CLOSED ♔ hell won't tolerate hymns

[flyingsolo]

WHO || Jaina, Lydia, Astrid, Adam, Mars
WHAT || The Knights investigate several ritualistic murders
WHERE || Los Angeles, California
WHEN || April 8th, 2015
HOW || Actionspam

A string of ritualistic killings has the LAPD calling the Knights in, as there are suspected ties to magic or Shadowkind. Two new bodies have been found recently, and the murder scene is a back alley in a nightclub called the Alchemy Room. It's located in a rough part of town, known for its clubs, bars, and extravagant nightlife. The lights of a patrol car illuminate a gruesome tableau. Among the garbage that litters the alley lies the body of a young man in a trenchcoat, covered in body. Hanging from a fire escape some 10 feet above him is the body another young man, dressed in the latest fashion and dripping blood from the ears and mouth. His legs are caught in the bars of the fire escape, and his face is twisted with shock. How he could have ended up in that position is a mystery. An empty autoloader pistol lies beneath his outstretched hands. A single officer is waiting for them when they arrive, and she tips her hat to them, pushing herself off the car where she's leaning.

"Seen a lot of things in my day, but this..." She shakes her head and clucks her tongue. Jaina's eyes narrow in the darkness as she looks past her at the scene.

"What made the police think this was connected to the other murders?" she asks.

"Its a tentative link, I won't lie to you about that," the officer admits. "All the other bodies were missing at least their hands, and these are both in one piece. But there's some kind of knife on one of the bodies." She nods towards the one on the ground. "We haven't touched it yet, just in case. To be honest, we've heard plenty of stories about what touching magical artifacts can do to a person. But it's covered in markings, definitely some kind of ritual thing."

Comments

[ex_psionic439]

[Oh are we doing this guns-a-blazin'? I guess Adam will pull his gun out too in that case.]

I'm only picking up on one set of thoughts, but if there are more re-animated body parts in there I don't think they'd be deep in contemplation or anything.

[And then everyone is treated to Adam's worst-case scenario mental image of an army of re-animated penises chasing everyone down the hall and smacking people across the face.

WHAT, if he's using dead people hands why would he let anything else go to waste??]

[pathology]

[astrid elbows him like WHAT THE FUCK EXCUSE YOU KEEP THAT TO YOURSELF but is also ... pulling out her gun.]

[immuno]

If you're going to link our minds, at least try to control what you're broadcasting into them.

[ Lmao everyone letting the 17-year-old decide they're gonna roll in and shoot people. Sounds legit.

Lydia pulls the slide on her gun to chamber a round, and pushes open the door to head inside. If they're lucky, mcfuckup in there doesn't have darkvision either. ]

[flyingsolo]

[ the first thing they would notice is that the room smells of formaldehyde and cleaning chemicals. quiet classical music fills the room, echoing off the tiles. lydia is able to see lockers for storing corpses lining one wall. a bank of video monitors on a table show the front door, a block of offices, and the hallway that leads to this room. the images reveal no personnel. there is a body lying on one of the examination tables, covered with a sheet. an elderly man wearing a lab coat stands beside the music player, a ruger service-six revolver in one hand, which he has aimed towards the door, his other hand on the dial. he peers into the darkness, and shouts: "Identify yourselves!" ]

[pathology]

You identify YOURself!

[^ not a charismatic hero]

[charismapotion]

[ The silent extra who had been quiet the whole while finally stepped forward. He was already trying to move to the front of the group, mostly to be a shield. The place made him uneasy as hell which why was he was so silent but, he'd rather get shot than Adam or the girls.]

[immuno]

[ Astrid, honey, no. Well, since he's asking, better ... try to keep this diplomatic. ]

We're the police, you idiot. [ Snapped with a surprising lack of hesitation (bluff 36). ] I suggest you drop your weapon and step away from the ... [ Wait, She thinks aloud. ] Why do you have a music player?

[flyingsolo]

[ ignoring her question, he simply demands: "Why can't I see you? If this is a search, I demand a warrant and to see some identification." ]

[immuno]

[ Bitch, ] Did I stutter? Weapon down. Then we can talk all you want.

[charismapotion]

[ Still moving to the front here. Squishy shield at your service.]

[ex_psionic439]

[Read Thoughts should still be in effect so Adam is just keeping a mental ear open. I think everyone can hear anything else he picks up since they're all Mind-Linked at the moment, but other than that he can't see shit rn so he is just going to stand there uselessly otherwise and hope he doesn't get slapped in the face with a dismembered donger.]

[flyingsolo]

[ I wonder how much they know... If they really are the police, killing them will only bring more looking. I have to know for certain. he lowers his weapon hand.

"Fine. Now come out where I can see you." ]

[immuno]

[ Well, shit. If you can incapacitate him, Lydia thought aloud for Adam and Jaina, now would be the time. In the meantime, she does the only thing she can to keep up the act. But she can cast minor image to create a police officer, female, in a duty vest, to step out of the darkness (will 15 to see through it). It should at least buy them some time, and she can make its mouth move while she talks from behind it. ]

Tell me about the music player, Dr. Baker.

[flyingsolo]

[ with a 24 will save, it's clear from his widening eyes that as he stares at the woman, he sees something about her that strikes him as suspicious.

his hand drops away from the music player, and the music stops abruptly, even as he thinks: They know! They know everything! They have to die! "I'm sorry," he says thickly, and there's the sudden dull thudding sound of something hitting the inside of one of the body lockers with a great deal of force. jaina's eyes widen. ] Drop the fog! Something's coming out of there!

[immuno]

[ Well, that could have gone better. Lydia raised her weapon at Dr. Baker as she dismissed both the minor image spell and the darkness spell. ]

What is that?! What did you do?

[ex_psionic439]

[Adam is flashing back to the disembodied penises slapping everyone in the face.

He's going to take a few seconds to regain his psionic focus because f-f-fuck that.]

[charismapotion]

[ He finally finished pushing his way to the front, making sure to stay out of Lydia's fire range. Ready to cast that shield if needed.]

[pathology]

[now that everyone can see, she smacks adam upside the head and quips, cryptically for the non-telepathically linked:] Stop with the penises! Oh my fucking god!

[ex_psionic439]

[Oh my god, Astrid. You can't just tell people to stop thinking about disembodied penises.

But it's really hard to focus when someone is smacking you upside the head (concentration: 14). He's not gettin' one.]

What the hell?

[flyingsolo]

[ distracted as they are by mental penises, and the banging on the body locker door, dr. baker grabs a whistle hanging from around his neck, tucked into his shirt, and blows on it, emitting a long, loud note. guess what?? it looks a lot like that other one they found.

"Khaiba!" he shouts, followed by some order in some other language, probably egyptian, lbr, all the clues say yes.

init time! ]

[immuno]

[ Startled by the whistle, Lydia lets off a quick shot with her firearm (atk 21, penetration dmg 10). Then, getting her wits about her, she glances around, realizing that whatever Jaina was warning them about thumping around in the morgue drawer is probably about ready to come out and get a snack.

In a hurry, she moves to try shoving the table with the body on it in front of the drawer to block it, at least to buy them more time to subdue Baker and prepare a strategy (str 19). ]

[ex_psionic439]

[While Lydia is pretending to be She-Hulk, Adam figures that any disembodied penises that the good doctor might be controlling could potentially be avoided altogether if they drop him before said penises burst out of the morgue drawer. So he just pushes to the front of the group and takes aim to fire off his trusty excalibur pistol like a fucking boss apparently (attack: nat 20, damage: 16 crit).

He looks so badass rn. He is so getting laid tonight.








And yes that was a thought that he just shared with everyone via telepathic speakerphone.]

[flyingsolo]

[ lydia capitalizes on the fleeting opportunity of baker's distraction, deftly sending her shot to strike the doctor, followed up by the chest shot from adam that sends the doctor reeling from the unexpected assault.

the drawer abruptly slams open so hard that it knocks the table away, as the creature shoves with brutal strength against it. within the drawer, a sickly yellow creature is visible, black stitches holding his various parts together, a frankenstein collection of limbs and organs. ]

[charismapotion]

Oh fuck no.

[ he watches bad b movies, he knows what comes next. Deciding to say to hell with the shield, he cast Scorching Ray sending one ray towards the creature. (atk 17, dmg 18 ) ]

[pathology]

[astrid's disgusted face says everything that needs to be said about their new jaundiced frankenfriend. ew. she draws her gun back out and fires at it — atk ... 12. 4 dmg if that hits somehow lmao. :'| ]