kansas ♔ you have too much fun breaking all the rules

[cigam]

WHO || Gus, Zatanna, Adam, Dawn, Dimitri [closed]
WHAT || The Knights investigate a multiple homicide that seems linked to ritualistic magic use, in backwater Kansas
WHERE || Black Bottom Ridge, Kansas
WHEN || April 8th [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam or prose

Know what's even worse than Kansas? Kansas after a long winter that just won't die. Everything is creepy and flat and the grass is struggle-bussing its way back to life, and the trees are still skeletal, which just lends an eerie semblance to everything as they drive by. Drive by with a U-Haul attached to the back of her their rented vehicle, because they're bringing a fucking bear along. Luckily Gus was able to coax her into this arrangement, but man, I would not to be the one to draw the short straw opening the doors to that trailer when they arrive.

It only took a single stop at a crappy diner for Zatanna to get someone to spill the whereabouts of the survivor of the night they're looking into: she's being kept at a hospital in the nearest actual city. Zee drops off Adam, Dimitri, and Gus near the crime scene, and takes Dawn with her to go see what they can learn from the girl (after telling Gus to behave).

 

Comments

[ex_psionic439]

Yeah. I sorta figured. [Read: No shit, Sherlock. Basically. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize he was here to mind rape some cops the instant Gus attempted to push that particular job onto someone else.]

[druidisms]

Go forth, grasshopper. Make some cops your bitch. [ he is the most helpful senior knight, I hope y'all learn so much from his lazy ass. ] The cover we usually go with is private investigators brought in by the survivors family, but in this case... Animal Control, Fish and Game... Department of Wildlife and Parks.

[ex_psionic439]

How original. [Ugh. Time to go charm some hicks. Which is probably the last thing he wanted to be doing ever. Whatever. He could take one for the team if it meant getting them the fuck out of Dodge that much quicker.

Approaching the crime scene like it ain't no thang. I guess they were the well-dressed representatives from those agencies because none of them were sporting shit-smeared jumpsuits in earth tones, whoops.]

[likeagod]

It's best to go with what works.

[Rather than be original and fail miserably. He'll stick with Gus, depending on if he goes with Adam to back him up in every sense or let him...work his magic and keep a distance.]

[ex_psionic439]

[And once he's nearly made it to the taped off area surrounding the barn without having alerted one of the rather unobservant law enforcement officers patrolling the scene, Adam takes a moment to focus his mental energy before calling for the nearest cop's attention (concentration 23, +psionic focus get). They may be rednecks, but it never hurt to be prepared.]

Excuse me, officer. [Hi, come do your job tell him that he's not allowed to be here (diplomacy 24 because sometimes I forget to roll for things and I don't even know what I'm doing but he didn't roll up on them like HEY BILLY BOB so the I didn't actually have to change anything yay).]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the hick town cop pulls off his hat to scratch his hair, chewing on something as he makes his way over. ] Can I help you boys?

[ex_psionic439]

[Ohhhhhhh my god, this backwater bitch is even worse up close. Adam glances back to Gus and Dimitri, looking utterly disgusted as he silenty feigns a dry heave, before he turns back to face the cop again. S-so professional.

Go go psionic charm. Redneck-sama will need a will of sixteen or higher if he doesn't want to be won over by Adam's mental influence (goodbye, psionic focus). Adam better be getting like a gold star for this shit ok.]

Animal Control, Fish and Game, Department of Wildlife and Parks. [Said while motioning to Gus, Dimitri, and himself in that order.] They sent us out here to investigate the possibility of an exotic animal attack. [(Bluff 29).]

[druidisms]

[ get down with yo bad self, adam. gus just stands there looking official and shit since dimitri has imposing on lock. probably looks a little bored as he glances toward the barn. he wants to do fun stufffffff. ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ the cop nods as he chews, slapping his hat back on ] Oh, yeah, I seem to remember hearin' something 'bout you boys coming on out.

Well. Feel free to take a look 'round the place, but I'm not sure what ya think you're gonna find.

[ex_psionic439]

[As much as Adam wants to beeline it for the barn to put as much distance between himself and sweatstain-sama as possible, he's hoping this guy can at least give them a head start or something since the police have already ... searched that shit and he's tired of being here already.]

You mean y'all didn't find anything to indicate an animal attack? [That y'all was deliberate if y'all couldn't tell.]

[behindcloseddoors]

Oh, it was an animal alright. Claw marks, all that. But never seen any thing in these parts that big. Thing was hungry, too.

[ex_psionic439]

Well, I reckon that's what they called us out here for. [Someone stop him. Although, he gets a bonus to disguise checks to act in character, so I wonder if that applies if he's being a little shit about it...] Thank ya kindly.

[Onward, to le barn. Once they're out of earshot from Officer Friendly, Adam drops the faux hick act so that he can convey some important sentiment to Gus.]

Might want to tell Bubbles to watch her ass out there. [He doesn't want Mellie getting spotted and shot by some trigger happy rednecks. He might need her to come maul some shit if whatever massacred those kids decides to come back for seconds.]

[druidisms]

She's not a fucking Powerpuff Girl. [ he doesn't sound at all bothered, but can we not nickname the wild animal, please? gus does not want to know what his nickname would be if he jumped into wild shape while they were on this adventure. mellie ain't the only one that will maul people, ok, ok. ] And she'll be fine.

[ he keeps his eyes and ears peeled as they approach though. (spot 28, listen 23) ] Now shut up and try and find some evidence of this wild animal or anything else.

[ex_psionic439]

[Eyes rollen to the skies. You guys have fun with that. Adam's just going to stand there like some new age hipster trying to center his chakra or some shit rather than, you know, put forth any effort into looking around just yet (concentration: 26 + psionic focus get).

That done he pulls out his phone to check his text messages. Assuming there is even cellular service in this hole. #priorities]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ it ain't hard to notice the giant painted symbol wynn told them about on the wall: a skull engulfed in flame. there is also, however, a giant circle drawn on the floor in chalk, arcane writing in the center of it. around the circle are what appear to be twelve stations, smaller circles that look like they could each fit a kneeling person. there's a thirteenth circle, however, in the center, and a faint rectangular shape in the dust right in front of that central position, where something used to be. ]

[druidisms]

[ gus takes a slow stroll around the chalk drawings. ] Fucking Picasso bullshit teenage magic. [ TEENAGE MAGIC. WHEN WILL THE MOTHERFUCKERS LEARN.

he crouches down next to the center circle, getting a closer look as he reaches down to touch the chalk outline. (knowledge: arcana 29) and ukw, maybe he'll cast detect magic to see if there is anything lingering. so that happens too. a++ tag. ]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ gus recognizes it, alright. the symbol, the set-up, the markings... they're all part of some kind of demon summoning ritual. but... he'd also recognize that this is some shoddy fucking demon summoning. in fact, a lot of the necessary signs and symbols are entirely wrong, which does not bode well for how this actually turned out. the good news is, whatever they actually summoned had nothing to do with any hell dimensions. there's definitely an overwhelming magical aura left here - a spellcraft check of 18+ to determine that it was conjuration magic but THAT PART SEEMS OBVIOUS. ]

[druidisms]

[ he just casually flashes back to his dumbass sister and her stupid magic. it only ends in death. but with his spellcraft of exactly 18, he has got this info on lock. this is why he is a knight, bitches.

straightening up, he dusts his hands off on his pants. ] Our gentle school children tried, badly, to summon... wait for it. Demons. [ he is so impressed. so so impressed. unbelievably impressed.

he's not impressed. ] They fucked up, obviously, as teenagers are wont to do.

[ex_psionic439]

Yeah, no shit. [Dead kids tended to translate into "doen it wrong."

I guess Adam has decided to join the investigation because he actually moves into the barn to start looking around like it will help them get through this that much faster.]

So let's have the bear track whatever it was down and eat it. Problem solved. [Mellie just seemed like the best approach to so many problems.]

[druidisms]

There's thirteen circles. Twelve kids, eleven dead and one survivor. Seeing a problem in the math here? These fuck ups fucked up -- the animal we're looking for could be a kid. We're not siccing Mellie on it until we know it's not human.

[ this is mind, he texts zee the deets so she can weasle some more deets out of the survivor. ALL THE DEETS UP IN THIS BITCH. ]

[likeagod]

[Dimitri isn't too familiar with demons yet, or magical circles or any of that, so he'll work on doing what he's good at doing.

Tracking a target. He's sure it left a track to follow around here (Survival nat 20, 26 total).]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ There's more to be seen upon closer inspection, beyond the obvious summoning set-up. Between the scattered footprints that indicate frantic attempts to get away are large paw prints, indicating sharp, dangerous claws, and pads that seem like they could belong to a large cat. there are definitely more than one such beast, which are approximately the size of a large puma. one looks substantially larger than the others.

while it's hard to figure out exactly how many such creatures were here, dimitri definitely notices something strange: the 'cats' don't have four paw prints each - they have six.

there are several of these creatures that left the barn, heading out towards the forest line, and also one set of human footprints that look smaller than the police officer's, also leaving the scene. ]

[likeagod]

{He relays this information to the others, pointing out locations as he goes.]

Dealing with several of these creatures will complicate things.

[In different ways depending on if they stick together as a pack or not.]

It looks like our survivor may be a child, or at least someone younger than our officer.

[ex_psionic439]

This just turned into some Children of the Corn shit.

[Coming up behind Dimitri so he can get a better look at what the hell he was talking about.]

Seriously, if those tracks lead into a cornfield then fuck that.

[druidisms]

[ gus rubs his forehead like fuck this shit. dimitri and adam both make fine points, but he's leaning more toward adam's at the moment. he's not a dumbass, he knows better than to run into anything where they vegetation is taller than grass. THIS IS NOT THE FIELD OF DREAMS, IF THEY BUILD IT ONLY DEATH WILL COME.

swear to fucking god, if he has to turn into a jaguar to get into a bitchy cat fight with these animals, he's going to lodge a formal complaint. with life. ]

Calm your tits, Professor X, I'm gay and a minority, I'm gonna be the first one to die in any horror movie scenario. You and Fabio the Intimidating will be fine.

[ he also got a nat 20 on survival (24 total), who says only bitches get shit done?, and he crouches down next a particular set of prints, peering at them a moment before he casts detect animal. he is gonna find some woodland creatures and have a god damn chat is what he is going to do. get the deets on these creatures.

you know, once he uses his disney princess powers to find an animal to talk to. ]