Supernatural Isekai IC *Still Recruiting*

**Thunder999** · 2024-03-08, 06:59 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-08, 10:16 PM (ISO 8601)

*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** · 2024-03-09, 11:18 AM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-09, 01:28 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-09, 02:42 PM (ISO 8601)

Spoiler: Vampires doing that vampire thing

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Originally Posted by Lewascan2

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.

Originally Posted by Lewascan2

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** · 2024-03-09, 03:57 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-09, 05:09 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-09, 07:27 PM (ISO 8601)

Mia Mathers
The Basement

Spoiler: Matters of Vampiric Allure

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Originally Posted by gawwy

"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.

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

Originally Posted by TheAlmightyKue

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-

Spoiler: Time Stop

Show

-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** · 2024-03-09, 07:43 PM (ISO 8601)

Rowan

Spoiler: Time Stop

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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** · 2024-03-09, 08:04 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-09, 08:52 PM (ISO 8601)

@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** · 2024-03-09, 09:51 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-10, 02:52 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by ArlEammon

"We're here to help."

Originally Posted by Lewascan2

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

Spoiler: Mads(B) and the vig vag vitch

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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.

Spoiler: Mads(C-E) and the little people above

Show

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** · 2024-03-10, 04:34 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by 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."

Originally Posted by gawwy

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

Spoiler: Mads(B) and the vig vag vitch

Show

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.

Spoiler: Mads(C-E) and the little people above

Show

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** · 2024-03-10, 04:39 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-10, 10:43 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-11, 02:57 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by 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."
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.

Originally Posted by Thunder999

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.

Spoiler: The Rest of the Mads may be starting a cult

Show

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** · 2024-03-11, 04:13 AM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-11, 10:35 AM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-11, 11:55 AM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-11, 01:52 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-11, 03:28 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by 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?"

"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."

Originally Posted by 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 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** · 2024-03-11, 04:43 PM (ISO 8601)

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.

Spoiler: Vase note

Show

This I looked up ancient greek artefacts and this seems suitably ancient, suitably greek and is in a place Edward has actually been.

**ArlEammon** · 2024-03-11, 05:22 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by 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.

Spoiler: Vase note

Show

This 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** · 2024-03-11, 05:34 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Thunder999

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

[B]"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.

Originally Posted by Lewascan2

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.

Originally Posted by ArlEammon

"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.

Spoiler: the other mads

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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** · 2024-03-11, 05:44 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by gawwy

[B]"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.

"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.

[B]"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.

"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** · 2024-03-11, 05:59 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-11, 08:10 PM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-12, 06:19 AM (ISO 8601)

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** · 2024-03-12, 07:02 PM (ISO 8601)

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."

Spoiler: Abilities Used & How

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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.

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