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]

[No offense, y'all, but Adam is sticking with the giant human meat shield. That would be Dimitri, for the record. It seemed like the next best plan to following Mellie tbh.]

[druidisms]

[ gus casts and holds call lightning (concentration 27) to use once they are inside. he follows dawn and zee simply so he doesn't have to veer off path to get in the door. ]

1/2

[cigam]

[ zatanna and gus burst into the living room, dawn hanging back on the porch with mellie at the bottom of the steps, and they're greeted with a grisly sight. a sleek, large, feline-shape with purplish fur seems to be directly in front of them, between the couch and glowing light of the TV, and there's the distinct sound of crunching on bones where it has its head lowered. a spray of blood extends along the carpet beside it, and it's probably clear exactly what it's munching on.

dimitri kicks open the door into the kitchen, and finds another large blood stain on the tiled floor in front of him - as well as the remains of the body of a flannel-wearing farmer, also being munched on by another hideous cat-monster. its tentacles twitch as it chews through muscle and bone, and then looks up at them with terrible, glowing eyes. ]

[rituals]

[ ♬ trekka - puscifer

dimitri would see, and adam might glimpse, that there's someone about three-quarters of the way up the staircase between the kitchen and the dining room, visible between the wooden bars. the man looks vaguely like a young sting, if sting had had a few dozen cases of gin, with hair the color of dried straw, a long beige trenchcoat over a white shirt, and a thin black tie. he seems to have been the source of the flare, because he's holding up one hand that's got a bright light emanating from it, which seems to have temporarily blinded the extra large displacer beast crouched on the bottom few steps, snarling with closed eyes. in his other hand, he holds up what looks like some kind of scroll, and he's chanting off from it in a language that sounds vaguely like latin, but not quite. he looks up when the door is kicked open and stops chanting for half a second-- at which point, the beast shakes off its stupor, and snaps out a giant paw, shredding the scroll in half with its claws.

the cigarette he'd been artfully clenching between his teeth in the corner of his mouth and murmuring around falls to the steps as he mutters: ] Bollocks.

[cigam]

Romra! [ zatanna utters the incantation, which causes a blue glow to emanate around her body, granting her a +4 defense. She also owned both her spellcraft and truespeak checks, which allow her to reduce casting time by one step, which means she follows it up with a flick of the wrist that sends the tv hurtling at the beast. And...it misses (attack 14). Shit. It shatters against the couch and the beast turns to snarl at her. ]

[druidisms]

[ mellie surges forward like GLOWBUG, I MISSED YOU and tries (and fails) to slash at the beast's face (atk 10)

gus casts faerie fire to outline the displacer beast's actual position in green bc fuck your displacement, that's why, and lets go of the first lightning bolt on the beast's current visual position. (concentration 26, atk 22, electricity dmg 10) ]

[watcherjunior]

[ With the beastie helpfully outlined, Dawn lifts her gun and takes aim (atk 14). It's a miss, hitting the wall instead. ] Dammit.

[ex_psionic439]

[Adam just freezes behind Dimitri like oh fuck. That thing's eating that guy. Not something you see every day ok. Give him a second to not piss himself. He feels a little better with Dimitri sort of acting as a human shield though. Thanks, bro.

But with random bums holding up flares and tentacles squirming and televisions crashing into walls and gun shots on top of Mittens eating Farmer John, it's any wonder Adam's able to manifest a power at all (Concentration 25).

He focuses on demoralizing the enemy (and any others within thirty feet, I dunno how big this place is). So unless Mittens makes a will save of 16 or higher, he/she/it's going to become shaken for the next four minutes (Adios, psionic focus).]

[rituals]

[ with a 13 will save, the displacer beast is shakin' in its kitty boots. constantine scowls and tosses the defunct scroll aside, casting a glance at dimitri and adam and deciding they're not here with the evil killer tentacle panthers, so he tosses out: ] Don't suppose either of you fine gents brought any banishment scrolls along for the ride.[ he rolls up one sleeve and out drops a vial, which he hastily dumps out around him in a circle that cuts between him and the beast as he chants something else. the powdered silver glows blue and bright, creating a magic circle against evil that blocks further access up the steps to evil summoned things. ]

[likeagod]

[Dimitri glances up at the stranger.]

No, not that I'm aware of.

[And Dimitri will stand here and play meat shield for Adam while he spends his action pulling out his stake.

...I need to buy this guy some feats, clearly.]

[herebemonsters]

[ well, get ready meat shield, because kitchen beastie is pouncing at you. with... a nat 20 oh god i'm sorry. it brings one of those nasty looking tentacles around, smacking him right in the face with its barbs (16 dmg). the living room beast goes after zatanna, smacking her with two tentacles and barely missing her with a snap of its jaws (14 dmg).

the pack leader charges forward at constantine up the steps, and... seems to hit an invisible wall where that blue line cuts across the steps. it wastes its turn angrily snarling at him and frothing, tentacles whipping around in a frenzy.

zee takes a step back and raises both hands to attack again but bombs her concentration check and is interrupted by that tentacle smacking her in the face. womp womp. ]

[druidisms]

[ ADAM IS IN DANGER OH NO. mellie uses her action to trot into the kitchen with a huge growl as gus' second lightning bolt streaks down (concentration 24, atk 17, dmg 18). he follows it up with a sweeping blow from his quarterstaff (atk 18, dmg 2). stay away from his girl, bitch. and enjoy this mosquito bite damage wtf. ]

[watcherjunior]

[ For a split second, Dawn can't decide what to do: try to fire again (and probably miss again, she has no confidence in her skills right now) or to help Zee somehow.

And she's choosing to lend aid to Zee, hopefully this is the better and more helpful option. ]

[ex_psionic439]

Holy shit! [As Dimitri gets bitchsmacked with a barbed tentacle like a scene straight out of some monster hentai. Better him than Adam though. Helpful commentary is helpful.]

Bad Mittens! [Apparently having a human shield makes it easier to step to tentacle beasts like he doesn't afraid of anything, because Adam comes out swinging with ego whip from behind Dimitri (concentration 22, 4 charisma damage [2 charisma damage with will save of 16 or higher].

Really though, he just saw his gurl Mellie Bubbles rush into the kitchen so this little bitch Mittens better watch itself before it gets checked.]

[rituals]

[ it makes its save, but still takes 2 damage. how's it gonna pick up displacer beast chicks now :(

constantine pulls another pouch out of his jacket pockets, and blows some dust down the steps. the glitterdust outlines the giant displacer beast with a cloud of golden particles that sparkle and render its displacement null. ] There she is.

[likeagod]

[Wow that sure...doesn't feel good.

Dimitri tries to rush forward toward the displacer, intent on slamming the spiky end of his stake through the top of the creatures skull. (oh look nat 20 back at ya, 29 atk total, dmg 24)]

[herebemonsters]

[ wow dimitri this is about to be some straight up disappointing shit, ok. dimitri brings down his stake in a perfect line for the thing's head...

except oh shit its head is over there. #displacement

it whirls on dimitri, tentacles flailing and jaws snapping, but it's still shaken so it can't land a blow (atks 11, 21, 18). the living room displacer beast doesn't like this fucking lightning frying it, so it goes for gus, one tentacle raking across his arm, and the next hitting him full in the face (atk 24, nat 20, dmg 23). it turns its head to try to bite him, but whips it around too fast and slams his face into gus' quarterstaff (crit fail... the beast takes 3 dmg, a+).

meanwhile, the pack leader seems to realize grudgingly that it's not getting a constantine snack right now and turns to stalk after mellie instead, one tentacle whipping out to rake across her back viciously as she snarls (atk 23, dmg 13).

i keep forgetting zatanna a+ go me. (concentration 28) she takes another step aside and yells: ] Llaberif! [ a glowing pea sized bead streaks from her fingers and detonates with a low roar, blossoming into fire as it strikes the beast. it fails its reflex save, and that's enough for it to let out a final yowl as it burns up to a crisp on the living room floor ]

[druidisms]

[ mellie just got this coat washed, you whore. she retaliates with a terrific full attack and a tremendous roar that probably shakes the floor boards in this farmhouse, both huge front paws sweeping out to bat at the helpfully sparkly glowbug wanna be, while her teeth snap out at the beast's throat like she's gonna rip it out. (claw atk 22, dmg 13; bite atk 17, dmg 7)

with a grunt of pain, gus ignores the blood, you know, cascading down his face (fort save 24) and heads for the kitchen to pull his last streak of lightning down on the beast trying to maul mellie. (concentration 22, atk 20 total, dmg 15) ]

[watcherjunior]

[ Well okay then, that's one of these bastards down. And hopefully, it wasn't one that had previously been human. Cause that would be bad. Dawn's going to move to the kitchen as well, winding her way around the dead fried beastie and dead humans and whatnot, fun fun. ]

[ex_psionic439]

[Thanks for taking one for the team, Dimitri. :') Adam appreciates you acting as a distraction for Mittens' fury. But then Mellie turns around to swipe at Mittens' mom, and Adam is like fuuuck because there goes his back up.

Mitten's is getting another mental lashing courtesy of ego whip as Adam attempts to daze a bitch (1 charisma damage whether Mittens makes the save or not, but will 16+ prevents it from being dazed for one round).]

[rituals]

[ still got a 21 will save, so not dazed, but it does take the charisma damage!

constantine takes a few steps down the stairs, and raises one hand, focusing on the giant pack leader and chanting, chanting, chanting something, but... it ends with some colorful swear words so I don't think whatever it was... was effective. :| ]

[likeagod]

[Dimitri will just continue his attempted assault, turning toward where the creature apparently teleported, his stake slashing out at the creature's face (atk 26, dmg 10)]

[herebemonsters]

[ NOPE STILL WRONG DIMITRI wow this guy is an asshole, someone should cover it in glitter too, get on that constantine. it's getting kind of pissy at adam and his whip tbh, so here comes the pain as it lashes past dimitri with two tentacles towards adam (atk 26, dmg 7; atk 21, dmg 13), and then turns to bite at the dhampir with a nat 20 omfg. (16 dmg > dimitri). rude.

the pack leader turns around now that it's fucking surrounded. one tentacle goes for dawn (atk 22, dmg 13), and one for gus (atk 31; dmg 15). then it turns to bite at constantine coming down the steps (atk 23; dmg 12). he is not fucking around.

zatanna runs into the room behind them, eyes widening at the sight of everyone getting fucked up by these monsters. shit damn. she'll have to do her magic next round. ]

[druidisms]

[ again, ow. gus swings his quarterstaff like some fucking baton twirling champion, whaling on the pack leader like fuck you a lot. (two weapon attack 21 & 17; dmg 4 & 13)

mellie is getting peeved and she lashes out with her paws again (atk 20 total, dmg 6) but her bite misses. like a lot. (atk 4) idk glowbugs must taste gross. she doesn't love y'all enough to do that again. that is vile. she is biting no more butts. ]

[watcherjunior]

[ The blow from the tentacle staggers Dawn. Well, there goes most of her hp. There's blood on her forehead, her cheek, blooming bright red from her shoulder through her shirt. She really can't take another hit like that.

She drops her gun, stumbles back away from the fray. Sorry, folks. ]