There aren't a lot of alternate realities. More like, extra dimensions, if that makes sense. But yes. Go ahead."

Thank you, Mads takes Wordsworth's hand and could sense his fatigue from the days activity, He explored that and found a catalog of similar scenes across myriad realities, mostly clustered around this hotel, but three very close and distinctly different, one darker, one shattered as if reflected in a broken mirror and one distorted, ethereal and dreamlike... Interesting.

I can take that fatigue from you if you want? I can find someone deserving of it later. offering a service to Wordsworth as a small thanks for his truename.

No I would like to sleep well tonight thank you. the wizard replied.

Mads shrugs and lets go of the elderly hand.

All right, many overlapping branches here in the hotel, and 3 distinct other dimensions, all distorted slightly. Id like to learn to walk those distorted ones in the future. But I suppose we have used enough of your time today. Unless my companions have anything else to ask Ill return tomorrow for further tuition.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

"Yeah," Cassie says to Mads. She resists the urge to start pacing again. "This... is already a lot to think about. Um, thanks."

She nods to Wordsworth to excuse herself before turning to leave.

[gawwy]

"Yeah," Cassie says to Mads. She resists the urge to start pacing again. "This... is already a lot to think about. Um, thanks."

She nods to Wordsworth to excuse herself before turning to leave.

Team not very stealthy but actually managed to study.

"I think ve should try and find the others? reception told us where morty was staying ja? We might find them there, we should be careful on zee approach. Ve vouldn't want to mess up their, literally, super powered stealth skills. Ja? Should be just a short way that way.

Mads waves a hand toward where he thinks morty the mutes room is.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
Battle With Mordos

They were hurting him, quite a lot even, but Mia had to click her tongue in dissatisfaction at how fast he was healing through it. She'd known he could regenerate before, but seeing the demon shrug off even this much of a concentrated assault definitely gave her earlier enthusiasm a bit of pause.

A new bellow escaped Mordos's maw, and Mia's eyes widened at the sight of a purple smog beginning to billow out. Watching the world through 「Star Platinum's」 accelerated perceptions, Mia felt like she was moving glacially, as she began to step back. Her Stand sent another uppercut the demon's way, aiming to break his jaw and slam it shut, hopefully cutting off -or mitigating- the spew of fog. As her Stand did so, she paid attention to the effects of its hand passing through the miasma of unknown purpose, which were...

Nothing?

Not as far as she could tell anyway. Her Stand's hand wasn't even itching from the contact. If it actually did anything, it was an effect too subtle for her to waste her time worrying over right now. Instead, seeing the spread of the mist and not being assured of her allies having similar safety from its effects, she had 「Star Platinum」 stop "juggling" Mordos with its barrage, stick its face into the mist before the miasma could reach Mia, and take a deep breath.

Although "taking a deep breath" might have been putting it lightly, as a titanic suction force began to fill the room. 「Star Platinum's」 chest expanded from the effort, as a powerful wind began to filter the room's gaseous contents. Before the eyes of others, it would appear that the miasma was being drawn and compressed into a pair of "telekinetic" containers in the shape of a pair of lungs, the fog being filtered from the air into the pair of dense dark-purple masses. All the while, the Stand made sure not to trap the air as well, letting any benign gas it sucked in simply pass through its "lungs" intangibly.

Stepping back further with a look of concentration on her face, still breathing heavily from the aftereffects of stopping time, Mia shouted to her allies, "I need to focus on this, but don't stop!" She would continue to have 「Star Platinum」 suck up the miasma as long as Mordos kept spewing it, her Stand's super-strong lungs sufficient to continue forcibly compressing the likely dangerous gas into its body for safe containment. Unfortunately, this would lower her capacity to keep attacking, but it was better than allowing the demon to have his way.

[ArlEammon]

Emma Does Something Else

"Get out of my Hotel." Emma states simply, but forcefully. The force of her command seems to bind Mordos to obey her will, against his own. A red mist puffs into existence around Mordos, and the spider demon's physical form is burned away, as if by fire. The monstrous warlock creature screams out some unintelligible curse as he burns away from Emma's spell. Just then an earthquake seems to shake around the entire hotel and resort. Divine protection protects the Resort and Hotel, though the Phoenix area appears to be undergoing a violent devastation. All the protagonists seem to be feeling a strange change in their very souls. All protagonists who don't have a True Name yet suddenly receive their True Names (OOC, give your True Name.), and earn another power set.

[gawwy]

Team study - Mads

Mads and the gang turn up anticipating a fully contained situation with team stealth doing some machiavellian ****.

Instead they are briefly treated to a scene of demonic chaos.

Then Emma issues an edict banishing the demon.

And everything goes to hell.

"What did he just curse us all with? Is this it? The Apocalypse the old man warned of kicked of already?"

Somthing beats in Mads soul...

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Rejoining the Party - Cassie

"...I take this to mean your wizard wasn't as friendly as ours?"

As Cassie catches her footing, she looks at the dissipating smoke where the monster used to be, then at McLaren, then Mia, standing triumphantly but exhausted, like she did all the work. Only now does Cassie realize that everyone else is grappling with something internally. Cassie noticed it for herself, too. She was writing it off to her morphogenic matrix being weird, but now it's starting to get exhausting.

"Hey! Are you all okay? Let's find somewhere we can lie down..." She looks around, remembers again that we're literally in a hotel, and gets the nearest door open - coincidentally the same door that Demon Morty had previously commandeered. She then ushers in anyone else who looks like they're feeling faint. There is an 80% chance that this will mean George and no one else, but still.

Once George is on the bed, Cassie takes in more of the surroundings. This will probably include the mirror, the phone and papers that fell off the desk in the quake... and the window. Our first opportunity to see what's going on outside.

[ArlEammon]

Mortimer, explaining
"Mordos, the doppleganger that imprisoned me in the mirror. He unleashed a spell that merged the Hotel with the other words. The resort is now the focal point of the new universe. He's said he might do this for a while but he was holding off to stop the very same Apocalypse he just now brought." Emma laughed. "Oh great! That's just divine."
@Mads/DrGunsforHands
He can see that some cracks are opening, swallowing cars, trees, animals, and people, not to mention entire buildings on occasion. The wind is also storming, and nowhere is safe. Panic is the order of the day.
However, within a few agonizing moments, it will all be mercifully over.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
The Apocalypse Arrives

Thankfully, Edward was similarly on the ball, and a wave of his wand seemed to vanish the purple mist Mia was helping contain into nothing. Grinning, Mia had 「Star Platinum」 raise its arms into a boxing stance, ready for round two, as the demonic Mordos grew even more cornered by the group's concentrated efforts.

Only now, Emma seemed to finally deign to act, and with a single plainly mystical command from the witch, Mia could only watch with both satisfaction and wariness the sight of the demon howling in defeat and burning away to nothingness. Lacking any particular proficiency for the mystical, Mia could only speculate what that spell had actually been. Had it been some sort of disintegration, or was it a banishment spell, sending the demon back where he came from? One of those was markedly more concerning than the other, and Mia once more felt resolved that patience in ever potentially getting revenge was the right stance to take. For all that she despised Emma, she wasn't fool enough to dismiss her tangible power.

Still breathing deeply from the aftereffects of her time stop, Mia sighed in relief and turned to the rest of the group, hearing the clamor of footsteps and noting that at some point in that mess, it seemed the other half of the summoned group had arrived as well. Chuckling, Mia shot them a small, tired wave and quirk of her lips, drawling, "Sorry, didn't save any excitement for you." Her tone indicated she was more bantering than expressing any form of regret, as the Stand User rolled her shoulder and arched her back in a small stretch. "Geez, well, that sure was braci-"

Whatever she was about to say was cut off by the sudden shaking of the ground. The violent shaking began to send the room’s effects flying every which way, making a mess of the area. Distantly, Mia could hear Mads shouting about the demon cursing them, but she didn’t think the demon had anything to do with this; this was more likely bad luck.

Regardless, Mia staggered to one knee, the rumbling of the ground thrumming through her bones, and then, she felt her soul swell and sing from a nearly indescribable sensation. She sucked in a sharp breath, as a word, a phrase, a name boiled into her consciousness. It felt like it had come from within, and she instinctively understood that it referred to her with mystical import.

Ketsui no Tamashii

The meaning -the translation- came to her easily, and she found the strength to smirk right before the world suddenly and irrevocably changed. Mia staggered again, as a physical change struck her with the spirtual. In many ways, she didn’t seem to have changed at all, but in a ripple, it was as if all the little imperfections and deficiencies in her body had ceased to exist, granting her an unearthly sort of beauty even in spite of her rough, punk manner of dress.

Mia had once heard the phrase ‘how does one describe color to the blind?’… or something to that effect anyway. But now… oh, only now did she truly understand. It hit her like 12 shots of vodka. Not that she’d ever drunk alcoholic beverages before, but she imagined the allegory was apt. It was like sensory overload without the overload, and her body felt fresh and light as a feather, the dregs of her exhaustion suddenly wiped from her as if they’d never existed.

The difference… it truly was hard to describe, to suddenly be of the most distinct opinion that she’d been comparatively blind and deaf all her life. 20/20 vision… didn’t even begin to cover it. The world seemed to move in slow motion, as crisp details and colors struck Mia’s sight in ways that had her eyes widening even more just to take it all in, the invisible spectrum of light now blazing across her awareness without impeding her understanding of what others without it saw. The world seemed to move in slow motion; yet, she had no trouble perceiving it at a manageable speed, nor comprehending the concerned words of Cassie.

The rest of her senses were no less refined, to the point that it was just ridiculous. She could feel the movements of the air so acutely that the disturbances caused by others merely moving stood out to her spacial awareness, along with the heat of their bodies radiating around them. Meanwhile, she could taste the freaking air, and she wasn’t yet sure if she found that exceptionally cool or incredibly creepy.

Mia looked down at her hands -several shades paler than she remembered, and her vision was suddenly picking out the smallest details on a level that was… frankly microscopic, an alien, crystalline lattice now seeming to have replaced her flesh. She had an instinctive understanding that her skin was now… oddly reflective… though not enough to show up under anything but direct sunlight. To mundane eyes, it would look perfectly normal -if pale, but to Mia and her Stand, it practically glimmered.

There was a low, distant burn in the back of her throat, but she shoved it down with strangely practiced ease, despite having never practiced it at all. In the back of her mind, she understood what this was instinctively, the same way she’d intuitively understood how to use her Stand, but in the forefront of her awareness, she found herself having to make a serious effort to parse through all she was sensing and pull herself back to the present.

The Stand User’s gaze turned to the shattered window, and to an outside observer, it was almost a blink-and-you-miss-it motion, a snapping blur she’d moved in without fully comprehending it till after the fact. Yet Mia was more concerned with the ongoing devastation outside the hotel.

The distant screams of the fearful and dying people reached her, echoing even from miles away, as her eyes beamed the scenes of violent death and destruction straight into her mind with permanence and veritable 4k resolution. The thunderous noise of calamity threatened to drown out the voices; yet, Mia found her hearing providing a cold clinical parsing capacity, her mind operating with a speed that left her earlier capabilities wildly in the dust to commit every last detail to her now perfect memory. And all the while, she found the increasingly large and disturbingly tantalizing and unmistakable smell of blood wafting upon the wind with sinful temptation.

Swallowing the burn in her throat with a mouthful of venom, Mia found herself taking a moment longer than she’d have liked to rip her gaze from the sight outside and refocus on the people she was with, feeling no small amount of relief that none of them had been injured in the earlier clash with the demon. She wasn’t entirely concerned that the presence of blood would have incited… irrational actions from her, but she didn’t particularly fancy the distraction or temptation at this moment.

"What." The flat word escaped her lips as less of a question and more a statement of her disbelief and shock, not just at what was happening but at what Morty was saying.

Only now did she truly understand the scale of what the wizard had meant when he claimed that Mordos could “merge dimensions”, but she still found it hard to believe he was this powerful after the way he’d been getting bullied by the group’s teamwork… Then again, maybe- No, this was just ridiculous! How the hell could he pull something like that off with such a short casting time?! Had he simply had the spell preprepared and waiting for a trigger? For the scale of what it was, that was the only thing that made sense to Mia, and for her own sanity, it was what she would choose to believe until told otherwise. Not to mention, but she had so many questions about how this latest empowerment had occurred. Though she hadn’t questioned her good fortune before, she’d thought the powers they arrived with would be all they would get, but this… What the hell was this?

Gritting her teeth, Mia shot a glance back outside the window, hands tightly curling into fists in frustration and unease at the situation. "Should we... do something about that? Anything at all?" Could they, even? Though she asked the question, even with this new burst of empowerment, she wasn’t sure how much she could help beyond racing back and forth to grab civilians and deposit them safely inside the hotel. Even stopping time would do little more than delay the inevitable with how short her duration was.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

There's an interesting thought. Cassie's first thought was to stay put until the shaking stops and to help recover from the aftermath as a community. That's how normal people deal with natural disasters! But then, she's not a normal person anymore, and this disaster is far from natural.

"Right. Yeah! We should!" Cassie starts pacing again as she thinks of where to start. "The other wizard said that this would be happening to the whole world soon. Dimensions merging, I mean. He made it sound like it'd be from a meteor, though, not a curse by some guy."

Her pacing brings her to the room's kitchenette. The cutlery drawer was left half-open by the quake. She grabs a knife.

"You say the hotel is the focal point. What does that mean? Is there any chance we can move the whole building? Center it somewhere else?"

She returns to the window while she waits for a reply. This still isn't an ideal time to be doing science to herself, but she might not get another chance for a while and she really needs something to do with her hands right now. She grabs a lock of her hair and starts sawing it off.

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan

It had happened so quickly. First, the darkness that had consumed all of their visions. Which Rowan had tried to mitigate as best they could with their flames. Then came the fog, the miasma that this demon spewed forth, which Rowan would assume their flames wouldn't do anything to. They were quite sure they could fly over the fog, but with the demon being a demon, fire likely wouldn't do much in the way of damage. It was becoming clear they would need to do something to handle this growing threat.

Then in a flurry of actions, the situation found itself semi-resolved. Emma the witch who had brought them here had made herself useful and cast some form of magic against the demon. He writhed and shrieked as red mist acted like fire, but was not, destroying him. But his curse seemed to trigger a change, the earthquake, and Rowan fell to their knee.

But as they landed on their knee the world changed. No, that wasn't accurate the world didn't change, they changed and the world stayed the same, but wholly changed. Their body ached with a false memory of burning pain, like recalling an old injury, but an injury that Rowan had never known themselves. Looking down at their hands still engulfed with brilliant blue flames Rowan took stock of the changes in an instant. Their skin was different, human cells were replaced with this unknown crystalline structure that mimicked human skin in appearance but not qualities. They became acutely aware that their senses allowed them to range out beyond themselves in a way that they couldn't previously.

Rowan could hear the beat of every heart in the room, minute that of Mia. Mia's scent was different from the humans around them as well. Rowan's new instincts told them that Mia was a potential threat. Without even finishing the thought Rowan was on their feet and across the room from Mia their eyes locked on Mia. But seemingly as fast as this had occurred Rowan had appraised the room and threat and relaxed.

The fire in their hands felt odd, not painful by any stretch, but warm, pleasantly so. Rowan lifted their hand again and while one hand lost its fire the other retained it. They were enthralled by the look of fire in their hand, how the light made their skin sparkle in ways that no other human eye could hope to see. As Mia and the others spoke Rowan too noticed the burning in their throat, like someone had poured acid down their throat. It was saturating and consuming, but not unmanageable. It just took a measure of focus to push it from their thoughts. But the very clear swallowing of a mouthful of venom was a sign to any in the know that the thirst was not something Rowan was expected to have to deal with.

Looking around at the others, aware of the blood thumping through their bodies Rowan's vision lingered on them for a second too long before speaking. “Is there any way to stop it, any way to stop its spread at the very least?” Their voice was clear, perfect, alluring by design. The emotional atmosphere would wash over them and Rowan felt the fear and anxiety of the people outside, though distant. And the feelings of the group now around them. “We need to do something, they're terrified”

[gawwy]

Mads looks out following Rowans indication of fear and searches for people. Finding one he focus on them sadly, he sees a flicker of himself, no a different him, near them. Then suddenly he's next to them, and in the window looking out too. The perspective confused him but the terrified screams focused him on the terrified people

" Ve are here to help Ja? He shouted, before grabbing the closest person and teleporting them back to the hotel.

Get them somewhere safe he shouts to the team as he teleports out to get another. And another. The multiple viewpoints make him dizzy at first, but the five meat brains compensate quickly. He quickly starts dropping of displaced persons to the room.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
The Calamity Arrives

A flicker of movement drew Mia's gaze to snap to the figure of Rowan, her nostrils near imperceptibly flaring, as she came to several unnerving realizations all at once. The inhuman speed and grace, the distinctly different smell (also decidedly nonhuman), the lack of heartbeat or body heat, the far too familiar crystalline makeup of their skin and the brief surge of hostilitythreatcompetitor? All of it served to make her eyes narrow to an infinitesimal degree towards the being she realized was suddenly also a fellow vampire. Their gaze was locked on her, and she instinctively met it for a moment that was likely quite a bit longer and tenser for them than others in the room. Mia felt herself bristling, hackles rising for a moment, before she made an effort to shove them down and break the stare. She wasn't sure where her own wariness ended and her new instincts began, but she didn't need them intruding right now; the last thing they needed was infighting.

Instead, she focused her attention on Cassie, even as she couldn't help but make sure to keep Rowan somewhere in the corner of her vision at all times. She was sure Rowan had about as much choice in this change as she did -which was to say, none at all, and so showing them hostility would be completely unwarranted. Caution, however? Understanding what they both were and how dangerous another of her kind could be without great self-control? Well, that was more reasonable, far from offensive, perhaps even a matter of course and natural form of respect.

Cassie's words were informative, but Mia wasn't certain how helpful they were to her right now. She couldn't presently cast any magic that she was aware of, so she doubted there was much she could do to mystically interfere with the catastrophe. And as Mads teleported out and back in with a rescue with no apparent hesitation, Mia frowned and decided there were better ways to make herself useful than listen to Cassie questioning Morty.

As Rowan exclaimed in concern about the people outside, Mia snorted and practically glided around Cassie to the shattered window in an almost liquid motion, nimbly slipping into the open frame. A casual brush of her hand along the window frame sheered off any remaining jagged glass, clearing it for safe traversal of those with lesser durability. Glancing over her shoulder, she said, "Then less talking and more doing something yourself." Quickly glancing between the Mads that remained in the hotel room and the… multiple Mads now appearing outside in the chaos, Mia briefly snapped out, "Hey, keep an eye on the sky. I'm gonna be sending you some fastballs to catch!" And with an explosive kick, Mia was leaping out into the storm in a flickering blur.

Flickering through the storm, Mia resisted the urge to hold her breath, as the smell of blood intensified all around her. Despite the temptation it offered, her sense of smell was one of her most powerful tools at this moment, and with it, she could easily hunt down the injured and the trapped.

Her first target was a large fissure that was crumbling open down a busy street, swallowing people, vehicles and people inside said vehicles alike. The screams of terror and pain echoed in her ears, and as she got a better angle within mere moments, she could see down the fissure. She could spot the sight of cars wedged into the widening gap, some several dozen meters down, others deeper and still others in mid-fall. Thoughts flying, Mia determined priorities and acted.


"「Star Platinum: The World」!"

As color leeched from reality and brought with it a blessed dead silence, Mia exploded into motion, passing by several cars falling down the gap. In a flash, her hands -now imbued with inhuman strength- reached out in concert with her Stand to easily tear off car doors with shrieks of metal and cast them aside. Seatbelts were casually snapped like rubber bands, and passengers frozen in states of terror were ripped free and with utmost precision from her Stand to be-

-yeeted high into the sky in powerful arcs in the direction of the hotel, hopefully in clear view of either Mads or anyone else on the team that could catch them. Due to her Stand's utmost precision, Mia was able to throw them without risking snapping their necks from the act, and this, she determined, was the most efficient rescue strategy for her.

For ultimately, she didn't have the time to waste running back and forth between the hotel and rescues. People would die in the interim, and if she just left people out here right near whatever immediate danger she'd saved them from, it was likely they'd just get caught in another long before they could hope to reach the safety of the hotel. The best thing she could do, therefore, was to make them clearly visible for rescue. After all, for all that Mads could teleport, she wasn't sure he had any sensory powers that would let him hunt people down to rescue in the first place. As for Mia? Well, given what she was now, "hunting people" was one of the things she did best.

A thundercrack of footsteps accompanied Mia bounding like a pinball around the innards of the earthen fissure, diving deeper to rip people out of the cars that had fallen, before pulling them to the surface and giving them a similar yeet. The smell of blood was so intense around them that she found herself a little more concerned for their well-being, but she didn't have time to stop. She could speculate, however, that the cars that had actually fallen had likely resulted in their occupants suffering some form of bodily trauma. Mia wasn't a healer though, so whether they lived or died wasn't something she could generously affect beyond this much aid. She could stop them from being crushed in the earth or being buried and dying slowly alone, but if their injuries were too great to survive regardless, then she'd done all she could.

All the while, Mia couldn't help but marvel a bit. She felt the frozen wind slicing past her, as she moved like quicksilver. The world blurred around her and yet remained defined and perfectly perceptible to her inhuman gaze and that of her Stand. She had already blurred down 200-foot strip of roadway, and her time stop was only just beginning to wane. She could have moved faster, of course, if she were running at a dead sprint and not delayed by needing to pull people out of cars and throw them at safer speeds, but she still boggled at the difference in efficiency being a vampire made for her time stop. Even the miniscule amount of time she did have was suddenly vastly more effective than anything even DIO could have hoped to have.

You hear that, you glorious bastard? I may not be as versatile, but in this respect, in the power you took the most pride in, I'm inherently superior... and using the Stand of the one that killed you at that. Hah, how that must burn like the sun, I bet! She paused for a moment, feeling a familiar sensation. .7 seconds now. Despite becoming a vampire, it doesn't seem to have increased my improvement rate... but I suppose that makes sense. There's still a critical mental element to it. Confirmation bias might be working both for and against me.

Her time stop was drawing to a close more quickly now, color beginning to leech back into the world, as movement and madness resumed. Glancing back over her shoulder, Mia spied the people she'd rescued, currently frozen in time, unknowing of their fates. 48 lives now hung in the balance of the rest of the group's reflexes, and there would only be more to come. Because all of this had occurred inside one objective second of time, and Mia wasn't even close to done rescuing people.

She'd keep an eye out and try and catch anyone the other failed to, but for now? Mia smirked and turned to keep sprinting, now largely aiming for the cars and people on the road that had yet to fall into the fissure but were in imminent danger of it.

"Time begins to move again."


From an outside perspective, it was as if Mia was a nigh invisible distant blur one moment, heading for the chaos, and then the next, the roadway she'd aimed for had several dozen screaming people shotgun arcing high through the stormy sky away from it, as if they'd teleported into the air. All the while a great number of cars were crashing to the sides of the roadway or tumbling into the earth, all of them bereft of at least one door. Those same doors were in the middle of finishing their own parabolic arcs.

The source of all this was plenty clear, as the distant Mia now made contact with the not yet collapsed roadway in a blur and calamitous shriek of metal. She was running straight down the center of the road, and dozens of both doors and civilians went hurtling into the sky in her wake, all of them aimed in tosses to be in clear view of the hotel. It could be as clear as nothing else that Mia didn't have the luxury to be gentle or slow about this in order to save lives, and her earlier words would quite plainly convey that she was expecting the rest of the group to pick up the slack.

Mia, meanwhile, was saving her next use of time stop to make rounds to catch the people she tossed in the unfortunate case the rest of the group couldn't take advantage of her setup. It would be inconvenient and stop her from saving more people, but she wasn't about to just callously let people splatter from her own actions. She'd prefer to not have to run back to the hotel personally with each rescue, but saving fewer people was better than saving none at all.

[gawwy]

Mia Mathers
The Calamity Arrives
Quickly glancing between the Mads that remained in the hotel room and the… multiple Mads now appearing outside in the chaos, Mia briefly snapped out, "Hey, keep an eye on the sky. I'm gonna be sending you some fastballs to catch!" And with an explosive kick, Mia was leaping out into the storm in a flickering blur.

From an outside perspective, it was as if Mia was a nigh invisible distant blur one moment, heading for the chaos, and then the next, the roadway she'd aimed for had several dozen screaming people shotgun arcing high through the stormy sky away from it, as if they'd teleported into the air. All the while a great number of cars were crashing to the sides of the roadway or tumbling into the earth, all of them bereft of at least one door. Those same doors were in the middle of finishing their own parabolic arcs.


The Mads still in the window could see the people being yeet into the air by the blur-formally-know-as-Mia and redirects his other four bodies to intercept them midair, the many differing sensations of free fall for even that brief moment was starting to make him feel sick. Unable to waste time throwing up he started moving his vertigo to the poor souls he was rescuing, with.... predictable results.

[ArlEammon]

"You say the hotel is the focal point. What does that mean? Is there any chance we can move the whole building? Center it somewhere else?"


"The Resort is going to be the center of the new universe. You see, the Hotel exists in the is world, the shadow world, the mirror world AND dream world all at once. As a result of whatever Mordos was doing, or a result of approaching Comet, or BOTH. I don't know. Somehow, it means that The Elysian Hotel and Resort will be the most important location in every universe. It's going to be an embassy, for one thing."

Rescue Efforts
In less than two minutes, many people were saved, despite the many dying. Mildred, Lindmer and others in the Hotel, not to mention the protagonists all pitched in to mitigate the carnage with their best efforts. A mysterious whale sounding song could be heard throughout the air. Mortimer's eyes widened as Word'sworth could be seen behind him in the doorway to his hotel room. The wizard waved his hand, as if warding away some great evil. Then Word'sworth could be seen limping on his walking stick after, walking towards the window to survey the damage.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

The vampires, without realizing it, have noticed something about Cassie that she has not quite figured out for herself. She said before that she didn't have any internal organs, and this was true. She has no heart. Yet now, there is a pulse. She has no blood. Yet now, vital spiritual energy nonetheless courses through her, emitted by sugary crystals dissolved in her alien matrix. By way of comparison, if a healthy human is freshly-baked pie on a windowsill, Cassie is now heavy barrel of factory-grade cherry syrup. It's horribly sweet and probably full of preservatives.

The thought of moving the building was meant to spur on two people: the wizard who knows how the curse works, and the witch who theoretically owns this magic hotel. If that weird prediction about embassies means they can't help, then it's a dead end for now. Mia's right, anyway. The best place to start is to get out there and-

"Mia? Mia! What the salt and vinegar hell are you doing?!"

Welp, no time to think anymore! Sink or swim, I guess!

Hastily now, Cassie half-slices half-tears off the chunk of hair she was working on. It feels as eerie and bad as she thought it would - it's still a part of her, even when physically removed. She leaps through the window, morphs her torso into a billowing blue glider, and sets forth to intercept the airborne populace. At the first person she sees, a local middle-schooler by the looks of them, she hurls some of the half-melted hair. It twists and reshapes itself to catch the wind and get under them, and then -

shhnnnrrk!

- expands into a fluffy mattress, just in time to cushion the landing. It was the first thing Cassie could think of! Shut up!

With the proof of concept established, she banks, twists the glider into feathery wings, and starts slicing off and throwing more chunks of herself with varying degrees of effectiveness. A few more of Mia's test subjects get crude cloth parachutes. A burning building gets a rope ladder. One leg melts off, then stretches out as it falls and lands over an expanding fissure as a net, catching three people at once. The other drops to the ground and blows up into a small metal shelter around a dozen more, before a building collapses on top of them.

By the time the two minutes are up, there's nothing of Cassie left. The wings themselves maneuvered to snatch up one last survivor and deposit her by the shelter before dropping to the ground in exhaustion.

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan

Yes, it was indeed uncomfortable to meet an equal predator. But Mia was the only one who looked flawless in Rowan's eyes. Everyone else looking a bit misshapen and malformed. Perhaps it was just the unfamiliarity with the new vision that left Rowan feeling like everyone was slightly off.

As Mia would head off to help they would take a moment to familiarize themselves with their new body, so as better to know what to do with it. But as they did they realized they seemed to know how the body moved and acted, a familiarity that shouldn't exist for someone so new to it.

Rowan moved to the window before the humans among them could blink and was out the window in the same movement. Thankfully throwing oneself from a window likely wouldn't hurt this form anyway, but Rowan's ability to fly came in handy here as they soared through the air to assist in catching some of those Mia had launched airborne.

Afraid to touch them for a moment, for fear of this thirst overwhelming them, they would use their mind to reach out and assist in moving the civilians into the hotel and away from the chaos that was the world falling apart around them. The fear was horrible, it ate at Rowan's concentration. It was worse than even the thirst, it was consuming.

But Rowan wasn't going to let it consume them, focusing their thoughts as they tried to control their own emotions, a calming aura would emanate from them which in part would help any civilian they caught with their telekinesis and kept close to them, it would calm their panic at the very least.

” What should I do with them beyond getting them inside?” they asked as they guided the floating humans into the hotel through a window they forced open with their minds. ” Get inside.” they told the humans and turned to look out on the city ” Can I assist anyone? I don't know what to do to help the most.”

[FrightKnight0]

Jason rushes out onto the balcony, pulling a new piece of jewelry from seemingly nowhere and slipping his new Sling Ring onto his hand by instinct more than anything else. He follows up on Cassie's immediate rescues with Sling Ring portals, sliding the shimmering rings around the rescuees and sending them into the foyer of the hotel.

[ArlEammon]

The Rescue And Aftermath
Word'sworth surveyed the damage outside the Resort, with his clairvoyance, he saw the dead and the carnage that wracked the city of Phoenix for miles. Turning around he had a serious look on his face. "Oh this is just perfect." He said sarcastically. "We have to act fast. I can sense a disturbance in the basement level. Whatever's going on down there could make the earthquake seem like a baby giving his first cough in comparison."

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
The Calamity Arrives

Her allies of happenstance were about as quick on the uptake as Mia had hoped. Her lips quirked in a smile of amusement at Cassie's distant squawk of or umbrage? Panic? Whatever the case, the... apparent shapeshifter? Huh. Neat. She was taking an interesting strategy, chopping herself into pieces and having those pieces morph into implements of aid, spreading out wafts of that strange syrupy smell she carried all over the place. Meanwhile, despite Mia's concerns over them, Rowan was demonstrating both a relieving control of their bloodlust and a rather useful telekinetic power.

Mia made sure to toss a larger portion of the civilians her fellow vampire's way. They seemed the most well-equipped to catch them. Not that Mads or Jason were doing a poor job by any means, but there were a lot of people to catch. Mia elected to start being a little more... grouped about where she tossed people to avoid spreading the catchers thin. There'd already been several close calls, but no-one had gone splat yet. And Mia made sure to keep herself relatively close to and observant of the impromptu "landing zone", ready to interfere in any misses. To that end, she refrained from using her time stop any further for the time being, saving it for one such emergency. In the meanwhile...

Crashing through the window of a collapsing burning building in a flying leap, Mia raced about the upper floors in search of trapped people, tearing doors off hinges in her wake. Though the heat of the flames didn't particularly bother her, the threat of the flames still made her instinctively prickle, well aware that they stood as a distinct weakness of her kind. Of course, they were only a serious threat if they ignited her venomous bodily fluids, but she'd taken to primarily using her Stand to handle anything burning. In her search, she tossed no small amount of people out into the sky towards Rowan, her throat burning with temptation all the while. This much exposure to blood and injury was doing little but swell her appetite, and she'd found herself having to resist the serious temptation to detour to feed on a body that was already dead. Because why not, right? It's not like they needed the blood anymore anyway.

The fact that she'd even considered it unnerved her, no matter how many times she dismissed it. Because despite how many times she did so, she felt her heart wasn't in it somehow. No matter the excuses, what she was considering was basically cannibalism, something that should have turned her stomach, but suddenly, she found that the only thing it did was make her salivate with temptation. She was more disturbed by the fact that her mindset had been clearly altered in such a fashion than the fact that she was considering such things at all. Though, admittedly, another part of her was concerned that she had always possessed a similar attitude and simply not known it till now. They did say power revealed one's true nature...

She found herself musing that she would... need to be very careful not to start considering herself something "other" from humans. Just because her body instinctively preyed upon them, considered them food, didn't mean they were any less than they'd ever been in relation to her. Human... vampire... they were all people at the end of the day. Maybe she had some inconvenient dietary needs now, but she wasn't about to start considering her former species as cattle to be harvested.

Though... that might be easier said than done, but only the future could say for sure.

She might not have been human any longer... but she wouldn't abandon her humanity.

She just had to always keep that in mind, and... everything would be fine.

Right?

The distant questions from Rowan at the hotel were picked up by her keen hearing, drawing her from her thoughts, and Mia pitched her voice at a volume she was confident they could hear in return. "Just keep catching people... Although..." Mia stopped running around to stand atop a not yet collapsed building and observe the apparently waning effects of the calamity. "Honestly, I think we're done for now. If we really want to conduct any large-scale relief efforts, we should probably regroup and organize properly." Mia stiffened, as a strange, whale-like song rippled through the air, her eyes narrowing in search of the noise, frowning at noting it was coming from the hotel's area. Yet, she continued speaking, "We should return to the hotel with whoever we've already grabbed and reconsolidate. If you have any healing abilities, might be best to focus on healing the injured. The less free-flowing blood, the better for you and I... right?" she finished off with a knowing tone, before returning to her task.

Mia frowned, looking down at the destruction. She'd helped rescue many people now, but there were still more left in peril. In a modern-day city, with their absurd populations... there would always be more. She could spend all her life hunting for people to save, and with a vampire's sensory suite, she was fairly confident she'd never run out of candidates. She could do that... but she would be honest with herself. She wasn't anywhere close to that selfless.

She didn't have enough time to waste on things like that... never enough time.

It was the same reason she'd bet people would consider her callous and uncaring on matters of "world hunger" and misfortune or the like. She was the kind of person to only get annoyed every time she saw advertisements begging for donations to sink into foreign populations, skipping it if she could or muting it if she couldn't. If she allowed herself to be worried about the problems of everyone, she'd never be content in life. It was easier to focus on herself, on what was relevant to her immediate circumstances. Anything beyond that...

Well, she'd just have to be satisfied with helping the people in front of her. That was enough.

It was the most practical way to live her life, Mia decided, as she finally headed back.

Partway there, Mia detoured to clear the rubble of a collapsed building to rip open a small, buried metal shelter enclosing about a dozen civilians, herding them in the direction of the hotel with firm commands. "Go!" The command escaped her lips perhaps a tad more aggressively than she'd intended, but her bloodthirst was well and truly ignited by this point. For all her restraint, the temptation didn't become any less irritating, and she suspected she'd need to feed soon to take the edge off. "Hurry, and stick together! There will be medical care at the hotel!" While she didn't strictly know that for certain, she was fairly confident Edward at least could whip something up, if not one of the other numerous powerful spellcasters living there. There was no point sending them to a hospital in this mess; the vampire quite suspected that the infrastructure for such facilities to be functional had been devastated anyway.

Once the civilians had left the makeshift metal shelter, Mia frowned at the construct, her nostrils flaring at the now-familiar cloyingly sweet scent billowing from it. She'd noticed the oddity about Cassie before back in the hotel room, but at the time, she'd been rather more concerned with Rowan and the calamity outside. Only now, she did recall distantly spotting Cassie tearing pieces of herself off to transform into implements of aid. Yet, doing that hadn't seemed to be something Cassie demonstrated a great capacity to recover from. The last time Mia had seen her, the apparent shapeshifter was in the middle of being only a pair of wings.

Though, now that she thought about it, hadn't Cassie's body parts only started changing form after she chopped them off? Did she "preprogram" them somehow? Could she sense and reshape them at range? Probably not, given how static they'd remained after changing, but maybe Cassie hadn't thought about it yet. She seemed to have a biomass limit. How much had this cost her? Could she reabsorb what she'd spent? Despite having seemingly changed in nearly all perceptible ways, the metal shelter still smelled intensely of the unique substance that comprised the shapeshifter, so Mia was inclined to believe that something about it hadn't fully made the transition.

Mia's frown grew deeper in contemplation, as she and her Stand ripped into the rubble further, clearing it out enough to yank the metal shelter from the mess entirely. Hefting it up with one hand and uncanny balance, the vampire began to quickly follow after the group of civilians that had once been protected by it, acting as a safe escort to the hotel. Along the way, she made small detours to grab a rope ladder that had also once been part of Cassie, along with hauling up a net suspending several more people over a fissure, adding three more to her little group, which had slowly been collecting even more frightened civilians in search of aid and safety in numbers. No small number of those people were staring at her wide-eyed, perhaps for good reason, as she casually walked around with a solid metal shelter balanced upside-down atop one palm like a waiter's tray from a fine restaurant. She'd also dumped the ladder and net inside it, using the shelter as a makeshift bowl, a receptacle that soon collected a number of crude parachutes and one mattress.

The pungent smell of vomit and some fear-based bowel movements greeted her long before her return, as Mia arrived at the hotel resort. It seemed the group's chosen transportation methods hadn't entirely agreed with the people they rescued. Keen eyes flicked around, as Mia approached the entrance to the front lobby. Her nose wrinkled at the tantalizing smell of blood wafting about, the presence of the injured in high numbers more than obvious to her, the thunderous chorus of fast-beating hearts sounding out all around.

This close and in such numbers -free of the prior rush, Mia now had time to properly appreciate the ugliness of the aftermath, see the shell-shocked and often tear-streaked faces of the survivors. People were disheveled, filthy and wan, and the vampire found herself nearly hyper-fixating on the unpalatability of it all. She couldn't help it really. Her hyper-enhanced senses, comprehension capacity and newly perfect memory simply refused to let her block out a single solitary detail. Every single person she saw was an exercise in... almost disappointment. They were lackluster. Flawed. Even the slightest dissonance in the lengths of strands of hair stood out like a flashbang to her sight, the disorder making some nearly unconscious part of her tut in disapproval. It was such a strange and unfair thought to have that she found herself frowning, even as her mind practically leapt to compare them to Rowan, to the only example of flawle-. Scowling, Mia ripped her thoughts from that nonsense direction.

Her already present frown intensified at the still ongoing whale-like noise reverberating through the air, sounding like it was coming from... the very walls themselves. It made her skin crawl with unease, even as she heard the distant sound of an unknown elderly voice speaking from Morty's room above, and the words he was saying definitely put more haste in her stride. Mia made no motion to stop the civilians she was escorting from scurrying inside and scattering as they may. Her eyes were only for the sight of a pair of feathery wings lying slumped on the ground before the hotel entrance.

Crouching down by the mass that currently smelled the strongest of Cassie, Mia dropped the metal shelter she'd been hauling around to the ground beside her with a heavy thump and vibration. Brow pinching in concern at the unmoving wings, Mia asked, "Hey, that you, Cassie? You good there?" She certainly didn't seem to be. "I brought most of that stuff you made out of your body. Seemed like it was costing you, and I figured you might be able to... recycle it?" Frowning, Mia tipped the makeshift shelter over with a protest of metal to enable her to dump the "rope" and "net" inside it onto the ground beside the pair of wings. "There's someone new in Morty's room talking about this only being the beginning of the destruction. Apparently, there's now something in the basement that if not addressed will make this current calamity look like a baby's cough in comparison. If you think you can get back in any shape for action..."

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward takes a moment to process as a True Name imprints upon his mind, the meaning of the akkadian understood instantly, truly he is meant for this new life. He spends a moment to think on his new powers, smiling, probably going to look a bit silly, but they're still going to be both fun and effective.
The apocalypse may be starting, yet his life is on a solidly upward trajectory.

"Away we go then, see you in the lobby."

Edward turns on the spot, silently disapparating. His destination is not the ground floor, not yet, but a walk in closet they passed on the way up. Another silent spell makes the door Impertubable.
Then he grabs the metal pen from his pocket and speaks the other words that came into his head, feeling a little embarassed "Jupiter Power, Make Up" a spinning lightshow of arcing electricity later, he conjures a mirror, he looks ridiculous, though the tiara's not so bad, they're basically tiny crowns if you think about it, or at least that's what he tells himself.
He's really not sure how important the costume is, but this is the perfect excuse for something he'd been tempted by since he saw Mildred, a swish of his wand conjures a dark blue robe, a sticking charm ensures it won't fall off and now he looks like a proper wizard, with a tiara.

He dispels the door and apparates again, down to the lobby.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

*clunk* *clunk* *clunk* *clunk*

Behind Mia, a disembodied hand hops along the broken sidewalk, pogoing along using the discarded item in its grip - one of those huge soda cups with the twist caps that are so popular at Arizona gas stations. There's no doubt that the hand is Cassie's. Mia's nose can sense her supernatural aura of Life, though it looks like the hand sharpened Cassie's fingernails for some reason.

As it arrives, the rest of the items that were once Cassie melt into silver-orange glorp and start merging together as they pour their impossible volume into the container like a clown car. The hand follows suit, and clumsily twists the cap shut behind it.

*clunk*

The cup falls over. Miraculously, it doesn't spill. The lid also mercifully seals in most of the weird not-quite-blood smell. If picked up, it's not much heavier than if it were just filled with water.

This may or may not be what Mia meant by, 'in shape for action.'

[ArlEammon]

The Protagonists
Stopping by the lobby, the protagonists, all put together, yes including Cassie, would find the instructions of where they needed to go. This WAS the world's largest hotel and resort after all. After taking a couple of elevator rides, the group finds themselves there. On finding themselves there, the group all find themselves feeling a very powerful energy, almost overwhelming them, before the sensation suddenly ceases.

A Secret Chamber Of The Hotel, Subterranean Level
Dyeus/Zeus/Jupiter, whatever his name was, it's the guy that people worshiped as the sky god many, many centuries ago enmasse. Sure some people worshiped him now, but it wasn't nearly the same as it was a long time ago. Hecate, Re, Odin, Danu, Sophia and various others who Humanity worshiped long ago were now in the basement, in a secluded, walled off portion of the basement area. There were around forty of these deities right there. Meanwhile the same whale like sound that seemed to emanate from the walls was in fact centralized right there in the center of this secret chamber where the gods dwelled, from a magical blue portal which hummed with energy.

The sky god Dyeus stepped forward. "It's good to be back. Sort of."

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
The Calamity Arrives

Mia watched with no small amount of fascination and amusement, as Cassie's oozing form pulled itself together and then stuffed itself into a large soda cup. Watching all that mass compress itself down to a size that had no business sharing the same living space as physics was immensely interesting to watch with her microscopically keen eyes.

In fact, so fascinating it was that the vampire found herself able to redirect a portion more of her attention from fixating on how delicious nearly everyone around her smelled. Hell, even Cassie... sorta smelled good? It was an intensely syrupy-sweet scent, really, to the point that Mia almost felt she'd get cavities if she tried the source. She couldn't say she actually found it appetizing to be honest, but it was close. It was almost like her instincts were leaning over and declaring this was something "almost edible", but as long as it wasn't actually, she didn't feel that Cassie in particular fanned the flames of her bloodthirst. It certainly helped that the living slime-girl apparently lacked the other bodily functions that a vampire's senses were attuned to looking for in prey.

Not sure exactly if she should consider this dehumanizing or not, an amused Mia scooped up the cup that housed Cassie and turned to acknowledge the arrival of Edward in a nearly imperceptible air displacement of apparation. If not for how absurd vampire senses were, even she might not have picked up his arrival. She raised a single brow at the very wizard-typical robe he'd now donned, and that single brow rose only higher at the presence of the tiara. It sparked a sensation of distant memory, but she couldn't quite place it immediately. The effects of a vampire's perfect memory didn't apply to things they'd experienced prior to the change, after all; though, any prior knowledge reiterated after was still crystallized.


"Ah, Edward, excellent timing." Mia's smile was a thing like the rising sun, inexorably drawing the eyes of several of the nearby civilians. Her senses logged the physical reactions in some part of her consciousness, but the vampire nonetheless didn't yet appreciate the effects of her passive allure on those around her. Between her demonstrated strength, her largely heroic actions, conventionally flawless appearance, her scent sneaking into hormonal hindbrains and the way her voice had become a melodic, seductive thing even in spite of her rougher tone, she cut a compelling figure, standing tall and untouched amongst the madness of the apocalypse. "I think we've done about as much evacuation as is practical for the moment, but we have many injured. If I don't mis-recall, your magic has some healing capabilities, yes?" She raised up the cup holding Cassie and waggled it a little. "Cassie seems to have worn herself out a bit, so she's... resting? There's little more I can do here, so I'm heading back up to Morty's room. Some newcomer is speaking of a new potential threat in the hotel's basement..."

Mia paused, tilting her head at the rapid chorus of footsteps leaving Morty's room above and distancing several familiar scents. Those muddled scents soon began to descend the structure, however, and drift more strongly from the direction of the lobby, earning an unintentionally lyrical hum of contemplation. "Never mind, it seems as though the rest of the group are heading for the basement already. Shall we join them?" She smiled wryly, only now seeming to have met Edward's gaze with her own. Yet, were the wizard to be using Legilimancy, instead of the open flow of thoughts he might normally expect, there was instead a slick intangible film, a sensation that mental probes simply glided around and past her, refusing to find purchase.

Without waiting for much in the way of an answer, Mia swiftly entered the lobby of the hotel with Cassie's cup home, her pace quick but not overtly inhuman, leaving Edward someone to easily follow to meet up with the rest of the group. A brief, newly habitual canvasing of the area with her sharp gaze committed a hotel directory to Mia's memory with permeance, giving her directions on where to go. So informed, she moved to meet up with the descending group of assorted protagonists and powerful spellcasters.

Raising a brow at the newcomer amongst them, a wizened old man who nontheless moved with surprising spryness. She felt her vampiric instincts prickle at his presence, acknowledging him as a potential danger, but she managed not to let any of that show on her face. Linking up and falling in with the group, Mia observed the old man in silent contemplation for a while, as her brain put together several pieces of information she'd gathered prior. "Mads mentioned an old man warning about the apocalypse before, and given there's few old men he could have been meeting with before, I suppose that makes you Lindmer Word'sworth, yes?" Her senses prickling more deeply at something laying ahead of the group, towards their destination, Mia frowned deeply, hackles rising at the sensation of danger. "What are we expecting to find below the hotel? You seem to know a lot, but what could be worse than what's already happened?" Several things, she acknowledged easily to herself, but it never hurt to probe for details.

When the group finally reached the basement level and felt the unvarnished power of... whatever that sensation was down there, Mia unintentionally loosed a quiet cross between a growl and hiss in response before recomposing herself, eyes narrowed at the area ahead. Her hyper-keen senses informed her of the area beyond, a large number of rather... wildly exotic scents filtering into her nose. The air was simply alive with energy to her eyes, the pulsating thrum of whatever was residing down here filling the air with intangible power. All the while, the whale-like noise seemed to echo louder and louder from within.

"Be careful..." Mia warned the group in a quiet murmur, her voice carrying to those gathered in a melodic whisper, before giving a significant sniff and scowl. "There's something here... several somethings." She tilted her head, feeling her instincts bristle all the harsher at what might lay ahead, her vampiric fight or flight well and truly roused but unsure of direction. "There's... a lot of them. Dozens." At this distance, she wasn't quite able to give an exact number with all the new scents intermingling as they were, but even her generously merciful estimate was... "At least 30." Her grip tightened carefully upon Cassie's present home, idly checking she still had it secure. "I get the feeling that this is... much more dangerous than that demon," she said warily, before reiterating, "Be cautious."

[gawwy]

Mia Mathers
The Calamity Arrives

"Ah, Edward, excellent timing." Mia's smile was a thing like the rising sun, inexorably drawing the eyes of several of the nearby civilians. Her senses logged the physical reactions in some part of her consciousness, but the vampire nonetheless didn't yet appreciate the effects of her passive allure on those around her. Between her demonstrated strength, her largely heroic action, conventionally flawless appearance, her scent sneaking into hormonal hindbrains and the way her voice had become a melodic, seductive thing even in spite of her rougher tone, she cut a compelling figure, standing tall and untouched amongst the madness of the apocalypse.

Mads manages to mostly ignore the pair of apparently supernaturally beautiful vampires buy focusing on clean up and triage of the survivors. However when the body he was using to be present with the group got trapped in an elevator with both of them it got distractingly strong. Mads was mortified with himself at the, emotions, toward the border line inappropriately younger vampires. Especially during a time of such upheaval. He turned around to have a word with the vampires.

"Vhatever you two are doing, can you turn it down. It is VERY distracting. He says through clenched teeth.

Mads then tries to distract himself by having his four other bodies work with the rescues, to find people with injuries and prepare first aid.



Mia Mathers
The Calamity Arrives
"Be careful..." Mia warned the group in a quiet murmur, her voice carrying to those gathered in a melodic whisper, before giving a significant sniff and scowl. "There's something here... several somethings." She tilted her head, feeling her instincts bristle all the harsher at what might lay ahead, her vampiric fight or flight well and truly roused but unsure of direction. "There's... a lot of them. Dozens." At this distance, she wasn't quite able to give an exact number with all the new scents intermingling as they were, but even her generously merciful estimate was... "At least 30." Her grip tightened carefully upon Cassie's present home, idly checking she still had it secure. "I get the feeling that this is... much more dangerous than that demon," she said warily, before reiterating, "Be cautious."

The Basement

The redundancy of having multiple bodies and the emergency nope button of teleportation fills Mads with confidence, perhaps too much.

Ill scout ahead Ja? Mads(A) wanders toward the indicated danger. Meanwhile Mads(B-E) are tending the wounded upstairs, making sure to keep an eye on people with serious injuries.

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan

Rowan couldn't turn down anything, because they were not doing anything of note. "I'm not sure what is bothering you," they said they detected no noticeable changes in the environment, but they wouldn't detect the vampire's inhuman beauty and appealing scent as anything amiss. After all, one was typically nose blind to their scent. Though Rowan could tell Mia's scent was strong and clear this was normal for the proximity.

"Whatever is down here, it's feeling content, almost happy but not quiet. I think." they decided to add the qualifier because they were still learning to judge others' emotions. They looked to the others in the room with Rowan, including the ooze-like girl being carried by Mia. "Shall we stop time when the doors open? To let us appraise the situation first?"

[Thunder999]

Edward

He'd definitely not the only one with new abilities, which is to be expected, no sign of most of them, though he's unsure whether Cassie was always secretly a jar of goo. Jacob seems to be rocking magic from the Dr. Strange movie, which is pretty cool.

Mia and Rowan seem to have both picked up the same things, which is very unexpected. Despite his formidable mental defences they seem to have some sort of unnatural allure.
He almost didn't catch it, but it certainly wasn't there 10 minutes ago, that and the change in behaviour, not meeting his eyes until whatever that weird protection on her mind appeared. She smelled inviting, and that is a weird thing to suddenly think about someone.

Still, if Roawn's being honest, then perhaps it's just a side effect of some less sinister new ability.

Edward muses on the fact that this seems to bother him more than a literal geas, but Emma only asked him to do what he would have freely done, and paid well, though with recent revelations he's no longer sure Emma is behind their abilities.

The scent is easily handled at least, a bubble of air conjured around his head, a little odd looking, but he's wearing a tiara and robe so that ship's sailed.

"Stop time? Who can stop time? Is that part of your new, shared, powers?"

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
The Basement


"Vhatever you two are doing, can you turn it down. It is VERY distracting. He says through clenched teeth.

Mads then tries to distract himself by having his four other bodies work with the rescues, to find people with injuries and prepare first aid.

...

The redundancy of having multiple bodies and the emergency nope button of teleportation fills Mads with confidence, perhaps too much.

Ill scout ahead Ja? Mads(A) wanders toward the indicated danger. Meanwhile Mads(B-E) are tending the wounded upstairs, making sure to keep an eye on people with serious injuries.


Rowan

Rowan couldn't turn down anything, because they were not doing anything of note. "I'm not sure what is bothering you," they said they detected no noticeable changes in the environment, but they wouldn't detect the vampire's inhuman beauty and appealing scent as anything amiss. After all, one was typically nose blind to their scent. Though Rowan could tell Mia's scent was strong and clear this was normal for the proximity.


Mia frowned in a combination of confusion and consternation at Mads's less than amiably toned request. Her brows pinched, as her senses devoted a little extra attention his way, noting the elevated heartbeat and smell of... Comprehension dawned on her, and Mia's expression dipped into a discomforted frown. Knowing -suspecting- what she did, she frowned more deeply at Rowan's response and then grimaced, her stomach curdling in understanding. "Rowan... I think he means the..." She pursed her lips. "-allure... of our kind." Looking back on it, consulting her crystal-clear memories of interacting with civilians, she grew only more internally disconcerted, before sending Mads an apologetic look. "I'm... sorry, but I can't control that... entirely." The admission irritated her greatly, as she clicked her tongue in open annoyance, not making any effort to hide her irritation. The realization that she was potentially affecting the decision-making processes of people around her disgusted her on a personal, primal level, but she couldn't do anything about it.

"What Rowan and I have become... We exude either allure or danger at any given time... with pretty much no in-between, and while I could do the latter... I doubt anyone here would appreciate having false-flag hostility breathing down their necks all the time." Snorting, she shook her head. "That said, if it's any consolation, what you're feeling now shouldn't last. Exposure to us is inoculating and subjective. Your body will adjust, and the effects... should wane." Her jaw worked in thought, clenching in frustration. "I hadn't consciously realized I was doing that... so thanks for the heads up. Not that I'm any more pleased about this, but as long as you're actively aware of the effect, you should be able to resist it." Frowning, Mia glanced around and nodded approvingly at Edward's solution, elaborating, "To my knowledge, there's an aesthetic and olfactory element. If you can't smell us, that'll help some. Good thinking."

Mia watched Mads move to scout ahead with a frown of concern, wondering if the move was at least partially aimed at putting distance between them. Despite finding his overblown German accent annoying, she didn't have any reason to wish him ill, and whatever they might find ahead was something she expected no-one should face recklessly.



Rowan
"Whatever is down here, it's feeling content, almost happy but not quiet. I think." they decided to add the qualifier because they were still learning to judge others' emotions. They looked to the others in the room with Rowan, including the ooze-like girl being carried by Mia. "Shall we stop ti-

Mia titled her head, cocked a brow in brief confusion at Rowan's wording, before her mouth opened in understanding. "Ah." Empathy. Which meant that if her own vampirism was drawn from a certain someone, then Rowan's must have been... Well, that was irksome. She didn't have much of a defense against that except to be vigilant of her emotions. If she experienced any unexpected mood swings, she knew who to blame. Rowan likely wouldn't fail to miss the combination of understanding, irritation, acceptance, paranoia and implicit warning that flashed through their fellow vampire, who was now eyeing them intently.

And then Rowan uttered those fateful words, and Mia's eyes widened, the only outward expression of what she was feeling. Her emotions blasted through surprise, understanding, panic and fury in a split moment, peaking only higher at Edward's follow-up question- -as a now familiar sensation rippled out from her body into the world, leeching it of color, a chorus of ticking noises sounding in the back of her mind.

A borderline snarl was on Mia's lips, as she otherwise stood perfectly unmoving from her position, eyes narrowed at the only other person to remain in color in the world of stopped time. A kernel of disbelief and resignation flared through her, her emotions largely annoyance over any actual hostility. As far as Rowan's senses could tell, she wasn't demonstrating a sharp enough spike to indicate an impending attack.

"Do you mind? I realize there's a certain inevitability to the reveal, but for now, I am trying to keep this ability a secret." she bit out with no small amount of irritation, speaking inhumanly fast in what little time she had for her ability's duration. Not that Rowan would have any problem comprehending her. Such was a common method of vampire communication. And just to be certain, Mia's words were also pitched at a volume only a fellow vampire might hear.

Nearly grinding her teeth in frustration at the sudden realization that she'd gotten the misfortune to have someone able to invade her ability in such close proximity to her all this time, Mia continued. "Look, there is tactical sense in this. The sort of enemies that could counter this ability if they found out about it are exactly the sort of people I don't want hearing about if from loose lips before it's too late." She grimaced. "And no, I..." She paused, before clicking her tongue. "Well, if you have the capacity to stop time and scout, feel free, but I prefer to save my usage for critical moments." She scowled, before apparently making an effort to school her expression and emotions into something approaching cordiality. "If you want to reveal yourself, fine by me, but I want to keep this power of mine a secret as long as possible. So, do kindly refrain from implicating me with you."

Cocking her head, Mia waited for any response Rowan might be inclined to deliver in the less than a second her ability lasted, after which she glanced around cautiously, before making use of her perfect memory to ensure she was had returned to exactly the position she'd been in before stopping time, down to the millimeter.

"Oh, right..." she said, lips pursing tightly and eyes narrowing. "If your vampiric powers mirror who I think they do, I'll warn you as a courtesy. I consider the manipulation of my free will in any form an offense worthy of death." She said so bluntly, without a speck of prevarication. A statement backed by the simmering vengefulness of a vampire. It was not in the nature of the sort of creature she was to forgive or forget. Rowan would be unlikely to miss how deeply imbedded and crystalized Mia's emotions were on this subject, and it was unlikely she wouldn't make every effort to follow through if tested. As if to play off the implied not-quite-threat, Mia then smiled and shrugged her shoulders casually. "Just... fair warning. I hope you can understand that I'm not... threatening you, but there are simply some things I cannot forgive. So far, I don't dislike you, Rowan, and I do hope we can keep getting along."

.8 seconds this time. I guess we take those wins where we can get them...

Clicking her tongue, she intoned habitually, "Time flows again."
"Stopping time is not an inherent trait of our shared powers, no," she said to Edward, a spark of private amusement arising inside her.

If I had a penny for every vampire I'd heard of that could stop time, I'd have three pennies... which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened thrice. Well, that was her, Rowan and DIO so far; if there were others, they weren't leaping to mind presently, but it was still a bit funny.

Shaking her head, Mia crossed her arms, wearing an impassive expression; yet, inwardly, there was a spark of elation at noticing her body didn't feel fatigued by the usage of her time stop. She hadn't really paid attention during the chaos of the calamity outside, too focused on saving people, but she was already feeling the benefits of an inhuman body on her ability.

Outwardly, she looked at least a little perturbed, still sending wary glances ahead of the group after Mads. "Someone should probably go with him." She sent a significant glance Rowan's way and took a step that direction herself. "If you want to execute that plan, few better times than now, before Mads is the first thing to potentially get seen."

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan

The time stop was expected, and the adjustment to it was instantaneous. While they did let Mia speak her peace they would listen intently and only taste the emotions that came from her. Yes, the irritation the desire to keep her abilities hidden. It made sense, and had Rowan had access to her thoughts they could have had this discussion privately beforehand. But they simply nodded to her request and statements. "Yes I mean my own, if I must remove this information from someone's mind then I will do so." hinting at their already displayed telepathy.

"Yes, I was thinking of this myself. My abilities are akin to yours but with empathic abilities. It does imply him doesn't it?" They looked over to Mia and noticed she was off put by the possible invasion of their free will. "I don't believe it works like that, though I understand your implication. I will not tamper with your emotions." they stated for her benefit.

"I haven't demonstrated all of my abilities either, but hiding them makes people suspicious." They felt the time stop slip.

Glancing at Edward, Rowan smiled "My own, not from this new change." no reason to make them think Mia had a gift due to their similarities.

They would engage Time-Space Manipulation, freezing the moment and darting ahead, in front of Mads and around them. Exploring the area as best they could while staying out of sight, slipping into invisibility if the possibility arose of their detection. Ranging out with their telepathy they would try to read for the source of the noise all while time remained frozen for those around them.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD
That ability sounds like it would have been rather handy with Mordos. Stopping time does not seem on theme for invisibility and intangability. Clearly he must assume the others have not revealed all their powers.

"Considering how our last attempt at stealth went, I think I'll just stay ready for the inevitable mess."

[ArlEammon]

@Everyone
Zeus begins to speak.
"We can bring healing to Mads, that bleeding man, and to everyone else in the Hotel, and provide shelter, all of these things for free, in addition to clothing and nourishment."
"We can eventually reverse the damage and chaos brought to the world by The Cataclysm, as well."

"Lastly, we have some few conditions in helping with The Cataclysm. Unfortunately, we don't' have the full freedom we want at the moment."

Hecate steps forward, she has the appearance of an old woman, perhaps nearing the age of ninety, if not already there, but she leans on her own cane, with a smile on her face.
"Be assured we are the only way you can survive long in this new broken world."
"Please listen to this man. He is our spoke's person, in a way. I suppose we don't exactly have a leader yet, if we ever will, but he's kind of close."

Zeus nods towards Hecate. "I suppose you may call me Zeus. This here is Hecate. There are various others here, as you can see, who are of like status as we are."

The Arrival Of The Gods
The mysterious whale calling was actually a magical blue glowing portal from behind a wall separating this large chambers from the rest of the basement. The deities all have an enormously strong energy which can be felt throughout the whole hotel, but the feeling quickly dissipates.

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
The Basement

Mia chuffed at Edward's words, a wry smile spreading across her lips. "Yes, that was a bit of a mess, wasn't it? Somehow, I doubt we'll have too much luck with surprise here either, but it probably doesn't hurt to try." Frowning, she added. "And regardless, I hope whatever this is doesn't become a fight. The instincts of this new body are screaming at me... I've got a bad feeling about this."

That bad feeling only got worse at the answer she got from the elderly man she'd apparently correctly identified as Word'sworth, given his lack of refute at the presumption. "Divine energy?" she muttered with a grimace. "That's what that feeling is?" Her expression was flat, as she drawled, "Great, first a demon, then divine beings. What's next, eldritch Great Old Ones?" She paused and then look concerned. "Actually, we probably shouldn't joke about that last one in this situation. Might actually invoke something."

Then Rowan stopped time and darted ahead, and after a moment of waiting, Mia blinked in surprise. Despite the world being frozen, she was having no trouble moving, which was unexpected. Did her fellow vampire's ability function differently? Under normal circumstances, she should have only had an amount of time to move equal to how long she could personally stop time, but here she was, moving freely without strain. It made her brow furrow in confusion; yet, she couldn't deny the potential here for the future collaboration. This sort of synergy wasn't something she'd expected to have with anyone, but it was already giving her ideas.

Regardless, Rowan didn't seem to find anything worth reporting back before time moved again-

-as one of the walls to an apparently hidden room burned away.

Mia stiffened, tensing, as the scents she had detected previously washed over the area with fresh, unrestrained strength. She froze in place like a statue, waiting anxiously with her finger on the veritable trigger of her time stop, as one of the beings beyond the hole stepped through. Despite lacking a conventional capacity to sense magic actively, the power infusing the air was something she couldn't fail to miss. Her vampire instincts were screaming, as she for the first time went as far as holding her breath to somewhat blunt the presence of these beings and keep herself in a rational state of mind.

What... the hell are they? Divine energy could mean gods, or it could mean mere servants of them.

If she hadn't already been as still as a statue, one might have thought Mia was frozen in time when the first being spoke. She didn't understand the words that escaped that creature's mouth, and yet, she still understood all the same. The automatic translation unnerved her more than a language barrier would have in this situation, and the contents of the purportedly divine being's words tempted the vampire to narrow her eyes in suspicion. She resisted the temptation, of course, but it was a near thing.

The last thing you ever want to hear from gods is "I'm here to help". They're usually more trouble than they're worth. The only thing second to that is hearing it from the government.

Despite the incredible urge to say nothing, to avoid attention and allow someone else to pick up the slack of verbally engaging with these... obviously monstrously powerful beings, Mia knew there were as good odds that one of the others would offend the beings as not. And if they actually were gods... Hoo boy. Such entities were not known for taking insult with any particular charitability.

Straightening up, Mia's eyes briefly traced past the frontmost god(?) towards a large blue portal, which seemed to be the source of the whale-like noise that still reverberated through the area. Refocusing her attention on the god(?), Mia kept her expression and posture inoffensive, feeling like her mind shield was firmer than it had ever been in the brief time that she'd had it. The urgency of the situation only served to empower her desire-driven shield to greater heights. Her thoughts resided within an impenetrable fortress, as she finally spoke to the divine being.

"You're here to help?" she echoed the being's words back, not letting skepticism leak into her tone. Her words came smoothly, coached with a careful, wary politeness that she'd not demonstrated much of prior. "With the calamity that is merging the worlds? We're definitely in a dire place, no question about that, so... any help from individuals of your clear strength would surely not go amiss."

[gawwy]

"We're here to help."



Mia Mathers
The Basement

"You're here to help?" she echoed the being's words back, not letting skepticism leak into her tone. Her words came smoothly, coached with a careful, wary politeness that she'd not demonstrated much of prior. "With the calamity that is merging the worlds? We're definitely in a dire place, no question about that, so... any help from individuals of your clear strength would surely not go amiss."


Mads (A) and the small gods of the basement
Mads was not a superstitious man. BUT, between his sudden powers, wizards, witches, demons and the recent apocalypse. Mads had no reason to doubt that these were honest to god... Gods? That did bring up some metaphysical questions. First being:

"And vhich gods exactly are you? I'm dying to know who got it all right. Mads asks, the words out of his mouth before his filter caught it.

Mads was suddenly very aware of his own mortality, and the mortality of everyone they just rescued upstairs.

Mads froze for a moment.

Then started bleeding


As the others had gone to deal with the mysterious threats in the basement with Mads(A) the rest of him kept busy organising the 300 odd people they had rescued. Mads(B) had stuck directly with Emma the vitch and was coordinating with her. Mostly via a barrage of questions.

"Miss Emma, is there an infirmary, how many people can it take.?

"Miss Emma, how many rooms are free, Ill start sorting people into families"

"Miss Emma do we have food enough to feed all these people or should I extort the Gods in the basement for more?"

From this position he coordinated Mads(C-E) while also keeping a close eye on Emma in case she tried anything unspeakable.

Mads froze for a moment.

Then started bleeding.



Mads C, D and E had acquired clipboards from somewhere and were busy organising.

Hello, I am a Mads vhat is your name? May I assess your injuries? rang out, over and over again.

Miss Michaels, with a broken arm, non-life threatening, moved to infirmary.
Mr Donavan, no injury, left in place.
Mr Montague, sprained wrist, minor, moved to minor injuries room.
Miss Quinn, no injury, left in place.
Mr Michaels, no injury, moved to infirmary with his daughter.
Miss Sparks, massive abdominal trauma, broken ribs, punctured spleen, excessive bleeding external and internal, Death imminent.

All of the Mads' froze.

Through his power Mads sensed the girls injury's, feeling them in detail and their entirety. The girl was no older than 12 and had fallen down a deep ravine, breaking several ribs and taking some nasty blows, luckily Mia had spotted her and thrown her to Mads. The impact of that catch had pushed already broken ribs into her abdominal organs, puncturing them. This girl was going to die.

Pain flooded Mads chest as he stated pulling the injuries off her, luckily there were 5 of him to spread the injury across. What was a fifth of a mortal wound? Mads hoped it wouldn't kill him too.

Mads started bleeding.

[ArlEammon]

Mia Mathers
The Basement

Mia chuffed at Edward's words, a wry smile spreading across her lips. "Yes, that was a bit of a mess, wasn't it? Somehow, I doubt we'll have too much luck with surprise here either, but it probably doesn't hurt to try." Frowning, she added. "And regardless, I hope whatever this is doesn't become a fight. The instincts of this new body are screaming at me... I've got a bad feeling about this."

That bad feeling only got worse at the answer she got from the elderly man she'd apparently correctly identified as Word'sworth, given his lack of refute at the presumption. "Divine energy?" she muttered with a grimace. "That's what that feeling is?" Her expression was flat, as she drawled, "Great, first a demon, then divine beings. What's next, eldritch Great Old Ones?" She paused and then look concerned. "Actually, we probably shouldn't joke about that last one in this situation. Might actually invoke something."

Then Rowan stopped time and darted ahead, and after a moment of waiting, Mia blinked in surprise. Despite the world being frozen, she was having no trouble moving, which was unexpected. Did her fellow vampire's ability function differently? Under normal circumstances, she should have only had an amount of time to move equal to how long she could personally stop time, but here she was, moving freely without strain. It made her brow furrow in confusion; yet, she couldn't deny the potential here for the future collaboration. This sort of synergy wasn't something she'd expected to have with anyone, but it was already giving her ideas.

Regardless, Rowan didn't seem to find anything worth reporting back before time moved again-

-as one of the walls to an apparently hidden room burned away.

Mia stiffened, tensing, as the scents she had detected previously washed over the area with fresh, unrestrained strength. She froze in place like a statue, waiting anxiously with her finger on the veritable trigger of her time stop, as one of the beings beyond the hole stepped through. Despite lacking a conventional capacity to sense magic actively, the power infusing the air was something she couldn't fail to miss. Her vampire instincts were screaming, as she for the first time went as far as holding her breath to somewhat blunt the presence of these beings and keep herself in a rational state of mind.

What... the hell are they? Divine energy could mean gods, or it could mean mere servants of them.

If she hadn't already been as still as a statue, one might have thought Mia was frozen in time when the first being spoke. She didn't understand the words that escaped that creature's mouth, and yet, she still understood all the same. The automatic translation unnerved her more than a language barrier would have in this situation, and the contents of the purportedly divine being's words tempted the vampire to narrow her eyes in suspicion. She resisted the temptation, of course, but it was a near thing.

The last thing you ever want to hear from gods is "I'm here to help". They're usually more trouble than they're worth. The only thing second to that is hearing it from the government.

Despite the incredible urge to say nothing, to avoid attention and allow someone else to pick up the slack of verbally engaging with these... obviously monstrously powerful beings, Mia knew there were as good odds that one of the others would offend the beings as not. And if they actually were gods... Hoo boy. Such entities were not known for taking insult with any particular charitability.

Straightening up, Mia's eyes briefly traced past the frontmost god(?) towards a large blue portal, which seemed to be the source of the whale-like noise that still reverberated through the area. Refocusing her attention on the god(?), Mia kept her expression and posture inoffensive, feeling like her mind shield was firmer than it had ever been in the brief time that she'd had it. The urgency of the situation only served to empower her desire-driven shield to greater heights. Her thoughts resided within an impenetrable fortress, as she finally spoke to the divine being.

"You're here to help?" she echoed the being's words back, not letting skepticism leak into her tone. Her words came smoothly, coached with a careful, wary politeness that she'd not demonstrated much of prior. "With the calamity that is merging the worlds? We're definitely in a dire place, no question about that, so... any help from individuals of your clear strength would surely not go amiss."



Mads (A) and the small gods of the basement
Mads was not a superstitious man. BUT, between his sudden powers, wizards, witches, demons and the recent apocalypse. Mads had no reason to doubt that these were honest to god... Gods? That did bring up some metaphysical questions. First being:

"And vhich gods exactly are you? I'm dying to know who got it all right. Mads asks, the words out of his mouth before his filter caught it.

Mads was suddenly very aware of his own mortality, and the mortality of everyone they just rescued upstairs.

Mads froze for a moment.

Then started bleeding


As the others had gone to deal with the mysterious threats in the basement with Mads(A) the rest of him kept busy organising the 300 odd people they had rescued. Mads(B) had stuck directly with Emma the vitch and was coordinating with her. Mostly via a barrage of questions.

"Miss Emma, is there an infirmary, how many people can it take.?

"Miss Emma, how many rooms are free, Ill start sorting people into families"

"Miss Emma do we have food enough to feed all these people or should I extort the Gods in the basement for more?"

From this position he coordinated Mads(C-E) while also keeping a close eye on Emma in case she tried anything unspeakable.

Mads froze for a moment.

Then started bleeding.



Mads C, D and E had acquired clipboards from somewhere and were busy organising.

Hello, I am a Mads vhat is your name? May I assess your injuries? rang out, over and over again.

Miss Michaels, with a broken arm, non-life threatening, moved to infirmary.
Mr Donavan, no injury, left in place.
Mr Montague, sprained wrist, minor, moved to minor injuries room.
Miss Quinn, no injury, left in place.
Mr Michaels, no injury, moved to infirmary with his daughter.
Miss Sparks, massive abdominal trauma, broken ribs, punctured spleen, excessive bleeding external and internal, Death imminent.

All of the Mads' froze.

Through his power Mads sensed the girls injury's, feeling them in detail and their entirety. The girl was no older than 12 and had fallen down a deep ravine, breaking several ribs and taking some nasty blows, luckily Mia had spotted her and thrown her to Mads. The impact of that catch had pushed already broken ribs into her abdominal organs, puncturing them. This girl was going to die.

Pain flooded Mads chest as he stated pulling the injuries off her, luckily there were 5 of him to spread the injury across. What was a fifth of a mortal wound? Mads hoped it wouldn't kill him too.

Mads started bleeding.


@Everyone
Zeus begins to speak.
"We can bring healing to Mads, that bleeding man, and to everyone else in the Hotel, and provide shelter, all of these things for free, in addition to clothing and nourishment."
"We can eventually reverse the damage and chaos brought to the world by The Cataclysm, as well."

"Lastly, we have some few conditions in helping with The Cataclysm. Unfortunately, we don't' have the full freedom we want at the moment."

Hecate steps forward, she has the appearance of an old woman, perhaps nearing the age of ninety, if not already there, but she leans on her own cane, with a smile on her face.
"Be assured we are the only way you can survive long in this new broken world."
"Please listen to this man. He is our spoke's person, in a way. I suppose we don't exactly have a leader yet, if we ever will, but he's kind of close."

Zeus nods towards Hecate. "I suppose you may call me Zeus. This here is Hecate. There are various others here, as you can see, who are of like status as we are."
One thing was clear about these gods, they were mostly dressed in formal, high class wear, but some of them were more eccentric. Zeus himself was adorned like a Corporate Executive of a high class firm. Hecate appeared in a more casual dress that an elderly woman would wear.

One of the gods who stood out was a lanky, tall man with a pumpkin for a head? Or maybe just wearing one ON his head. Zeus, Hecate, and whoever the pumpkin man was were the three deities that were stepping in front of the others.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward's thoughts were quite the rollercoaster here.
At first he was pleased, and a little surprised (though not that surprised, Morty and Word'sworth turned out to be far less hostile than Emma implied, and Mildred was very friendly, honestly this world was outdoing his original so far) that these people were offering help.
Then he heard the whole 'we have conditions and are your only option' which sounds very suspicious.
Then he hears the names and the thoughts going through his head are not fit to be repeated here, greek gods are bad news, like 80% of their myths are just them screwing over mortals for petty reasons, or sleeping around without a care for the consequences, then you've got the fact that the actual religions held them to be directly to blame for basically every natural disaster. The two of them will never know it, but on this occasion he shares Mia's opinion.

He turns to Mads "I know a bit of healing magic, want me to give it a shot?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

From her container, Cassie is aware enough to hear the conversations happening around her. She felt... whatever weird nonsense Mia and Rowan were doing. She's not quite sorted out how seeing would work in her liquid state, but she gets the gist of what's going on. Based on the code names the intruders chose for themselves, they seem at least passingly familiar with human culture and certainly quite arrogant.

Cassie doesn't remember much about her former life, but somehow she doesn't fancy herself a believer in the idea that paganism was inspired by ancient aliens, magical or otherwise. She dismisses the notion out of hand. In which case, what other kind of being gets shackled to a whale and imprisoned in a magic basement? At least, Cassie assumes they've been imprisoned. What kind of restriction to their freedom are they talking about, otherwise?

Are they only waiting for an invitation to cross the threshold and escape?

Whatever these people say, something about their appearance must be terrifying, at least to Mia. Cassie doesn't need superpowers to sense that much. It's just basic human empathy. Ironically, the gods themselves probably wouldn't have enough to pick up on it.

She hears three sets of footsteps coming forward. They basically sound humanoid, so far. Now could be Cassie's last chance to say her piece, but alas, she really doesn't have much to contribute. Better to sit tight and recuperate for now.

[gawwy]

@Everyone
Zeus begins to speak.
"We can bring healing to Mads, that bleeding man, and to everyone else in the Hotel, and provide shelter, all of these things for free, in addition to clothing and nourishment."
"We can eventually reverse the damage and chaos brought to the world by The Cataclysm, as well."

"Lastly, we have some few conditions in helping with The Cataclysm. Unfortunately, we don't' have the full freedom we want at the moment."

Hecate steps forward, she has the appearance of an old woman, perhaps nearing the age of ninety, if not already there, but she leans on her own cane, with a smile on her face.
"Be assured we are the only way you can survive long in this new broken world."
"Please listen to this man. He is our spoke's person, in a way. I suppose we don't exactly have a leader yet, if we ever will, but he's kind of close."

Zeus nods towards Hecate. "I suppose you may call me Zeus. This here is Hecate. There are various others here, as you can see, who are of like status as we are."
One thing was clear about these gods, they were mostly dressed in formal, high class wear, but some of them were more eccentric. Zeus himself was adorned like a Corporate Executive of a high class firm. Hecate appeared in a more casual dress that an elderly woman would wear.

One of the gods who stood out was a lanky, tall man with a pumpkin for a head? Or maybe just wearing one ON his head. Zeus, Hecate, and whoever the pumpkin man was were the three deities that were stepping in front of the others.


EDWARD
"I know a bit of healing magic, want me to give it a shot?"

Mads (A)
Mads leans his head toward Edward without taking his eyes off of "Zeus", "Yea a spot of healing would be nice, there might be a lot more coming through from upstairs though. He muttered quietly.

Straightening up Mads addresses "Zeus" "Vhat kind of.. Conditions?" He asks, suspiciously.


If one god had appeared then Mads would've assumed they were a chartlen or omnipotent, and there was no point in worrying about omnipotent beings, they would do as they would no matter what you do.

The arrival of many gods from disparate pantheons though, you cant have two omnipotent things, and they have to derive power from somewhere. If it were inherent then they wouldn't have conditions, Gods didn't need things from mortals. Mads was going to take a stab in the dark and say their conditions would be some form of worship, and that they derived their power from said worship. He could of course be wrong but thats what would cause the most strife.

What's one to do in the face of multiple gods fighting over the belief of mortals? Throw your hat in the ring of course, especially when you have first access to scared, hurt people.

Mads B through E went to work, VORPing his way to the most injured amongst the survivors.

"By zee divine grace of Mads I take your wounds upon me, Ja." He started performing his "miracles" hoping Edward would be able to keep up downstairs.

"Be vary of the false prophets in these new times, Ja" He warned.

Mads was pretty sure you could jump start a cult by performing actual miracles. He just had to figure out how to hear prayers.

"The end times are here, ve vill see you through, Ja"

[FrightKnight0]

Jason pockets his Sling Ring again as he descends into the hotel. He isn't sure what kind of protections against teleportation the innermost parts of McLarren's sanctum would have, but he's not eager to test them. For a time, he stands, looking at the gods with an odd sort of detachment on his face standing in for the sea of shock roiling through his mind. Wong's skillset made it perfectly clear that it was unacceptable to show weakness when dealing with creatures that called themselves gods, lest they get ideas about you being beneath them. It was a bit egotistical, but given the kinds of bargains and treaties the Masters of the Mystic Arts were responsible for creating and enforcing, it made sense. More importantly, it let him delay the inevitable panic attack until later, hopefully when he had time to break down in safety for a bit. "If you're going to help, then help. If you're going to bargain for it, then let's bargain. What do you want?" He asks coolly, stepping forward to stand alongside Mads.

[ArlEammon]

Zeus And The Others
"Don't get us wrong, we'd help the world outside if we could, but we can't. We're confined to the immediacy of the Hotel grounds. In order to leave, and thus start the process of restoring the worlds that have been ravaged by the Cataclysm, we need the cooperation, and to some extent, even the permission of Human beings to enter the world outside. "

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

With Mads permission Edward holds his wand towards the bleeding wound and concentrates on the silent incanation, knitting flesh back together, it certainly looks better, though even his best healing spell is only really capable of handling a deep cut or gash, so anything more complicated than that likely lingers, though the spell does dramatically slow blood loss. "Hope that helps, might not have quite fixed anything complicated though, how did you even get hurt?"

Finally, he turns to the gods before them, they haven't explained much. "Well then, how can you help and what do you need us to do?"

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
The Gods in the Basement

Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutup!

Given the current state of her headspace, it was probably a good thing Mia's mental shield kept her thoughts so tightly under lock and key. Even as she was grateful to no longer be drawing the bulk of these entities' attention, she had to make an effort not to burn a searing glare into the side of Mads's head at his reckless words, instead continuing to remai-

Mads started bleeding.

Was it even possible to freeze more than Mia already had? If it was, she was most certainly giving it her best shot. Mia had enough presence of mind to not crush Cassie's cup, as she allowed her free hand to clench into a tight fist at the presence of freshly exposed blood. She'd managed to distract herself before, but the sight of vibrant crimson sent her throat burning all over again. The only mercy was that she was already holding her breath, which blunted the impact, but a vampire's bloodlust was more than a sensory phenomenon. Even just seeing it was enough to get her appetite up. Hell even just having blood mentioned was enough to send some vampires into a frenzy. It couldn't be understated how powerful and overriding this phenomenon was, which was why the person whose self-control she'd inherited -one Bella Swan- was considered a freak of nature even among the most restrained of her own kind.

Which was why, instead of Mia being compelled to immediately attack the source of the exposed blood and rip their throat out, her outward reaction to Mads spontaneously developing an injury from no perceivable source was for her vampiric allure to disappear entirely and for those present to get a first-hand experience with the alternative "hostility" she'd prior claimed would be much more burdensome to endure the presence of. Even though she hadn't moved an inch, it was as if her entire posture had changed. Her inhuman stillness was no longer that of Grecian statue, but rather that of a predator readied to pounce on their prey.

It took Mia... much longer than she'd have liked to wrench her gaze away from Mads, but pull it away, she did. In the doing, the threatening air she was exuding largely receded as well... though perhaps not entirely, and, in turn, her allure yet remained dormant while she recomposed herself. Her jaw was clenched like a steel trap, as she remained silent and still throughout the next portion of the conversation, not quite trusting her words to remain... restrained. She knew why her control had lapsed, of course. Her bloodthirst's patience had already been tested extensively today, so one could perhaps forgive her for reacting poorly when it was tested further without warning or mental preparation this time.

Of course, that was about the point her brain finished fully comprehending that the divine beings had confirmed that they were, in fact, supposedly actual gods. Of most notable presence among them being the Greek Pantheon... among whom they were bandying about Zeus as "leader".

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhh!

Mia restrained the urge to sarcastically inquire if Zeus, of all people, was seriously the best they could come up with for a leader candidate. Other than the fact that he might throw a hissy fit if they chose otherwise, she could think of no compelling reason to willingly hand the reins to the horndog tyrant of the Greek Pantheon.

Really, even if you knew the barest amount about Greek mythology, it was only good common sense to not trust anything Greek further than you could throw it, especially if it was one of the gods, and especially if they -or any other powerful entity- were trying to convince you that they were the only option. So, Mia considered it nothing less than a mercy to hear that these beings couldn't simply do as they pleased... at least according to them. She had so many questions, like... Why were they mostly dressed according to more "modern" times? Why were they offering so much "free" aid? What did they truly know about the Cataclysm, and what did they get out of helping with it? And... why were they being so polite and almost... deferential?

No, the latter must have been her imagination. What was the catch here? There was always a catch with gods. Mia refused to believe they had all somehow come together across disparate pantheons to selflessly give of themselves to heal the world. And that they were supposedly confined to the hotel? How? Why?

Despite desperately wishing she could just stay silent, Mia chose to give voice to some of those thoughts, as her predatory air finally faded enough for her allure to start to reassert itself. "Why are you confined to the hotel?" Mia asked Zeus, trying to keep her tone innocently curious rather than skeptical. "And how does human cooperation help you expand your reach outside it?" She had some questions beyond even that, which went yet unsaid. Would all the gods be able to leave at once, or would each god's freedom have to be addressed individually? Were these gods tied to existence like concepts, and the lack of their presence damaged the functions of the natural order? Adjacent to that idea, would each god's freedom only repair a specific aspect of reality, like say, Hades repairing the passage of souls or underworld/afterlife somehow?

Questions for later.

[ArlEammon]

EDWARD

With Mads permission Edward holds his wand towards the bleeding wound and concentrates on the silent incanation, knitting flesh back together, it certainly looks better, though even his best healing spell is only really capable of handling a deep cut or gash, so anything more complicated than that likely lingers, though the spell does dramatically slow blood loss. "Hope that helps, might not have quite fixed anything complicated though, how did you even get hurt?"

Finally, he turns to the gods before them, they haven't explained much. "Well then, how can you help and what do you need us to do?"

"First of all, as said before, we will provide food, and living services for absolutely nothing in return. However, in order to leave the Hotel, we need something that is connected to us. Something authentically of our era on Earth, or even preceding, if you can find such a thing."



Mia Mathers
The Gods in the Basement

Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutup!

Given the current state of her headspace, it was probably a good thing Mia's mental shield kept her thoughts so tightly under lock and key. Even as she was grateful to no longer be drawing the bulk of these entities' attention, she had to make an effort not to burn a searing glare into the side of Mads's head at his reckless words, instead continuing to remai-

Mads started bleeding.

Was it even possible to freeze more than Mia already had? If it was, she was most certainly giving it her best shot. Mia had enough presence of mind to not crush Cassie's cup, as she allowed one her free hand to clench into a tight fist at the presence of freshly exposed blood. She'd managed to distract herself before, but the sight of vibrant crimson sent her throat burning all over again. The only mercy was that she was already holding her breath, which blunted the impact, but a vampire's bloodlust was more than a sensory phenomenon. Even just seeing it was enough to get her appetite up. Hell even just having blood mentioned was enough to send some vampires into a frenzy. It couldn't be understated how powerful and overriding this phenomenon was, which was why the person whose self-control she'd inherited -one Bella Swan- was considered a freak of nature even among the most restrained of her own kind.

Which was why, instead of Mia being compelled to immediately attack the source of the exposed blood and rip their throat out, her outward reaction to Mads spontaneously developing an injury from no perceivable source was for her vampiric allure to disappear entirely and for those present to get a first-hand experience with the alternative "hostility" she'd prior claimed would be much more burdensome to endure the presence of. Even though she hadn't moved an inch, it was as if her entire posture had changed. Her inhuman stillness was no longer that of Grecian statue, but rather that of a predator readied to pounce on their prey.

It took Mia... much longer than she'd have liked to wrench her gaze away from Mads, but pull it away, she did. In the doing, the threatening air she was exuding largely receded as well... though perhaps not entirely, and, in turn, her allure yet remained dormant while she recomposed herself. Her jaw was clenched like a steel trap, as remained silent and still throughout the next portion of the conversation, no quite trusting her words to remain... restrained. She knew why her control had lapsed, of course. Her bloodthirst's patience had already been tested extensively today, so one could perhaps forgive her for reacting poorly when it was tested further without warning or mental preparation this time.

Of course, that was about the point her brain finished fully comprehending that the divine beings confirmed had that they were, in fact, supposedly actual gods. Of most notable presence among them being the Greek Pantheon... among whom they were bandying about Zeus as "leader".

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhh!

Mia restrained the urge to sarcastically inquire if Zeus of all people was seriously the best they could come up with for a leader candidate. Other than the fact that he might throw a hissy fit if they chose otherwise, she could think of no compelling reason to willingly hand the reins to the horndog tyrant of the Greek Pantheon.

Really, even if you knew the barest amount about Greek mythology, it was only good common sense to not trust anything Greek further than you could throw it, especially if it was one of the gods, and especially if they -or any other powerful entity- were trying to convince you that they were the only option. So, Mia considered it nothing less than a mercy to hear that these beings couldn't simply do as they pleased... at least according to them. She had so many questions, like... Why were they mostly dressed according to more "modern" times? Why were they offering so much "free" aid? What did they truly know about the Cataclysm, and what did they get out of helping with it? And... why were they being so polite and almost... deferential?

No, the latter must have been her imagination. What was the catch here? There was always a catch with gods. Mia refused to believe they had all somehow come together across disparate pantheons to selflessly give of themselves to heal the world. And that they were supposedly confined to the hotel? How? Why?

Despite desperately wishing she could just stay silent, Mia chose to give voice to some of those thoughts, as her predatory air finally faded enough for her allure to start to reassert itself. "Why are you confined to the hotel?" Mia asked Zeus, trying to keep her tone innocently curious rather than skeptical. "And how does human cooperation help you expand your reach outside it?" She had some questions beyond even that, which went yet unsaid. Would all the gods be able to leave at once, or would each god's freedom have to be addressed individually? Were these gods tied to existence like concepts, and the lack of their presence damaged the functions of the natural order? Adjacent to that idea, would each god's freedom only repair a specific aspect of reality, like say, Hades repairing the passage of souls or underworld/afterlife somehow?

Questions for later.

"We were exiled, mostly, from the world two thousand years ago. Even long before then our power began to wane over the world. Then slowly, we inexplicably began to disappear one by one. A very scant few remained, but for us who left, it was not understood how or why this happened. Some of us believed it had something to do with events in the Middle East, but the Monotheistic God made no mention of us, never bothered to fill us in on anything. He never did like any of us. Some of us managed to arrive here in the New World, building a monument, or temple, etcetera in various locations. A magical Orb is placed where this blue shining portal is now, and then it focuses all divine power within this location. Enormous power filled this Orb, allowing us to enter the Material Plane again, but now that we are back, there is equally enormously strong sympathetic magic binding us to this location. For now, we can leave this Hotel and roam the grounds outside, but we can't leave the Resort." Zeus did not explain, but the Natives stayed away from the temple, which was attended to by people coming from Europe many centuries ago. Eventually there was no way to receive the water needed to sustain life here until technology advanced enough, so the Temple was sealed and nearly forgotten about until the late 1800's.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

"Do you need something in particular, or could we just borrow something like the Burgon Vase from a museum? I could probably transfigure a replica and Rowan's time stopping should make any security ineffective."
Edward hadn't actually considered using his or anyone else's magic for theft before, no real motive, but he thinks it might be fun to try, for a good cause.

This (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgon_vase) I looked up ancient greek artefacts and this seems suitably ancient, suitably greek and is in a place Edward has actually been.

[ArlEammon]

EDWARD

"Do you need something in particular, or could we just borrow something like the Burgon Vase from a museum? I could probably transfigure a replica and Rowan's time stopping should make any security ineffective."
Edward hadn't actually considered using his or anyone else's magic for theft before, no real motive, but he thinks it might be fun to try, for a good cause.

This (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgon_vase) I looked up ancient greek artefacts and this seems suitably ancient, suitably greek and is in a place Edward has actually been.

"What you, what WE need is something that is strongly magical and tied to us, somehow. Something of VERY potent magic can allow some of us, if not only one of us to leave the grounds. There does exist many very powerful artifacts that could serve such a purpose. For example, The Spear of Destiny is currently held in the British Museum in London. Also, there is another Orb like this one, held in Shangrila. In Avalon the Holy Grail has been hidden to where we can't even see, but Avalon is partially obscured by existing multidimensionally."

[gawwy]

EDWARD
Heals Mads a bunch "Hope that helps, might not have quite fixed anything complicated though, how did you even get hurt?"


"Oh I'm moving wounds off the worst of the injured upstairs, if you can keep that healing going I can keep moving more."[/] Mads offers as a brief explanation, light on details due to the current situation.

Mads winces and resumes bleeding.



[B]Mia Mathers
The Gods in the Basement

[Hostile vibes intensify]


Mads is faced with an army of gods two score deep, yet its the feral emanations from the vampires at his side that's sending a shiver down his spine.


"What you, what WE need is something that is strongly magical and tied to us, somehow. Something of VERY potent magic can allow some of us, if not only one of us to leave the grounds. There does exist many very powerful artifacts that could serve such a purpose. For example, The Spear of Destiny is currently held in the British Museum in London. Also, there is another Orb like this one, held in Shangrila. In Avalon the Holy Grail has been hidden to where we can't even see, but Avalon is partially obscured by existing multidimensionally."

"I have so many questions," Mads leans his head to look around "Zeus" to look at the orb, "About zee nature of this power divine. Where does it come from?Why is there so much here in this hotel?"

"Vhy vould you want relics from after your death? Ones linked to the mono-myth who betrayed you no less? Zee spear and grail are both artifacts from after those events no?" Mads questioned the relic choice, if the power divine was sympathetic then the symbology of the conduit would affect the outcome. So to have artifacts so strongly linked to the god that probably architected these gods downfall seems like a recipe for disaster. Then again Mads had only read about occultism in fantasy novels, so he was wildly out of his depth.




The other mads quickly become saturated with wounds, even with 5 bodies thats only 5 people worth of debilitating wounds he can carry, he could try shelving them but something told him that was risky. if only he had more bodies to spread it around. He could just asks the gods downstairs to intervene but that felt like an invitation to a powerful debt.

Mads also hurt his power did nothing to blunt the pain of injuries and it was really starting to stack up.

A father approached one of his bodies begging for him to heal his son, a broken arm. That one injury would be manageable if it was the only one, Mads would simply spread the break across the five of him turning it from a hard break to five fractures. He had already done that 3 times for most of his body, any more and he would end up with 5 very broken bodies. He just needed to a way to divide it up more.

"Please, Ill do anything" The man begged grabbing him, Mads power making him aware of a small sprain in the mans shoulder, nothing the man couldn't endure.

"Anything?" Mads said a thought rising. "Would you shoulder his burden in his place?" Mads said, trying to make it sound weighty.

"Of course, hes my son!"

"Brace yourself, Ja." Mads said, half talking to the man and half to himself. He layed his hand upon the father and the son, investigating the break.

He pulled the injury off the boy and split it between two of him-selves, who nearly, no, one actually did, collapse from the pain. Then he took that half break and pushed half back onto the boy and half onto the father. They both now shared identical fractures, not full breaks and both still painful, but it should be more manageable now.

"Pain shared is pain divided. Ja?" Mads had a full plan now, he just needed an incentive for volunteers.

He pressed a bleeding thumb on the fathers forehead, anointing him.

"Go find other brave souls villing to divide the suffering of innocents between them. Ja?" He instructed, the accent was starting to feel a little inappropriate, but he was committed to the bit.

With any luck there would be a perceived status among the community bestowed by the anointment. That would make spreading the injuries across these 300 bodies he had just realized were here a lot easier, and when it was spread that thin each injury should heal pretty fast even without medicine.

Then he could also rotate stuff to Edward that could be dealt with by his magic slowly.

Mads felt pretty pleased with himself.

[ArlEammon]

"Oh I'm moving wounds off the worst of the injured upstairs, if you can keep that healing going I can keep moving more."[/] Mads offers as a brief explanation, light on details due to the current situation.

Mads winces and resumes bleeding.



Mads is faced with an army of gods two score deep, yet its the feral emanations from the vampires at his side that's sending a shiver down his spine.



[B]"I have so many questions," Mads leans his head to look around "Zeus" to look at the orb, "About zee nature of this power divine. Where does it come from?Why is there so much here in this hotel?"

"Vhy vould you want relics from after your death? Ones linked to the mono-myth who betrayed you no less? Zee spear and grail are both artifacts from after those events no?" Mads questioned the relic choice, if the power divine was sympathetic then the symbology of the conduit would affect the outcome. So to have artifacts so strongly linked to the god that probably architected these gods downfall seems like a recipe for disaster. Then again Mads had only read about occultism in fantasy novels, so he was wildly out of his depth.

"Well, we were all non divine beings at one point. We may have been "divine" in some way, but none of us have always been at the apex of our power from the beginning. See, as I explained before, the last surviving gods congregated here in Arizona, and created this magical Orb. What I didn't say is that on their death, the room here was resealed and the Hotel was rebuilt around it in 1915. These deities' souls are contained inside The Orb. The Orb gave life to The Hotel. After it's construction, I might add, giving it a consciousness of it's own.

[B]"Now as for the Spear and Holy Grail, you are absolutely right about the former. See, the Spear was recreated after it's first use into such a powerful weapon that it doesn't matter where it comes from. The Holy Grail on the other hand, isn't originally a Christian artifact. On the creation of the Grail, many eons ago, even before the gods or the universe was created, an Entire dimension of spirits and magic was contained for an unknown reason inside it."

"The Christian Messiah DID come in to ownership of it, but he never used it. Certainly not in the Last Supper."

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Well there seems a simple solution here, Avalon is probably beyond them, Shangrila was fictional (though it is presumably one of many such things that are actually real here, what with the wizards, witches and mentions of Camelot, and that's without considering his own abilities, or those of the other summonees), but he's visited the British museum, and phrased right it'll keep him from having to keep healing Mads, which is good because he is not a Healer and is quietly worried he might accidentally give the man permanent organ damage or something.

First he turns to Mads "Ah, I do not think that is a good idea Mads, I'd rather not use that particular spell more than I have to, lest I heal something permanently wrong, it's one thing to stop you bleeding to death mid conversation, but if that's how you're healing people, it's not a matter of if something goes wrong as much as when, fortunately we have a solution."
Then he returns his attention to these gods, time to see if they're really helpful. "In that case, I have a plan, you can act within this hotel, so if you can fix up Mads here, then take over handling the injured upstairs, I can magically transport myself and some of the others to London and get that Spear."

Creation of a portkey should handle the trip easily enough, it won't be the most pleasant trip, but it'll be quick.

[FrightKnight0]

Jason shrugged. "It couldn't hurt to find the Spear of Destiny and at least take it off the table, even if I'm not a hundred percent sure handing it over to a random deity is such a good idea. And I want to see if the Sanctum Sanctorum got pulled into whatever dimensional soup is happening out there. They're supposed to have a stabilizing effect on dimensional energies; if it's here but broken, I might be able to fix it up. Especially with the aforementioned Spear of Destiny." He walked over to Edward and nodded. "Not to mention the irony of stealing something from the British Museum."

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
The Gods in the Basement

A frown briefly crossed Mia's lips, as the conversation progressed. The disparate group of summoned individuals had questions, and these supposed gods had answers... or at least something resembling them.

So, that's the story they're going with?

It made her uncomfortable to not have a real way to truly confirm the truth of Zeus's claims other than taking him at his word, which was... Hah, as if. The day she trusted a Greek god unconditionally would never come, not as long as a shred of self-preservation remained inside her. Regardless, however, they weren't in much of a position to contemplate better options... at least not here.

Mia suppressed a twitch of annoyance and growl of hunger, as Mads resumed bleeding yet again... apparently as a result of his own power... which only made it more annoying. Even generally understanding the good he was doing, that didn't make it less "exciting" to her bloodthirst. Not to mention, but she was already getting sick of holding her breath. She could very much see why this annoyed her kind. Yet, for all that, her bloodthirst largely simmered lowly, never really getting close again to the surge of repressed violence she had briefly emanated prior.

And as the subject turned to the task the gods had in mind for them, Mia crossed her arms and suppressed a grimace, coaching her expression into careful passivity. She'd not hesitate to admit, ancient history -or really, history in general- was never much the vampire's niche. She was near entirely lost for ideas for where to look for these "ancient artifacts", so it seemed she would need to defer to those with more of a clue, like Edward. There was a lot of interesting information getting tossed around, lots of things worth addressing... but Mia would prefer to do so in a location more... private.

Specifically, away from the effective home territory of both Emma and these gods.

"The Spear of Destiny does sound like the first half-viable choice we have," she threw her own vote in the ring on where to go. Not that she had any particular investment in this little "quest" yet, but voicing any opinion other than acceptance felt... risky here. The sooner they got away from this place, the better. Only once that was done could she truly raise the topic of what they wanted to do long-term.

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan
Rowan's mind was racing, but the information, collected in detail and seemingly forever, made no sense. But the more Rowan contemplated the various versions of each Greek Myth, of the various versions of myths across the globe that they knew about it did start making an odd form of sense. Of course, humans would make the gods big and scary and awful. They blamed them for everything. If you tripped and fell down the stairs it was Dolus, the personification of trickery that did it, not your two left feet and the massive amount of wine you had drank. But still, there was rarely smoke without fire, perhaps the myths exaggerated the wrongs they had done, and embellished the stories to make them more unbelievable, but there was likely a grain of truth in their origin somewhere.

Rowan keyed into their empathic abilities and telepathic to try and get a read on these gods. Especially their spokesperson in the deity known as Zeus. They were quiet, no need to draw unwanted attention to them without needing too. The request for magical items, though not from their time period or before even though they had initially asked for those specifically. Perhaps it was the strength of the magic of this spear and chalice that would let them bypass the restriction they had said of their time period.

"Acquiring the spear is easy enough." they agreed with the assessment of the others. Speaking for the first time in several moments. "I have to admit I am of no help with dimensional issues." admitting to a weakness, but not specifying a strength, let the gods see this and underestimate the vampire before them. They did get an eye on Mads and the smell of blood was deeply distracting "Can I help with that?" they inquired their tone stiff and they were swallowing back the mouthfuls of venom that seemed to keep filling their mouth. "You seem in need of aid."


Using Empathy (Pathokinesis) to read their emotions to see if I notice any deception in their intentions
Same for Telepathy, to read their surface thoughts to check for a deception, but not digging deeper, just reading the thoughts they are projecting naturally.

[gawwy]

Rowan

"Acquiring the spear is easy enough." they agreed with the assessment of the others. Speaking for the first time in several moments. "I have to admit I am of no help with dimensional issues." admitting to a weakness, but not specifying a strength, let the gods see this and underestimate the vampire before them. They did get an eye on Mads and the smell of blood was deeply distracting "Can I help with that?" they inquired their tone stiff and they were swallowing back the mouthfuls of venom that seemed to keep filling their mouth. "You seem in need of aid."


Using Empathy (Pathokinesis) to read their emotions to see if I notice any deception in their intentions
Same for Telepathy, to read their surface thoughts to check for a deception, but not digging deeper, just reading the thoughts they are projecting naturally.

"Ja, if you can heal me or yourself, There's something of a backlog to work through though, Ja." Mads says to Rowan. "And I'm more than happy to tag along to the museum of London, always did want to zee what the big deal vas. Ill leave one of me here though to liaise with zee gods, Ja?"

[TheAlmightyKue]

Rowan

Rowan offered their hand to Mads and took a firm grip on it. Mads would immediately notice that it was like having his hand encased in ice as their skin was far colder than the room around them. Rowan nods their head to give their permission for Mads to begin their ability.

Rowan felt the burns flash across their side like a wave of heat. The burns stung in a way that their vampire mind echoed was weaker than the burning of transformation. The flesh warped like plastic siding exposed to too much heat. Rowan gritted their teeth and their eyes locked on Mads, the skin shined in the light the way a burn scar does, and then like someone set the camera to reverse the warped plastic siding was made new and untouched again.

The bone on their right side, and the collarbone fractured and came cleanly apart. The pain was sudden but passed just as suddenly as the bone began to knit back together, the venom-infused muscles within seeming to be forced back into position as the venom soaked the bone and immediately the bone mended. But the initial break caused the sound of a sharp clear crack, like a rock splitting in two. Next, a wound spawned on their left hand, opening through it and Rowan could tell if they looked they might see clear through. The wound didn't bleed instead filling with clear fluid before the wound began to close up leaving no trace of it behind.

The sound of ribs breaking filled the room with a groan from Rowan, but also the familiar sound of rock being split, the sharp clear cracks. Rowan's eyes never left Mads eyes, the eyes would narrow and expand as the wounds were delivered and then healed off. Each caused pain, but due to the healing, it was fleeting, only a memory of the pain remained, one that Rowan would unfortunately always be able to recall with crystal clarity. As the ribs healed, each bone within the body fractured causing fainter cracks, faint for human ears but inhuman ones could hear each bone strain and crack in unpleasant ways. Before the venom and regeneration tag-teamed them and sealed them off healing them back to perfection.

The cancer was not that unpleasant, discomfort but not pain, and the venom would make short work of such foreign material eating away at it as the regeneration repaired each damaged cell to factory settings. The build-up for cholesterol in the ventricles of the heart met a similar fate, not that Rowan used their heart anymore, but the foreign organic materials dissolved under the venomous onslaught. As the wounds, illnesses, and ailments flowed into them Rowan felt each, becoming acutely aware of what new foreign stimuli were added to the body they found as their permanent residence.

The blindness was the most concerning of course, only because Vampires have an innate tension from losing one of their senses. Though through smell they could detect the room better than most, and hearing might as well give them better sonar than any bat could dream of having. But still, the milky look of their eyes only covered the blackness underneath. But like so much else the milky film that seemed to glaze over their eyes dissolved before Mads like it was eaten away by acid.

They would keep a hold of their hand as they filtered through concussions, bruises, scraps, and various other injuries and conditions that the body made of seemingly crystal made small cracks and creaks with the application of wounds only for the wound to fill with a clear liquid that seemed to immediately pull the wound close and knit it shut like someone turned the video to several times play speed. Rowan would only speak one time "That about all of it?"

[gawwy]

Rowan
"That about all of it?"

Mads had excused one of his selves upstairs to a distant room where he could scream as the pain wracked him, the downside to having quantumly entangled brains was they all got to feel the pain every body felt at once. Having this one outlet helped him deal a bit. He tried his hardest not to let it show on the body the gods could see, but certainly let some of it through in grunts and jaw clenching.

The *thing* in front of him seemed completely immune to the pain. The part of Mads' power that let him sense wounds gave him a front row seat to the miracle that was Rowan's healing process.

At the end of the process Mads' takes a moment to regain his composure then nods. "Ja, that's mostly it." he says quietly with a shaky thumbs up.

Rowan may notice right at the end that Mads tight grip suddenly gets stronger, not enough to harm him but noticeably so, and Mads seems to fill out a bit.


One of the Mads vanished himself off to a rooms to have a good scream as the other 3 milled about the crowds he had just dispersed wounds to taking them back to feed to Rowan.

"No ve have shared, ve can heal." Mads' intones to the survivors. Trying to sell the act to the group.

Between the pain and the fascination with Rowan Mads almost forgets to hold some of the injuries for later.

He loads the hidden self with enough wounds to disable and almost kill it and then teleport's it to nowhere. The sensation of the injuries it holds disappear with it and Mads has a broken body's worth of injuries stored for later.

[ArlEammon]

Rowan
Rowan's mind was racing, but the information, collected in detail and seemingly forever, made no sense. But the more Rowan contemplated the various versions of each Greek Myth, of the various versions of myths across the globe that they knew about it did start making an odd form of sense. Of course, humans would make the gods big and scary and awful. They blamed them for everything. If you tripped and fell down the stairs it was Dolus, the personification of trickery that did it, not your two left feet and the massive amount of wine you had drank. But still, there was rarely smoke without fire, perhaps the myths exaggerated the wrongs they had done, and embellished the stories to make them more unbelievable, but there was likely a grain of truth in their origin somewhere.

Rowan keyed into their empathic abilities and telepathic to try and get a read on these gods. Especially their spokesperson in the deity known as Zeus. They were quiet, no need to draw unwanted attention to them without needing too. The request for magical items, though not from their time period or before even though they had initially asked for those specifically. Perhaps it was the strength of the magic of this spear and chalice that would let them bypass the restriction they had said of their time period.

"Acquiring the spear is easy enough." they agreed with the assessment of the others. Speaking for the first time in several moments. "I have to admit I am of no help with dimensional issues." admitting to a weakness, but not specifying a strength, let the gods see this and underestimate the vampire before them. They did get an eye on Mads and the smell of blood was deeply distracting "Can I help with that?" they inquired their tone stiff and they were swallowing back the mouthfuls of venom that seemed to keep filling their mouth. "You seem in need of aid."


Using Empathy (Pathokinesis) to read their emotions to see if I notice any deception in their intentions
Same for Telepathy, to read their surface thoughts to check for a deception, but not digging deeper, just reading the thoughts they are projecting naturally.

Empathy/Pathokinesis
There is no deception but there is hesitation, as if they have more to say but are unsure if they should share more information. Thoughts are "They are too young to understand. . ." Or "They're not ready" Some of them are more rude but to the point such as "dumb mortals" etcetera, but you do get the impression even the 'Rude" thoughts you're getting are positively intentioned.

Meanwhile . . .
An old man steps out of the room to speak with Mads. This particular man was clothed in a robe with a hood. Taking the hood off his head, he had a golden right eye and a normal blue left eye. No eye patch, but you could feel in your spirit who this was who was going to speak with you. This is none other than Odin. While the gods start to leave the portal room with the Blue Orb and begin to explore the basement area, Odin put his right hand around you in a friendly gesture to take you to a private room. "So Mads, look. I know what you're doing. You're a cult leader." Odin just stated as a matter of fact. "I don't have anything against that. But I think I could lend a hand. See, I know a lot about magic and I could tell you don't exactly have a lot of that, at least not yet. However, since you are all new to this dimension you didn't come here with a True Name, but now you have one already. Use that. If you want to be known as an important religious figure. Use your True Name for people to know you by."

[Lewascan2]

Mia Mathers
The Gods in the Basement

Watching -or more like listening- to Mads and Rowan go on their little "healing" binge, Mia could only observe in morbid fascination and fresh understanding at the chorus of cracking internals and periodic flare and dulling of sanguine scents. Distantly, above the basement in the main building, Mia could also hear one of Mads's other new bodies screaming in unrestrained agony, which... Well, that certainly said much about how little pain tolerance that ability came packaged with. When Mads had called himself a healer before, that was an entirely inaccurate statement. What he was in reality was a redistributor. Every bit of harm he pulled away clearly still had to go somewhere. If not himself then someone else. Combined with Edward's own professed lack of confidence in his own healing magic, this made the ability something they shouldn't rely upon by any means.

At the least, Mia doubted it would ever be much useful to her. Any injury she would require that power to heal from would likely just kill Mads outright without careful planning and a decent patsy to accept it. On another note, seeing Rowan's example, she made a note to generally avoid physical contact with Mads in any potential confrontation. While it's doubtful he could "store" an injury great enough to kill her (as it would have killed him long before her), he might be able to inconvenience her seriously enough to be vulnerable to a follow-up.

Treat it as if I were Dio and him a Joseph clad in Hamon. If I ever needed to fight him, I should only strike him indirectly and never let him touch me. Although... That power oddly rings a bell. Though, I can't quite put my finger on it...

The more helpful thing to observe by far was how fast Rowan regenerated from the injuries they accepted from Mads. Admittedly, Mia hadn't really understood how fast vampires regenerate until now. She was aware of what they were weak to, where their limitations generally lay, but given that her "doner" hadn't had any serious experience with testing that regeneration power that could have carried over in understanding, Mia had honestly considered it their weakest asset by far. What she was witnessing now, however, put a bit of a stopper in that opinion.

Maybe it's not their strongest asset, but though it is limited, it's not weak by any means... I wonder... With this kind of recovery speed, that might actually be something I can safely test...

Redirecting her attention to the matter at hand, Mia nodded in agreement to Edward and Rowan, making a mental note of the addendum Jason raised as being perhaps worth pursuing later as well. A dimensionally stable base, protected from the ongoing chaos even if the worst happened? Yes, please! Outwardly, Mia merely said, "Sounds like we have a heading... or something approaching one." Nodding again to Edward, she grinned confidently at his offer of transportation, some small part of her childishly eager to experience it. "Then I suppose we'll put our safe arrival in your hands." Glancing around at the mingling gods, she frowned. "I'd prefer we depart expeditiously. The sooner we get this show on the road, the better." And the sooner she removed herself from spitting distance of literal gods, the sooner she could stop feeling instinctively threatened at all times.

In the wake of this, Mia's gaze tracked the departure of one of the gods, who appeared as an old man in a hooded robe, as the figure demonstrated an abrupt forwardness to herd Mads into a private conversation. Her stomach squirmed in unease, as she got a sensation of who it was... Odin, yet another head of a Pantheon, this time the Norse. Her eyes narrowed briefly at the glimpse of his eyes she got in passing, as she paid a similar amount of wary attention to the other gods now beginning to spread out, ranging away from the room they'd appeared in.

Frowning, Mia didn't even need to step closer to overhear their conversation. In the confines of a basement that enhanced acoustics with vampiric hearing on her side? Even if Odin were whispering, she could have overheard him clear as if he was shouting in her ear. A sharp scowl briefly broke across her lips before being smoothed away, as she heard what they were talking about.

A cult?! What? How and why? We haven't even been here more than a few hours! Oi, and more to the point, why the hell is one of the existing gods actually helping him with it?! She honestly couldn't fathom why. Gods were generally known to be jealous sorts when it came to mortals trying to "rise above their station". Even so...

Mia's lips pursed, as her gaze traced over to Rowan, knowing they could surely hear Odin's words as easily as she could. Mia would not deny... in this situation, there was a sinister temptation in trying to follow the blueprint Mads was laying down. She'd never have thought of herself as one to entertain a god complex, and even now, the concept of trying what Mads was made her stomach turn somehow, eliciting a feeling that the whole affair was scummy as an enterprise.

Yet... Based on several things the gods had said so far, attaining divinity through worship, rather than being born into it, was perfectly possible in this world. If she wanted to, Mia wondered how difficult it would really be to set herself up as a member of Mads's potential budding pantheon. She suspected the answer was unfortunately "embarrassingly easy". She could probably easily set herself up as a Goddess of Time or War, leaning into her vampiric predilections for the ways of a warrior. Between her alternating aura of allure and aggression, she already slotted into the trope of "love and war" and might even have a way to play into the domain of Love... not that such was a preference.

But she was getting ahead of herself. If that was something that was actually possible, it was already all too tempting, and Mia had to wonder what the catch must be. Odin's implication that the first step to success with utilizing one's True Name already levied some element of risk. Mia didn't know much about the local nature of True Names, but they obviously had power. Spreading hers around openly, recklessly, seemed rife with risk. Yet, at the same time, it was clear that getting worshippers to invoke one's True Name was likely the first step to gaining a steady trickle of divine power. That actually made her wonder then: were the gods before them presently going by their own True Names?

That wasn't the only concern, of course, however. After all, had the gods of this world not been rendered near extinct until now? How had that even happened? And more importantly, if Mia became a goddess, wouldn't she also be at risk from such a phenomenon in the future? Would taking up a divine mantle restrict her in unforeseen ways? Would her existence henceforth become beholden to the survival of her worshipper base? The last thing she was interested in was ceasing to exist just because people got bored of her or because she didn't feel like actively encouraging people to praise her for no reason.

She'd need to consider her decision carefully, but whatever path she chose... She should perhaps choose soon. The earlier she got into the ground floor on this little "Pantheon Project", the more easily she could benefit and shape the result, get her "lore" properly aligned with whatever nonsense Mads was cooking up. It really just seemed mad as a concept to her, but...

She wouldn't deny that this strange situation worried her. There were so many powerful beings, so many unknown threats, that she couldn't help but be afraid. And through fear, there grew inside her a hunger to mitigate it... with the accruement of any and all power and advantages she could get her hands on. She wasn't even sure what she wanted to do with her future in this situation, but she had already determined one overarching prerequisite. She didn't want to die. She wanted to live, and live free. And in a world plagued by the supernatural at even a cosmic level? That required hard power.


She'd give it some thought.

In the meanwhile, she'd make sure to keep a careful... eye? Ear? She'd keep watch, see how that was going for the... ambitious new "cult" leader.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Well that is unexpected, Rowan seems to have some rather good regenartion going, still don't know where from, more importantly Mads seems to be getting through those injuries at an alarming rate, makes you wonder just what he can transfer though, so much for giving the gods something useful to do.
Just have to give them to benefit of the doubt, certainly seem friendlier than in myths, and it's not like mythology is known for consistency or accuracy, probably not hiding worse than the rest of this little group.

Two possibilities for London, major disaster area and therefore full of panicing people and media attention, or business as usual and therefore the CCTV captial of Europe, so probably best to arrive invisible, probably easier to have everyone grab on first, coordinating invisible people sounds like a hassle.

Edward waves his wand casually and a few feet of silver chain appears in the air, casually levitating.
"Ok so this is simple enough, everyone grab hold of this chain, once everyone's holding on, I'm making it and you invisible, then it's a single charm and we're in London."
He follows his own instructions, grabbing the chain in one hand and disillusioning himself with the other.

As soon as everyone else is ready, he'll transform the chain into a portkey, dropping everyone near the British Museum.

[gawwy]

[
Meanwhile . . .
"So Mads, look. I know what you're doing. You're a cult leader." Odin just stated as a matter of fact. "I don't have anything against that. But I think I could lend a hand. See, I know a lot about magic and I could tell you don't exactly have a lot of that, at least not yet. However, since you are all new to this dimension you didn't come here with a True Name, but now you have one already. Use that. If you want to be known as an important religious figure. Use your True Name for people to know you by."

Mads glances back to see if they could be heard before whispering to Odin, god with one hundred and fifty names.
"Ahh I was wondering how far into the hotel your kind can see. Far enough it seems. Not that I dont appreciate it, but why would you help me in this endeavor?"


EDWARD
Edward waves his wand casually and a few feet of silver chain appears in the air, casually levitating.
"Ok so this is simple enough, everyone grab hold of this chain, once everyone's holding on, I'm making it and you invisible, then it's a single charm and we're in London."
He follows his own instructions, grabbing the chain in one hand and disillusioning himself with the other.

As soon as everyone else is ready, he'll transform the chain into a portkey, dropping everyone near the British Museum.


As Mads looks around to check if his conversation with Odin can be overheard he relocates a second body down to the basement with a VORP.

"Ah I vas vorried about how ve vere ment to get to London. Presumably zee planes are out of commission, Ja? Thank you Edward. Ve vill return with the spear that killed Christ shortly, Ja!"

Mads grabs the chain and smiles at Edward broadly.

The two remaining mads simply mingle with the survivors up stairs after the healing is complete. Reassuring the worried ones that every thing is going to be fine. They were blessed after all.

[ArlEammon]

Mads glances back to see if they could be heard before whispering to Odin, god with one hundred and fifty names.
"Ahh I was wondering how far into the hotel your kind can see. Far enough it seems. Not that I dont appreciate it, but why would you help me in this endeavor?"
As Mads looks around to check if his conversation with Odin can be overheard he relocates a second body down to the basement with a VORP.
"Ah I vas vorried about how ve vere ment to get to London. Presumably zee planes are out of commission, Ja? Thank you Edward. Ve vill return with the spear that killed Christ shortly, Ja!"
Mads grabs the chain and smiles at Edward broadly.
The two remaining mads simply mingle with the survivors up stairs after the healing is complete. Reassuring the worried ones that every thing is going to be fine. They were blessed after all.


Back At Elysian Hotel
Odin smiles. "It's simple. We act like we're the biggest boys in town, as the gods, but the truth is the Earth dimension needs more of us. The more powerful you are, you see, the more enemies you tend to have."

The God's Warnings

"You should be cautious at the British Museum. We can sense something is going to act against you. But curiously we sense no malice. It could be that rather than something evil, you may have to deal with something merely, um, weird, for lack of better word, but still possibly dangerous."

England
Mortimer, happy that the protagonists helped him by rescuing him from The Mirror, accompanies them. Word'sworth stays behind. The group appears through the portal keys in The British Museum in London. Outside it appears as if London is in tact, however no one is around. The cars are empty, though you do occasionally see figures and sillhouetes in the distance.

The museum inside seems mostly empty of people, though the exhibits remain where they've been since before the Cataclysm. Shortly after arriving you do see three people sitting down on the cleanly kept floor, leaning against the wall in front of the few empty exhibits. Behind them there are a few beds and even one person seems to be laying down.

Meanwhile. . .
Emma, as she sits at her table in her apartment, is reaching at her large spell book. This spellbook had the names and true names of the protagonists, in addition to their appearances on the magical pages. Scowling under the headers that were meant to list their True Names, the realization hits her that your True Names are no longer there! Now she knows you have been freed from the geas.
Emma screams in rage.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Once the group arrives at the museum and it sounds like the coast is clear, the cup in Mia's hand shakes hand unscrews itself, and Cassie leaps out to reconstitute herself behind the reception desk - the same human form as before, this time augmented with cat ears and a tail because why the heck not? Shapeshifting is still a new sensation, but it feels good, like a satisfying stretch after a nap, like all her worries melted away somewhere in the process. So much so that she stands there dumbly for a moment, having already forgotten what she was going to say.

This is probably convenient for everyone here who had a stomach while teleporting, as they will likely need a moment to settle.

"So, I guess we're doing this, huh?" she says at last. "You know, I took for granted that this world wasn't like the one I came from. But, here we are - there's still a London, and a museum, and references to religious history I kind of recognize. Is this how the world has always been? With true names, and gods, and..." she lights up and turns to the extension of Mads that came along for the ride. "Right! I was going to say - you're not actually going through with this cult thing, are you? We can't take advantage of people's trust like that! And if the power of faith works the way that basement guy said, that just makes it worse!"

[gawwy]

She lights up and turns to the extension of Mads that came along for the ride. "Right! I was going to say - you're not actually going through with this cult thing, are you? We can't take advantage of people's trust like that! And if the power of faith works the way that basement guy said, that just makes it worse!"

"That is impressive hearing for something with no ears, Ja." Mads says wryly, "If these gods are powered by faith like ve suspect. That means the faith of those survivors vould be a strategic resource for the gods, Ja. As ve don't know how benevolent they are I acted quickly to deny them this resource. In the worst case my 'Cult' vill act to inoculate them against the virus of belief these 'Gods' will sow."

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward is beginning to question the morals and motives of his new allies, really, a CULT. Still, more important things than failing to convince someone why that's wrong.

He turns to Cassie "Definitely not how the world always was, for one thing the British Museum never claimed to have the spear we seek, more importantly we were clearly summoned from elsewhere, based on the description of this new disaster, we're apparently in some sort of many worlds cosmology, and we all come from a rather dull one, assuming we come from the same one, anyway."

"Still, something is wrong, there shouldn't be anyone here at all at 3am."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Cassie still doesn't like the cult idea, but relents when Edward poses his theory. "Yeah, I guess that's true. If that's how this world works, I don't know what else could be different, in the past or the future."

"As long as we're here, we should check around outside. Abandoned or not, the museum is still standing. Maybe London is faring better than Arizona, at least?"

[gawwy]

EDWARD

"Still, something is wrong, this place should be full of people in the middle of the day, convenient, but suspicious."[/COLOR]



"As long as we're here, we should check around outside. Abandoned or not, the museum is still standing. Maybe London is faring better than Arizona, at least?"

Vell I vas going to go find un bitching sword to steal back from the British. But you do both raise a salient point about the prople arounder here, csnt hurt to pop a head out and check see if the apocalypse spread to here, ja? Oh und can ve let go of the chain now? Mads muses and then asks Edward.

[ArlEammon]

Cassie still doesn't like the cult idea, but relents when Edward poses his theory. "Yeah, I guess that's true. If that's how this world works, I don't know what else could be different, in the past or the future."

"As long as we're here, we should check around outside. Abandoned or not, the museum is still standing. Maybe London is faring better than Arizona, at least?"

3 AM, England

Outside, you can see the silhouettes and far off figures moving close by the moment. Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be much going on. However, you do hear strange shrieks out in the distance. These figures do not yet see the protagonists, yet they are moving slowly towards the outside of the British Museum. Although they are still in the distance, some of you have very enhanced senses Those of you who can now spot them note that they appear to be monsters. These monsters have chromed heads and have sharp teeth and fangs, standing muscular, sleek and very tall, at least around seven to eight feet.

http://i.imgur.com/aD8ek3w.jpg (https://imgur.com/aD8ek3w)

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

At Mads' comment Edward casually vanishes the chain "Oh that was just for the trip, honestly not sure how anyone would let go of that mid trip, but the knowledge of my own abilities includes that doing so is very unhealthy, I'm going to see if the Spear is listed as an exhibit."

Unaware of the dangers outside, he heads over to the museum directory to look up the location of the spear, such a famous object should be easy enough to locate, unless of course it's just one of the many treasures hidden in the museum's storage.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Cassie was walking to the museum's front door even as she was making her suggestion. Vision still isn't her strong suit and she has to squint to make out any details, but it's not hard to see the big metal-headed goblins coming. They're just kind of trundling up the street like they own the place. One would think that monsters would usually stick to prowling dark alleys, but nope.

"Um, guys? Everyone?" She calls over her shoulder, back into the museum. "I think we need the spear sooner rather than later!"

When she hears shrieking, she quickly decides to focus on that first, and takes off running. She tries to shapeshift herself in sections so as to not lose momentum, but she trips over her own liquefied feet and and tumbles down the steps just outside the museum entrance. Looks like her success with the rescues before was mostly beginner's luck.

Now flat on her face, Cassie just finishes transforming without getting up. With what little practice she's had, at least that process has gotten faster. A second later, she's taking off as an osprey and flying toward the bloodcurdling screams.

[gawwy]

Mads listened to Cassie's tumble down the stairs, coordinating an invisible party was going to be entertaining. His other selves wouldn't be invisible and vorping one in would alert whatever Cassie was shouting about so he hung with Edward for a moment.

"One of zee punchy ones should go vith Cassie, Ja?"He says to the air. "Hey Ed, how long does zis invisibility spell last anyvay? And vat does it take to break it?" He asks Edward. Critical information if they were about to be set upon by horrors


"Ok, old one eye, you need allies to help you out, Ja. What are zee gods so scared of that they're villing to let new competition onto the scene?" Mads asks Odin.



One of the Mads' is milling around the survivors just generally being nice and reassuring. He asks if anyone needs anything.



Mads (D) seeks out Wordsworth
"I have some questions about zee truenaming, if you have a moment. Can anyone learn their true name for that book? What happens if somone else learns our name?" Mads asks Wordsworth.


Mads E is currently shelved, having been half teleported, disappeared but with no destination. This is so he doesn't have to deal with the pain of the wounds this body is suffering from. Time will not pass for this body as its in a sort of stasis, meaning he wont heal at all.

[ArlEammon]

Mads Libs


Odin
"Are you sure you want to know?" Odin asked rhetorically. "You might not want to know. Yet." If Mads just presses for the answer, Odin answers. "This dimension being merged with the others has corrupted it. As a result, it's taking on qualities of the other dimensions. Things that impossible here are now ordinary. As a result, it's a never ending cycle of this plane corrupting the others and being corrupted. Thus, the gods themselves may change as yet another result."

Wordsworth
Generally, despite what old tales might say, just learning a True Name won't necessarily give you power over someone, unless you are a powerful magi of some kind. Also it is potentially true that even monkeys can learn their True Names.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD
Edward briefly looks up from the Directory.
"No particular time limit, it'll last until broken by an appropriate counter spell, wouldn't expect it to last long against a competent witch or wizard, pretty sure the ones in the hotel could see through it, I certainly still know where you all are."
"I'm going to keep searching this thing for the spear's location, too late to follow Cassie, she's turned into a bird."

[FrightKnight0]

Jason

Jason walked to the front of the building and looked out at the slowly approaching monstrosities. "Well. That puts a bit of a time limit on things, doesn't it? I think you guys should be able to see where we end up fighting. Get that spear and come get us, alright?" He asked, rolling his shoulders and taking off after Cassie towards the screaming. The Ten Rings flared with energy as he blasted them downwards, launching himself into the air after the Disillusioned osprey, towards the commotion.

[ArlEammon]

The Locals
One of the people nearby shouts out, hearing what hte protagonists said before. "Don't take away the Spear! It's protecting us from those things outside!" The woman, black haired, dressed casually and carrying an umbrella looks nervous.

@Thunder
The Directory appeared to list the Spear Of Destiny, both of them, one in a side area of the North Eastern Corner of the vast Museum, and the other in an adjacent room, slightly West. The Spear from Austria is in the North East corner while the other is moved to the Basement. There are various other treasures noticed, some of which are actually powerful artifacts, but the PCs wouldn't know that, yet.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD
Well that explains why they're hiding in here, still, only three of them and he doubts they've got the supplies to really hold out here long term, nor is hiding inside particularly productive.
In fact, if these people know the spear is protecting them, they probably know which one is genuine.

Edward looks the woman right in the eyes as he speaks, probing her mind with legilimency to find the answer whether she speaks it aloud or not, a task made easier by being invisible, "Would that be the one in the basement or the Austrian one?"
After a brief pause to let her think of it, he talks again "I don't intend to leave you defenseless of course, we've got a secure location of our own, one actually meant to be lived in at that and can easily bring you three along when we leave."

[ArlEammon]

EDWARD
Well that explains why they're hiding in here, still, only three of them and he doubts they've got the supplies to really hold out here long term, nor is hiding inside particularly productive.
In fact, if these people know the spear is protecting them, they probably know which one is genuine.

Edward looks the woman right in the eyes as he speaks, probing her mind with legilimency to find the answer whether she speaks it aloud or not, a task made easier by being invisible, "Would that be the one in the basement or the Austrian one?"
After a brief pause to let her think of it, he talks again "I don't intend to leave you defenseless of course, we've got a secure location of our own, one actually meant to be lived in at that and can easily bring you three along when we leave."

"We don't really know. We think they're both weird." You could instantly tell she was telling the truth. "The Austrian version is supposedly a lot stronger though, but some of our guys are saying we need both versions for some reason. I didn't understand what they were saying because I don't speak mystic." There's about three hundred of us all in all here, a third of us in the basement. Can you really get us all to safety?"

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Oh, that's a lot more than he was expecting. Transport wouldn't be the problem, portkeys are easy to produce. But 300 people is a lot to just casually bring to that hotel, though the spear should get the gods on-side for this.

"That's a lot of people, got to check we've got space.
Hey Mads, can you check whether there's room for 300 more people with your being in multiple places at once thing?"

[ArlEammon]

Shrieking Monsters, AKA Shrieks
@DrGunsforHands
Some wounded victims of the monstrous fiends were laying in the streets of London outside. You can see some individuals fighting through fire arms or other means, even some who seem to be empowered like the protagonists. However, a woman who is in no shape to fight is seen covering her young five year old boy, brandishing what appears to be a swiss army knife. In addition to this, an elderly man with a cane is dead locked in what looks like a staring contest with a particularily large one. These massive, seven and a half foot tall monsters are dwarfed by the old man's adversary, who is seen to be just making over nine foot tall. He is identical to the others.

The last site you see is very weird. It appears that there is an albino version of "The Shrieks" as they are known in London, and it's fighting the others of it's kind.

[gawwy]

Mads Libs
Odin
"Are you sure you want to know?" Odin asked rhetorically. "You might not want to know. Yet." If Mads just presses for the answer, Odin answers. "This dimension being merged with the others has corrupted it. As a result, it's taking on qualities of the other dimensions. Things that impossible here are now ordinary. As a result, it's a never ending cycle of this plane corrupting the others and being corrupted. Thus, the gods themselves may change as yet another result."


"Ah so zee threat is vat may emerge from zee other dimensions" Mads nod's. "So you vould have us raise an army, Ja? Ill get right on zat. For now, vhat can you tell me about zee orb over there? Vat vould happen if I picked it up and moved it, Ja?"


Mads Libs
Wordsworth
Generally, despite what old tales might say, just learning a True Name won't necessarily give you power over someone, unless you are a powerful magi of some kind. Also it is potentially true that even monkeys can learn their True Names.

"Vat is very interesting, Ja. Vould you be amenable to some of the survivors learning their own true name? Would you lend me the book for this purpose?"


EDWARD
"That's a lot of people, got to check we've got space.
Hey Mads, can you check whether there's room for 300 more people with your being in multiple places at once thing?"

Mads (A) salutes Edward. Then remembering hes invisible still says "On it, ill check in with Emma, Ja?"


"Okay, Ive got to go organize space for some more survivors vat need our aid. Make sure to welcome them to the family when they get here, Ja? Polymundus be vith us." Mads says to the survivor group, letting slip his true name hear was a huge gamble that could lead to the gods just owning him. Fortune favors the bold though.

He wanders his way to Emmas room knocks and enters without awaiting a reply.

"Hello, oh great vitch Emma! I vas voundering what sort of capacity the hotel has for supporting people in the apocalypse? both vith regard to space and food, Ja?"

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Cassie Vs. The Shrieks

Okay! First priority: stop these jerks from killing anyone else!

One of the goblins grins and flashes its claws like a cartoon villain as it bears down on the multi-tool-wielder and her charge. Just when it raises its hand to strike, it suddenly flinches and twists its face to one side. It rubs its gaunt cheek and looks around for its unseen attacker, but the invisible bird strikes it again and again, leaving only a couple of feathers behind.

It seems the invisibility spell doesn't cover the feathers once they're separated from Cassie. That's sensible enough. It just means...

The bird scratches the monster's head once more, dropping a feather on its shoulder. When the tortured shriek goes to brush it off, *snap!* The feather transforms into a thick iron collar, attached to a manacle on its wrist. When the shriek reacts and tries to get itself loose with its other hand - *snap!* Another stray feather becomes a second manacle, also bound to the collar. Now the only thing the shriek can reach to scratch is its own face, and it doesn't have much leverage to break its bindings.

The rest of the encounter largely depends on how the other fiends react when one of their own gets hogtied. If they run up to help, their claws get caught up in the same mess of iron, sticking them all together. If they point and laugh with their nails-on-chalkboard voices, they each trip when they make their next move, finding their feet bound up in similarly hilarious fashion.

Once the three around the kid are defused, Cassie will continue using this strategy to help out the old man, but the bigger shriek will probably pose a problem - they might be strong enough to break the chains Cassie knows how to do. Or make. Or... be? It's still weird.

[FrightKnight0]

Team Bird-Fu vs The Shrieks

Arriving shortly after the Disillusioned bird by virtue of following the sounds of battle, Jason throws out the Ten Rings to slow his fall before he splatters across the pavement and takes stock of the situation. While the normal sized monster harassing the woman with a swiss army knife is concerning, the blurs of motion and sudden appearance of iron collars indicates that Cassie probably has it handled. Instead, he decides to intervene in the staring contest with the old man, weaving a spell as he walks forward, bands of shimmering golden energy spinning out of thin air to form geometric designs between his whirling hands. Wong's mental library of spells supplies the Shield of the Seraphim as an ideal opener; he tosses the spell outward with a sweeping gesture, enveloping the woman, her child, the old man, and any other noncombatants he can see in shimmering domes of golden light. If he doesn't maintain it, they'll only stand up to so much damage, but that damage was roughly enough for an otherwise unshielded human to survive atmospheric re-entry, so it should hold as long as no monsters had time to mount a dedicated attack on the shields.

Which is why Jason started running towards the giant monster, slamming his fists together and stacking all Ten Rings on his right arm before drawing back for a haymaker. "Hey, ugly!" He shouted as he planted his lead food, twisted his hips, and executed a maneuver best described as [McGuire Swings for Bleachers].

[ArlEammon]

Cassie Vs. The Shrieks

Okay! First priority: stop these jerks from killing anyone else!

One of the goblins grins and flashes its claws like a cartoon villain as it bears down on the multi-tool-wielder and her charge. Just when it raises its hand to strike, it suddenly flinches and twists its face to one side. It rubs its gaunt cheek and looks around for its unseen attacker, but the invisible bird strikes it again and again, leaving only a couple of feathers behind.

It seems the invisibility spell doesn't cover the feathers once they're separated from Cassie. That's sensible enough. It just means...

The bird scratches the monster's head once more, dropping a feather on its shoulder. When the tortured shriek goes to brush it off, *snap!* The feather transforms into a thick iron collar, attached to a manacle on its wrist. When the shriek reacts and tries to get itself loose with its other hand - *snap!* Another stray feather becomes a second manacle, also bound to the collar. Now the only thing the shriek can reach to scratch is its own face, and it doesn't have much leverage to break its bindings.

The rest of the encounter largely depends on how the other fiends react when one of their own gets hogtied. If they run up to help, their claws get caught up in the same mess of iron, sticking them all together. If they point and laugh with their nails-on-chalkboard voices, they each trip when they make their next move, finding their feet bound up in similarly hilarious fashion.

Once the three around the kid are defused, Cassie will continue using this strategy to help out the old man, but the bigger shriek will probably pose a problem - they might be strong enough to break the chains Cassie knows how to do. Or make. Or... be? It's still weird.


Team Bird-Fu vs The Shrieks

Arriving shortly after the Disillusioned bird by virtue of following the sounds of battle, Jason throws out the Ten Rings to slow his fall before he splatters across the pavement and takes stock of the situation. While the normal sized monster harassing the woman with a swiss army knife is concerning, the blurs of motion and sudden appearance of iron collars indicates that Cassie probably has it handled. Instead, he decides to intervene in the staring contest with the old man, weaving a spell as he walks forward, bands of shimmering golden energy spinning out of thin air to form geometric designs between his whirling hands. Wong's mental library of spells supplies the Shield of the Seraphim as an ideal opener; he tosses the spell outward with a sweeping gesture, enveloping the woman, her child, the old man, and any other noncombatants he can see in shimmering domes of golden light. If he doesn't maintain it, they'll only stand up to so much damage, but that damage was roughly enough for an otherwise unshielded human to survive atmospheric re-entry, so it should hold as long as no monsters had time to mount a dedicated attack on the shields.

Which is why Jason started running towards the giant monster, slamming his fists together and stacking all Ten Rings on his right arm before drawing back for a haymaker. "Hey, ugly!" He shouted as he planted his lead food, twisted his hips, and executed a maneuver best described as [McGuire Swings for Bleachers].

The Shrieks
Cassie and Jason begin fighting the Shriek goblins. Suddenly, the woman protecting her child and the old man, and the wounded are enveloped in the protective shield. With the giant goblin Shriek being knocked around by Jason's ring attacks and martial arts maneuvers, he doesn't quite have time to react yet.

Meanwhile Cassie's binding maneuvers are also met with equal success, preventing other nearby Shrieks from assaulting either civilians OR the protagonists.

While the old man was prevented from fully accessing his mental assault against the giant goblinoid Shriek, he was appreciative for the help that he and the other civilians were receiving. Taking a deep breath, he unleashes what appears to be a lance made of ice, piercing through another, as of yet chameleon Shriek, as it lept towards Cassie, in an attempt to feast on her. George took a hand wipe and wiped his bald head, which was sweating. Not finding anywhere to throw the dirty hand wipe away he does something uncharacteristically common sensical, and litters the streets during the battle.

He had thought he would run and go find a waste basket or garbage can, so as not to litter, but at the moment, he opted to instead begin casting a quick spell. With his savant guided intelligence cast, he unleashes a large spherical fire ball towards the giant Shriek creature, and it gives it's unearthly scream as it erupts in flames.

Emma And Mads (Gawwy)
"YOU!" She responds to Mads, ignoring his question. She unleashes a barrage of telekinetic daggers towards him.

[gawwy]

Emma And Mads (Gawwy)
"YOU!" She responds to Mads, ignoring his question. She unleashes a barrage of telekinetic daggers towards him.

Mads reactively teleports out of the way of the daggers and arrives next to the versio of himself discussing truenames with Words'worth.

"Emma is in a bad mood." He explains to Words'worth. "Thats a no on borrowing the cool book of truenames tho then?" He asks as he leaves.

Mads then wanders back to Emma's room and knocks politely, "Miss Emma, I'am sorry that you are mad at zee Mads, I have not been showing you the respect due to your station, Ja? I would like to talk to you about logistics here though so ve can help with any issues like zee running out of food, Ja?" Mads says through the door in what he hopes is a submissive tone.



EDWARD"That's a lot of people, got to check we've got space.
Hey Mads, can you check whether there's room for 300 more people with your being in multiple places at once thing?"

"Okay sooo.. Emma is not in zee good mood, Ja? And as much as i vant to mess vith her soo bad ill try und calm her down so these guys have a nicer arrivals. How many portathingums will we beed to move 300 people?"

[FrightKnight0]

Vs. Shrieks

Jason raised an eyebrow as the giant goblin failed to explode, go flying, or collapse in a heap of broken bones, but he only paused for a second. Eldritch whips lashed out from his now unencumbered left arm, wrapping around the large Shriek and dragging it closer as he abandoned any sense of finesse and just whaled on the thing over and over with massive whumps of force emanating from the Rings on his right arm with every punch. It was kind of insulting to everything Wenwu had taught his son about fighting, but the Masters of the Mystic Arts had a very pragmatic approach to fighting and Wong's instincts were saying that if just hammering the thing was working then that was what needed to happen.

George's fireball makes him release the creature and dive out of the way with a surprised yell, rolling across the pavement away from the now-burning Shriek. With the others apparently handled, Jason flings his arm downwards, sending the Ten Rings hurtling into and beneath the asphalt. With a gesture, they burrow towards the Shriek before rising up in a concentrated attack.

He wasn't sure what this thing's weakness was, but taking ten ballistic metal rings straight to the tenders would be a good way to check for one.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

"Oh, that's probably because our wizard friend broke her Geas. As for portkeys, I'm not really aware of any upper limit on passengers, but I don't think anyone's ever tried to send more than a dozen people at once either, so we'll go with 25 groups of 12 to be safe."
"No particular hurry here, we don't even have the spears yet, so hopefully you can either get Emma to see reason or find whoever actually owns the place."
"I suggest we go take a look at the Austrian Spear in the mean time."

With that Edward starts walking in the direction of that spear.

[gawwy]

Mads ums for a moment when Edwards footsteps start moving away for a moment and looks back at the fight.

"Hold zat though Ja? Ill grab the book later but im needed elsevhere right now."

He VORPS a body in from elsewhere, one thats not invisible.

"Hi I'am zee Mads, Ja?" The new visible Mads (Mads B) says to the confused normals. "Edward, lets play zee Marco polo, Ja? Marco!" He yells as he attempts to follow Edwards footsteps.

Mads invisible body (Mads A) vorps off to street to watch the fight incase they need a hand.

Mads B continues asking questions about the blue orb

Mads (C) awaits at Emmas door for a response

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

"Oh yeah, you can't see me, just follow this."

Edward then conjures a rock and charms it to follow him a few feet to his right.

[ArlEammon]

Vs. Shrieks

Jason raised an eyebrow as the giant goblin failed to explode, go flying, or collapse in a heap of broken bones, but he only paused for a second. Eldritch whips lashed out from his now unencumbered left arm, wrapping around the large Shriek and dragging it closer as he abandoned any sense of finesse and just whaled on the thing over and over with massive whumps of force emanating from the Rings on his right arm with every punch. It was kind of insulting to everything Wenwu had taught his son about fighting, but the Masters of the Mystic Arts had a very pragmatic approach to fighting and Wong's instincts were saying that if just hammering the thing was working then that was what needed to happen.

George's fireball makes him release the creature and dive out of the way with a surprised yell, rolling across the pavement away from the now-burning Shriek. With the others apparently handled, Jason flings his arm downwards, sending the Ten Rings hurtling into and beneath the asphalt. With a gesture, they burrow towards the Shriek before rising up in a concentrated attack.

He wasn't sure what this thing's weakness was, but taking ten ballistic metal rings straight to the tenders would be a good way to check for one.

Well, the enormous Shrieker goblin, whatever you want to call it was having a bad day. Eventually the combined efforts of the protagonists manage to finally take it out.

Odin
The Blue Orb is meant to house enough power to become a god all on it's own. However, something unexpected happened at it's creation and it's less a creature on it's own, and is more one with the Hotel, which is a living being on it's own.

Emma
The witch is annoyed at you. "It should be fun hunting you down and destroying you. Now, be a good prey and let me do it!"

Monster Fight
It seems the Albino has stopped to observe the protagonists fighting his non pale goblin friends for the moment. He makes grunting sounds, then seems to be speaking in indecipherable whispers.

The Austrian Spear Of Destiny
A group of around forty or so men and armed women are guarding the room with the Spear. Most of them seem heavily armed, while one white suited young man with black hair, black eyes and tanned skin, seemingly unarmed, steps forward to speak with whomever is looking for the Relic.

"You aren't an enemy. Are you hiding here for protection like the rest of us?"

[gawwy]

Odin
The Blue Orb is meant to house enough power to become a god all on it's own. However, something unexpected happened at it's creation and it's less a creature on it's own, and is more one with the Hotel, which is a living being on it's own.

"Please forgive my sudden departure old one eye, I need to go play a game of tag with the proprietor apparently." Mads bows his head respectfully and VORPs out.





Emma
The witch is annoyed at you. "It should be fun hunting you down and destroying you. Now, be a good prey and let me do it!"

I sense zee annoyance, is subtle yes. I do ask what I have done to earn your ire, vitch Emma. I went and talked to zee vizard like you asked Ja? Mads(C) rambles through the door as he waits for his back up to vorp in.

Mads(B) vorps in at the end of the hall way so he could see Mads(C) and around the corner at the same time, making sure to have enough local teleport options to move around as needed to dodge Emmas attacks if needed.




The Austrian Spear Of Destiny, Edward(Invisible) and Mads(D)(Highly visible)
A group of around forty or so men and armed women are guarding the room with the Spear. Most of them seem heavily armed, while one white suited young man with black hair, black eyes and tanned skin, seemingly unarmed, steps forward to speak with whomever is looking for the Relic.

"You aren't an enemy. Are you hiding here for protection like the rest of us?"


"You ok to ta..." Mads sorta starts saying to Edward before remembering he might want to be sneaky beaky here.

"We.. Umm.. Have actually come to find if there are any survivors here in need of aid, Ja?" He says, totally recovering from his nearly accidental outing of most invisible Edward. "So how can ve help, Ja! He finishes with a broad smile.


Mads(A) just invisibly watches team punch do punching and punch adjacent activities to these shreikers. Looking out for any sneaking up on them.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Somehow, Cassie is paying enough attention to wonder why George couldn't have just put the tissue in his pocket. Between him, the ice-using old man, and an invisible fighter whose taunting voice is probably Jason's, this monster group seems like it's under control. Cassie approaches the pale goblin and changes back into a form that can speak reliably.

"Psst! Hey! What's going on?" Cassie instinctively raises her arms when the anti-shriek turns to look at her. It doesn't help much. "Sorry, I don't know how to turn off the invisibility! Where did you all come from? Is there anything we can do to help you stop these guys?"

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward decides to allow Mads to do the talking for a while longer, only Mads really know how much we can offer them at the hotel after all, and being unnoticed here is an opportunity.
He leaves the rock floating near Mads and slips invisibly around the crowd to get a closer look at the spear, examining it from all sides.

[ArlEammon]

EDWARD

Edward decides to allow Mads to do the talking for a while longer, only Mads really know how much we can offer them at the hotel after all, and being unnoticed here is an opportunity.
He leaves the rock floating near Mads and slips invisibly around the crowd to get a closer look at the spear, examining it from all sides.

@Edward
The man dressed in the high class looking white suit, who can see invisibility due to having Cosmic Awareness, magically teleports Edward in front of himself. "Not so fast. We need to talk about this before you just take it."


Somehow, Cassie is paying enough attention to wonder why George couldn't have just put the tissue in his pocket. Between him, the ice-using old man, and an invisible fighter whose taunting voice is probably Jason's, this monster group seems like it's under control. Cassie approaches the pale goblin and changes back into a form that can speak reliably.

"Psst! Hey! What's going on?" Cassie instinctively raises her arms when the anti-shriek turns to look at her. It doesn't help much. "Sorry, I don't know how to turn off the invisibility! Where did you all come from? Is there anything we can do to help you stop these guys?"

The albino Shrieker strains to speak in a Human voice. He doesn't seem to be able to speak well at the moment. On closer inspection it appears he has a slowly healing wound on his throat.




"Please forgive my sudden departure old one eye, I need to go play a game of tag with the proprietor apparently." Mads bows his head respectfully and VORPs out.





I sense zee annoyance, is subtle yes. I do ask what I have done to earn your ire, vitch Emma. I went and talked to zee vizard like you asked Ja? Mads(C) rambles through the door as he waits for his back up to vorp in.

Mads(B) vorps in at the end of the hall way so he could see Mads(C) and around the corner at the same time, making sure to have enough local teleport options to move around as needed to dodge Emmas attacks if needed.




"You ok to ta..." Mads sorta starts saying to Edward before remembering he might want to be sneaky beaky here.

"We.. Umm.. Have actually come to find if there are any survivors here in need of aid, Ja?" He says, totally recovering from his nearly accidental outing of most invisible Edward. "So how can ve help, Ja! He finishes with a broad smile.


Mads(A) just invisibly watches team punch do punching and punch adjacent activities to these shreikers. Looking out for any sneaking up on them.


@Emma
Emma unleashes a telekinetic sheer, attempting to literally emasculate Mads. Clearly she is furious beyond reasoning. As if the universe is trying to warn Mads of something, he telekinetic slashing attack misses Mads, and castrates a figure a man inside of a painting, hanging on the wall.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

It seems these people may be more than they appear, still, Edward has nothing to hide (well apart from his outfit), so he replies in a conversational tone.
"Oh I wasn't planning on taking it, not yet anyway, your friends in the lobby say it's the only thing keeping this place safe, just thought I'd have a closer look. I was going to just magic everyone here to our much safer base in Arizona, apparently it's going to be the literal and figurative center of the universe thanks to the whole reality merging thing." He pauses for a breath "Oh if you weren't already aware, apparently this whole mess is caused by many realities merging into one. Anyway, the delay, it seems one of the other residents is throwing a tantrum, so I'm waiting for another ally to either make her see reason, or find the actual owner of the place."
He pauses again, twirling his wand over his head and becoming visible once more, no need to hide from the creatures outside this deep within and this man can clearly see him, besides, being invisible is probably a little offputting. He leaves the spells on others untouched.
Tiem to move things onto his own, friendlier, terms. A flick of his wand has three comfortable armchairs, two side by side looking into the room for him and Mads, and a third facing them (and the entrance they came in by) for the suited spokesman/mage spring into existance. A wider sweep and a few cushioned benches like those sometimes seen along the walls of restaurants appear behind them for the rest of them. Edward takes a seat
"I suggest we sit down and talk in the meantime, I'd certainly be interested to hear what's going on here, and why there's a second Spear of Destiny in the basement, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have in turn."

[gawwy]

EDWARD"I suggest we sit down and talk in the meantime, I'd certainly be interested to hear what's going on here, and why there's a second Spear of Destiny in the basement, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have in turn."

Mads happily takes a seat.



The albino Shrieker strains to speak in a Human voice. He doesn't seem to be able to speak well at the moment. On closer inspection it appears he has a slowly healing wound on his throat.

Mads(A) invisibly sneaks closer to the albino Shrieker and pulls its throat injury onto the copy of himself in limbo. Hoping Cassie can talk with it now.



@Emma
Emma unleashes a telekinetic sheer, attempting to literally emasculate Mads. Clearly she is furious beyond reasoning. As if the universe is trying to warn Mads of something, he telekinetic slashing attack misses Mads, and castrates a figure a man inside of a painting, hanging on the wall.

Mads(C) shrugs at Mads (B) from the doorway, Mads (B) flashes a thumbs up back at Mads (C) and nods.

Mads(C) takes a deep breath and vorps in behind Emma tapping her lightly on the shoulder.

"Tag you are it Ja!" Mads exclaims and vorps back out, arriving down the hallway from Mads(B).


Mads(E) adds a throat injury to its list of ailments.

[ArlEammon]

EDWARD

"I suggest we sit down and talk in the meantime, I'd certainly be interested to hear what's going on here, and why there's a second Spear of Destiny in the basement, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have in turn."

"Okay." The white suited man stated. "The problem here is there's a great "Cataclysm" going on. Portals from a Dark World opened up, and monsters just poured out of it and are still coming. As for the Spears of Destiny. I'm a little confused on that myself. See, I'm a magician, and some of my power comes from the one from Austria. I know both of them are real, to a point though."
"We're using the Museum as a safe zone for people to run to at the moment. We can't just up and go, except for the civies, of course."




Mads happily takes a seat.





[Spoiler=Mads(E) not exisiting]Mads(E) adds a throat injury to its list of ailments.

Greatful, the Shrieker monster nodded towards Mads, feeling obliged.


Somehow, Cassie is paying enough attention to wonder why George couldn't have just put the tissue in his pocket. Between him, the ice-using old man, and an invisible fighter whose taunting voice is probably Jason's, this monster group seems like it's under control. Cassie approaches the pale goblin and changes back into a form that can speak reliably.

"Psst! Hey! What's going on?" Cassie instinctively raises her arms when the anti-shriek turns to look at her. It doesn't help much. "Sorry, I don't know how to turn off the invisibility! Where did you all come from? Is there anything we can do to help you stop these guys?"

"I can see invisibility. It has something to do with my "special type" of goblinoid." The monster then breaths before speaking. "We were stuck in a dark world. Not one pure evil, but one even a little worse than this. My tribe is under the thrall of the Dark Lord. He wishes to destroy as much of the Old Kingdom here as he can before entering the world. As for how we can stop the others, we need to enter that building." He gestures towards the Museum.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

Cassie panics a little when she notices the special goblin's slashed throat, but he heals enough to speak before she can think of what to do about it.

"The Old Kingdom... I see." A genocidal invasion force, invading England. "In that building... you mean, we need the spear? Meaning it's probably the only weapon around that can hurt a Dark Lord, right?" She looks toward the museum. "I don't really know what things are like where you're from, but if this Dark Lord is the tyrant it sounds like, we'll be more than willing to help you bring him down. Maybe both of our worlds will be a little better off."

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

"Okay." The white suited man stated. "The problem here is there's a great "Cataclysm" going on. Portals from a Dark World opened up, and monsters just poured out of it and are still coming. As for the Spears of Destiny. I'm a little confused on that myself. See, I'm a magician, and some of my power comes from the one from Austria. I know both of them are real, to a point though."
"We're using the Museum as a safe zone for people to run to at the moment. We can't just up and go, except for the civies, of course."

"The Cataclysm, to our admittedly incomplete knowledge, seems to be a global phenomenon, though exactly what's coming through seems to vary by location, we had some earthquakes but were mostly insulated and the beings who came out of the only portal there were much friendlier, they're who really needs the spear. And they really only need one, so the one in the basement should work, we came not for the spear specifically, but for any sufficiently magical and important artifact, we just don't really know where any others of similar calibre are."

"Still, like I said, we're not going to leave until things calm down back at our base, any idea how we could help with those portals?"

[gawwy]

EDWARD
"The Cataclysm, to our admittedly incomplete knowledge, seems to be a global phenomenon, though exactly what's coming through seems to vary by location, we had some earthquakes but were mostly insulated and the beings who came out of the only portal there were much friendlier, they're who really needs the spear. And they really only need one, so the one in the basement should work, we came not for the spear specifically, but for any sufficiently magical and important artifact, we just don't really know where any others of similar calibre are."

"Still, like I said, we're not going to leave until things calm down back at our base, any idea how we could help with those portals?"
Mad(D) simply nods along with Edward, he was asking good questions, no need to get in the way.



Cassie panics a little when she notices the special goblin's slashed throat, but he heals enough to speak before she can think of what to do about it.

"The Old Kingdom... I see." A genocidal invasion force, invading England. "In that building... you mean, we need the spear? Meaning it's probably the only weapon around that can hurt a Dark Lord, right?" She looks toward the museum. "I don't really know what things are like where you're from, but if this Dark Lord is the tyrant it sounds like, we'll be more than willing to help you bring him down. Maybe both of our worlds will be a little better off."

Mads (D) suspects that Cassie hasn't noticed him somehow, which gives him a perfect opportunity to set up a prank... In all seriousness he worries about there being another powerful entity that they would need to either politic with or disable, that meant there was Emma, the caster in the mueseum, the Dark Lord and about 20 "gods" Mads might need to start a relationship diagram somewhere to keep track. Maybe he could lure Emma out of her room and set it up in there, he'd get a kick out of that for sure.




Mads (C) and Mads (B) wait around the corner from her door waiting for the outburst of rage they had expected from the witch. They shrug at each other. Mads (C) carefully pokes his head around the corner to look into the hallway that Emmas door is in.

[ArlEammon]

Cassie panics a little when she notices the special goblin's slashed throat, but he heals enough to speak before she can think of what to do about it.

"The Old Kingdom... I see." A genocidal invasion force, invading England. "In that building... you mean, we need the spear? Meaning it's probably the only weapon around that can hurt a Dark Lord, right?" She looks toward the museum. "I don't really know what things are like where you're from, but if this Dark Lord is the tyrant it sounds like, we'll be more than willing to help you bring him down. Maybe both of our worlds will be a little better off."

"You can't take the Spear, it's needed, THEY are needed to maintain The Barrier around The Museum. Though I do appreciate that there are people who can stand up to my species in a fight."


EDWARD


"The Cataclysm, to our admittedly incomplete knowledge, seems to be a global phenomenon, though exactly what's coming through seems to vary by location, we had some earthquakes but were mostly insulated and the beings who came out of the only portal there were much friendlier, they're who really needs the spear. And they really only need one, so the one in the basement should work, we came not for the spear specifically, but for any sufficiently magical and important artifact, we just don't really know where any others of similar calibre are."

"Still, like I said, we're not going to leave until things calm down back at our base, any idea how we could help with those portals?"


"Well, although there is nothing quite as strong as The Spear here, we do have some things from many parts of the world that are magical at the moment. Maybe at least one of those should suffice? As for the Portal, I don't know, exactly. The portals are a way off in the outskirts of the city. "



Mad(D) simply nods along with Edward, he was asking good questions, no need to get in the way.






Mads (D) suspects that Cassie hasn't noticed him somehow, which gives him a perfect opportunity to set up a prank... In all seriousness he worries about there being another powerful entity that they would need to either politic with or disable, that meant there was Emma, the caster in the mueseum, the Dark Lord and about 20 "gods" Mads might need to start a relationship diagram somewhere to keep track. Maybe he could lure Emma out of her room and set it up in there, he'd get a kick out of that for sure.




Mads (C) and Mads (B) wait around the corner from her door waiting for the outburst of rage they had expected from the witch. They shrug at each other. Mads (C) carefully pokes his head around the corner to look into the hallway that Emmas door is in.


Emma stares menacingly. Finally resorting to more dirty tricks, she telekinetically grabs Mads and brings him towards her, brandishing a knife.

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

"Oh, what else do you have here?"

[ArlEammon]

EDWARD

"Oh, what else do you have here?"

"We've got The Silver Arm of Nuada. An artifact from one of the powerful Celtic gods of Ireland. We don't know if it's actually his, but it's clearly extremely powerful."

[Thunder999]

EDWARD

Edward doesn't really know what that is, but if anything it sounds better suited to the task than the Spear.

"That sounds perfect for our needs, I'll go take a look for it, with that we may well be able to get some extra help, it should expand their reach."