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

[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. :'| ]

[flyingsolo]

[ the fire itself doesn't seem to harm the monster, per se, however, it does have the effect of slowing him down considerably. astrid's shot does hit it, but all it does is ping uselessly off his arm. ] Sithspit. [ jaina raises a hand to force strike the creature (strike 24). his 9 reflex save doesn't do him any favors and he takes 8 dmg. baker is still reeling from that crit, and loses his turn. ]

[immuno]

[ While Baker's fucking off, Lydia will shoot him again, glancing over her shoulder at Mars while she does, trying to figure out what the hell this thing is and how it just shrugged off fire more or less (knowledge arcana 30). Her shot, meanwhile, presumably rings true with a 27, for 9 damage. ] Adam's right! Stop the one controlling it, and we might stop it too. [ After the shot goes off, she turned to Mars. ] It's a flesh golem. It's immune to magic. Hot and cold temperatures might slow it down, but they won't stop it, and we need to stop it soon. Otherwise ...

[ex_psionic439]

[What Lydia said, basically. Adam is sticking by his 'take out the caster and pray that shit goes away' theory, which is why he's rolling up on the good doctor while squeezing the trigger of his gun like he's at a carnival booth aiming water into a little hole to try and win a stuffed prize. Except the hole is currently Dr. Baker's bloodied up chest and his prize is not getting murdered by leatherface over there (attack 19, damage 11). What all of his powers are mind-affecting and corpsey-chan doesn't have a mind of his own fight him.]

[flyingsolo]

[ lydia's shot staggers him further, and he manages to cough out a bloody "Please---" before adam's bullet silences him eternally.

the bad news is that uh, doesn't seem to stop the golem. whoops.

because it's slowed, it can only act or move on its turn not both. it decides to reconcile this irritating state by grabbing the table, lifting it with monstrous strength, and hurling it at lydia (atk 17, dmg 7 if that hits). ]

[charismapotion]

Then slowing it down will have to do, Does anyone have a sword or something sharp? Old movies beheadings always work!

[ He called out to them as he cast another ray at the creature. Becuase he really isn't sure what else to do if its immuned to magic. Scorching Ray; Atk 19 Dmg 12.]

[pathology]

I have a scalpel? [the question mark is her dubiousness towards any of them effectively beheading this fucker with a scalpel. really tho???? she fires at the creature again because she doesn't know what else to do with her life. atk 20 total, 10 dmg with penetration.]

[flyingsolo]

[ jaina will quick draw her gun, seeing as how the bullet seem to be working thanks to the enchantment on the weapons and fire off two rounds (atk 30 & 10, dmg 7) ]

[immuno]

Magic might not work, but bullets will.

[ She tries to join Jaina, refocusing her fire, but the shot goes wide and clangs off the metal morgue drawers (atk 11). ]

[ex_psionic439]

Well, shit. [You don't have to tell him twice ok. Even if it's kind of weird that they just killed a guy. o_o

He's too pumped on adrenaline to let that fact fully sink in so he also switches targets, but idk if he hits or not (attack 14, 13 penetration damage).]

[flyingsolo]

[ he hits, but it doesn't break through the thing's tough hide. the slowed creature lumbers forward, pressing them back against the wall, heading for adam. ]

[charismapotion]

[ Mars decided to try mage hand, see if he could knock the bastard back.]

[pathology]

[astrid tries to shoot at the thing some more. atk 13, 5 dmg.]

[flyingsolo]

[ mage hand can only move something up to five pounds, unfortunately, which he does not qualify as. astrid's shot pings uselessly off him. ] This isn't working!

[ jaina keeps firing, but her expression clouds with frustration, and she looks like she's considering doing something desperate. (atk 18/24; dmg 22) the shots seem to be damaging it quote a bit at this point, actually. ]

[immuno]

It is when we actually hit it!

[ Goddamn, y'all. Herself included. With a WELL-SPENT ACTION POINT, Lydia hopefully ?? manages to hit it with atk 17, penetration damage 17 jesus. ]

[ex_psionic439]

Why's this thing coming after me??

[Said while backing up a few steps and firing at the flesh golem to try and deter it (attack 18, damage 7)]]

[flyingsolo]

[ the 17 just barely manages to avoid hurting it, pinging uselessly off it, but adam's shot breaks through. adam backs into the wall and the golem steps up right in his space. luckily it's... too slow to also attack rn. ]

[charismapotion]

Try using your mind powers!

[ mars yells over to him as he he pulls the gun from his bag and fires a shot; sadly he's a terrible shot and missed (Crit fail)]

[pathology]

[astrid is still ... making sad attempts to shoot the thing, too. (atk 15)]

[flyingsolo]

[ mars just accidentally... blew out the light with that shot. so we're back in the darkness 8D YAY! shots ring out in the dark anyway as jaina keeps trying to fire at it (atk 15/12). the first shot hits it uselessly but the second misses, striking the wall right beside adam's head. ]

[immuno]

Will you just hurry up and die already?!

[ Frantic shouting, brought to you by Lydia as she fires her gun into the darkness. Which doesn't look all that dark when you have darkvision #swag (atk 24, penetration damage 14). ]

Mars might be onto something. Magic doesn't work on them, but you can still try to reach it telepathically! What's the point of being in the Dragon's Mind if it can't teach you to dominate a golem?

[ex_psionic439]

Jesus Christ you guys are the worst back-up ever. [Said while ducking away (after the fact, but that shit was still too close for comfort so of course he is gonna react) from a stray fucking bullet hitting the wall right next to himl. And now everything is dark and even more horror movieesque, but he knows that shit is right fucking there.

Up until now he has been working under the assumption that golems are mindless drones or whatever, and from his perspective mindless probably had some sort of resistance to mind-affecting abilities (due to lack of their own will?). Look it made sense. But uh, the bullets aren't doing enough damage fast enough because no one could actually aim a fucking gun, what does he have to lose?

Granted, he might die but he's honestly expecting to be shot in the face by one of his friends at this point anyway.

Since he's basically up against a wall and the flesh golem, Adam is going to use his move action to regain psionic focus, which he does easily with a nicely timed nat 20. Why the FUCK didn't he shoot for crit damage. I guess he works well under pressure. Anyway, that bumps the will save against his Inflict Pain to 18.

That'll be a -4 penalty on attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks if the golem fails. If it makes the save, it takes only a -2 penalty to those instead. You know, assuming it has a mind at all. And if it doesn't he is going to be sfm @ u Lydia.]

[flyingsolo]

[ bad news bears.

adam reaches out with his mind towards the creature and finds... absolutely nothing waiting for him. hooray :')

he doesn't have long to be pissed about this before a giant golem fist comes flying at his head (atk 25, dmg 24), its fist colliding with thunderous force. ] Adam!