Scene #1010: Aztlan - Initial Investigation

Owner	Pose
Ainsley	Whoever Ainsley may have brought today, they show up out of the main warpgate at the heart of the city of Aztlan. This strange and foreign city is lit by the autumnal glow of the setting sun. None of the beasts that the message had described are here at the surface of the city just yet. The warpgate itself is stonework in design and very reminiscent of, say, a Stargate, complete with red gemstones set into it like lines on a clock face. The warpgate ripple is a orange-red. It's quite clear something bad happened in the city right away, and it's a gruesome display. Skeletons -- that's right, just skeletons -- lay in puddles of putrid black-and-red fluid that is almost assuredly blood and whatever gunk. Curiously, this fluid is unable to enter the perimeter of the park that makes the spoke of this wheel of a city. The parkland itself is utterly dead, all of the plantlife shriveled up by some awful supernatural influence. One of the trees has collapsed from the park and into the wall of a nearby building, having shattered one of the beautiful stained glass windows. Looks like the park is the base of operations, much like the fire house on Solomon Island. It doesn't feel as secure, but the faint glow of a ward barrier around the edge of the park is visible to anyone who squints hard enough. It's probably the reason why nothing has escaped out of Aztlan through the gate, as a matter of fact. Ainsley is standing here in the park, her ordinarily neutral features twisted into restrained horror as she stares at something on the other end of the barrier. One hand is pressed up to her snout, and her tail is coiled around her legs tightly. Her shoulders are hunched up. A scorched, murky skeleton is drapped across the barrier, but only its upper half. Its hands are splayed across the surface, displaying the soap-bubble effect where it touches the warding. Its clothing and skeletal make-up is clearly Quetzal. It still has some visible musculature, and a single red eye staring out, bloodshot. Ainsley was expecting something bad... but nothing THIS bad.
Riva Banari	Riva's here to help! She arrives in Aztlan with a hop, skip, and a.... Screeching halt as she sees the devastation in the area. "Whoooooooa." She says, taking some time to look over the completely dead park. "Someone call the EPA, Jesus." She leans over to prod at the grass a bit and frowns. "This place feels pretty bad already, and I haven't even looked at whatever Ainslety is staring a- Holy Christ!" Riva reels as she sees the gruesome results of the Aztlan native's exposure to whatever happened here. She pauses, looking around again nervously, and gets out her guns. "Soooooooo, um... Do we... have a... plan?" She asks. It's clear she is not liking this already.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is here at the warps in and well the sight she sees? Is enough to make her physical wrech even if she no longer could lose her lunch her mind is screaming it has to go. Thankfully she recovers from that but she looks at all the carnage. "Mother of god...what...what did this!?" She's looking very much like she's over her head here but some of the people who have acceptedf her as a friend and hasn't said one damn thing about what she is? Are charing in here. She kinda gets Riva sure she gets back up but? Kotone has come to understand being immortal has it's down sides, given what they deal with. "...I'm just about lost here."
Faruja	Faruja Senra does his best to comfort Ainsley, but even the blind could sense his utter fury. The nezumi is trembling as one arm hugs the lizardess tight against his side, the male looking more than a little green at the feeling of corruption in the air. Beside him, a trio of lamia nuns have set to securing the base of operations, several other Church personelle acting as the local guards. When the rat said he's being all he could, he wasn't kidding. "Faith, mine love. We shall find whom or what caused this." He promises quietly to Ainsley, before finally nodding to the others. Riva gets his attention, and he can't help but feel comforted by the woman's presence. She's a good knight, guns or no. "We investigate, scout, and save any survivors. This Heresy shan't be tolerated!" Several church knights salute the Inquisitor and 'amen's' sound out.
Wuyin Tsai	"I do not think it will be that simple," Wuyin says, from the far side of nowhere, "but it is a good start, Ser Senra." Wuyin must have slipped in when the initial horror was setting in. He isn't part of the Union response, of course, but this sort of thing /is/ up his alley... even if the street sign for said alley has long been stripped away. The mysterious man is crouched next to one of the skeletons, looking over the remains more closely. His trademark 3D glasses conceal most any expression. "We should be safe near the warpgate." He gestures at the edge, the barrier, without looking. "Which means that whatever did this has most likely not escaped into the Multiverse as a whole just yet. A good sign." Maybe the only one.
Staren	Potentially dangerous environment, potentially dangerous monsters? Check and check. Staren steps out of the warpgate in his power armor and looks around... shivering a bit at the sight of the skeletons. "Some kind of barrier?" He mutters, as he enters the park. "Hey, Ains--" he starts to wave, then follows her gaze. "W...we'll find what did this..." He pulls the raiser rifle off his back. "...And make sure it never hurts anyone again." Staren looks around for a long moment, then sighs. He's going to have to do something that will suck. He re-shoulders the rifle as he approaches the half-corpse, fiddles with the armor on one hand to detach the gauntlet, then pulls on a black cloth glove with crystals on the back from his bag. He gingerly touches the ground by it, trying to pick up psychic impressions in this area...
Inga Freyjasdottir	Inga arrived with the others through the warp gate, close behind Riva. The woman has since been silent as the others express their horror at the situation. Inga does not seem surprised. Quietly, she begins to walk around the perimeter of the ward, her expression thoughtful. When she comes to the body, a sight everyone finds disturbing, Inga says a quick prayer. "May your gods see you and your ancestors embrace you, stranger," she says, then continues on, solemn and thoughtful. Of course, the others are ready to find whatever is doing this and do their equivalent of punching it in the face. Inga finds a spot near the edge of the ward and stands looking outward, staff in her hands, staring out into the city. Her eyes do not miss the puddles of blood and black liquid. Inga's head dips down slightly, her eyes closing. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slow before turning to the others. "If we plan to move out, I recommend you let me give you wards," she says, reaching to pull her knife from her belt. She slices into the pale skin of her arm then motions for everyone to form a queue. She /knows/ Faruja will not like it, but she trusts Ainsley can bully him into it if needed.
Ainsley	The immediate impression Wuyin would get is that whatever did this, it was probably nearly necromancy, if not ACTUAL necromancy. It's quite similar to the problem back on Solomon Island, because this skeleton was clearly still moving before it inexplicably stopped against the barrier. It has /grabbed onto/ the barrier. The lower half is nowhere to be seen. The awful skeletal horror show isn't indicative of the end of this civilization and more the unlucky few who tried to run but weren't fast enough... though their placement is bizarre and some are just slumped against walls or curbs like they just gave up the ghost on the spot. The sunlight begins to fade as the sun dips onto the horizon. An ominous sensation wells up in the air. This is the time that was said to be when the monsters start getting active. Nothing to see just yet, though. Ainsley takes comfort in Faruja's touch, but doesn't spend much more time looking at the poor torso skeleton in front of her. She turns to accept Inga's help wordlessly -- and drags Faruja by the arm in a manner that suffers no protest. She is not having her loved one melted into a horrible skeleton by whatever happened here, not if she has people to help prevent that. Staren probably should not have tried to get psychic impressions. What he gets is not pleasant, and it is disturbingly familiar and yet distressingly alien. A hungry darkness swells in the back of his mind, and drooling horrors claw at the terrified ghosts that flash in his mind. It's hardly comprehensible but it shows that whatever happened here, it happened fast, as if the defenses had no way of knowing it would happen. Something bubbles up, murky, disgusting, suffocating. It starves the mind and body, a metaphysical emptiness. INESCAPABLE HUNGER - CLAWING AT THE MIND - UNCONSCIOUSLY AWARE IT DOES NOT LIVE IT HAS A NEW FRIEND HIS NAME IS JOHN Staren might want to stop reading the psychic imprint before it gets worse. Because it only gets worse the more he tries.
Staren	Staren jumps slightly at the feeling and the vision, but maintains contact... until he senses that JOHN is involved. Then he jerks his hand back as if burned. "Hunger... They're always hungry... and fast... And it knows John." A bit shakily, he removes the glove... he's regained some composure by the time he's stood up again and put his gauntlet on, though. "...Great."
Riva Banari	Riva doesn't even argue with Inga this time, she's totally in the Nordic Wards Line. Once Inga does her thing, Riva looks at the exit to the park, frowning. "And so we're going in right when everything starts waking up, huh?" Riva comments, and sighs the sigh of the longsuffering. Staren's exclamation causes her to glance over. "John?" She asks. "That was the, um...."
Faruja	Kotone and Staren get a bow, the Inquisitor nodding to their sentiments. Seems he's trying to show solidarity! Faruja's brow twitches. Wuyin's words are bad enough, but the sudden appearance has the rat starting slightly. This place has certainly made him on edge! The sorcerer gets a look. "...I fear ye art far too correct, Ser Wuyin. Let us pray that the good lord shall keep us hale amidst this atrocity!" The priest is clinging to faith here, just so he doesn't go off the deep end at the sheer magnitude of the crimes committed here. As for Inga? For once, he actually doesn't give her grief. No, the rat may well seem almost sympathetic today. He's a priest at heart, and isn't looking like he's wanting to criticize her for (at least in spirit, to him) showing respect for the dead. That ward, however, has him squinting. His teeth grit. And then he's being dragged over by a lizardess. There's no protests as he's warded, only death-glares Inga's way, and a look of utter indination. He constantly blesses himself and Ainsley, muttering something about burning his clothes after this. For the moment, the rat focuses on Staren. "Art ye quite alright, Ser Staren?" Asks the rat first, before heading to the relevant question. "At least we hath a potential suspect." States the rat, somewhat weakly. His tail lashes about, as his gaze sweeps the area. Riva gets a glance. "Best to purge whatever evil is at work here before it lays utter claim over this city. Mayhaps we can catch it by surprise...or this 'John', for that matter."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa looks t the corpse fopr a moment longer and then forces herself to look away. She's not aware of what Staren is up to. She has no idea he's sticking his head into something very dangerous. "Hunger John?" She tils her head an looks to Ing glad to see the Viking wisewoman is here and she looks back to Riva as she bring uo John again. FAruja is noticed but well given Riva's reaction she's concerned.
Inga Freyjasdottir	Inga looks to Staren, shaking her head as she draws a run in blood on his cheek. "Yes," she says. Filth. Some version of the Filth. Her fears confirmed. Inga draws a rune in blood on Faruja's brow, cracking the smallest of smiles at his indignation. She might be enjoying it juuust a little bit. Inga turns to Riva and Wuyin, frowning deeply. "I saw this, on one of the threads...I hoped it would not come to pass," she remarks quietly. Back to Ainsley. It is her world. May as well do this.
Wuyin Tsai	Wuyin looks at the body a little longer and then stands back up. It looks a little too familiar for his tastes. He takes another glance around the general vicinity, inhaling slowly through his nose. The entire place feels... wrong. Not just strange, but /incorrect/. The saturation of power and the hint of corruption... "Just as sweet," Wuyin mutters, looking beyond the barrier, "but with an aspartame aftertaste." He walks to the edge of the barrier, reaching out to touch it. "That is a start, but I am uncertain how useful it is in the immediate term." Wu casts Inga a glance, nodding fractionally. He is unsurprised.
Riva Banari	"I'm totally in favor of destroying the evil here. This is totally messed up." Riva comments, and then squints at Inga. "You know, I really don't envy you, Inga." She shakes her head and prepares to have to shoot things. Things are /definately/ getting shot tonight.
Ainsley	Ainsley's head turns as everyone seems to come under the understanding that this is probably the Filth, based off of the word 'John' and the general somber tone the gathering has taken. Once she has gotten suitable warding, she makes a defiant and unhappy noise, and says, "Why would that thing even come to my world? My people can hardly leave for more than a day or two!" She throws up her hands at the idea. The stress is starting to get to her. She turns and marches right through the warded barrier as if it weren't there, and begins to walk down one of the streets, carefully avoiding stepping in the coagulated blood(?) that coats most of the street. As she walks, though, some of the blood puddles boil while she isn't looking, right in view of the others. She heads for one of the nearby buildings, and rattles the sturdy jungle wood door, rattling it. She kicks it in frustration, then hovers up to try to look through one of the windows. Meanwhile, as the sun is finally no longer visible behind the distant jungle canopy... the dead rise. Blood turns into awful murky darkness and swallows up the skeletons whole. Vague silhouettes of Quetzal lurch up to a stand, their skeletons twisting and buckling, barely holding together under the burden of whatever is animating them. The torso bursts into flames upon the ward as it starts to awaken, and lets out an AWFUL screech! It collapses off the ward wall and into its own puddle, which swallows it up with creeping tendrils and vulgar burbling. Ainsley stays up in the air, conveniently out of reach of one of the skeletal creatures as it shambles to stand below her and reach at her with twisted skeletal claws, drooling black ooze from its mouth and rasping at her in incoherent, broken Spanish. Ainsley has successful progressed from horrified, to grumpy, to angry, and right back to horrified, plastering herself up against the wall and relying solely on her altitude to stay out of reach.
Staren	Staren shrugs at the question of why John would come here. Though it raises the question -- if this stuff is Filth, maybe they should stay away from it? And then it boils. "Are you doing that?" Staren asks... but then the sun sets. And the world becomes a horror movie. Staren, though a veteran of the Multiverse, is rather startled by neing present when the dead RISE rather than just when they're already a shambling army. "AAH! What the hell?! ...Ainsley! Get back in the ward!" Staren gestures for her to come, as he watches the THINGS burn against the ward. It doesn't take much thought for him to come to a conclusion. "Okay... if anyone has a way to detect if anyone is still alive here, do it, because otherwise..." He's already trying to calculate how much weaponry would be needed to incinerate this town.
Faruja	Faruja amazingly manages to /not/ strangle Inga. His fellow Templar pointedly look away and across their chests. Faruja's doing much the same the entire time. No, he is not a happy camper, this rodent. Ainsley has a point. "I wouldst think it something more local..." The rat's suspicions of blood magic rise, and potential downsides, particularly given what Ainsley has told him. Then, he frown. "Unless of course 'tis possible to transmit this 'Filth', similarly to a disease?" Templar, Witches, and Wuyin all get looks here. When that blood boils? Faruja's Seraphic Flamethrower burns it. The rat is right at the woman's side as she walks through the wards, the rat scowlin constantly. The group, should they need it, will get a float spell as he teleports up into the air. The nezumi starts to incant, and a blast of flame erupts amidst the risen dead, thanks to the great fiery lizard Salamander that bursts from beneath the ground. The esper roars aloud in wrath. The Summoner then teleports himself between horde and lizardess, ready to defend his lover. "Faith and bravery, mine love! We must perservere!" Calls out the rodent, even as one might notice him shivering. In rage or fear? It might be hard to tell. "GO TO THE LORD, OH LOST SOULS! THROUGH OUR RIGHTEOUS FURY SHALL YE BE CLEANSED!" When in doubt, lean on zealotry to not collapse due to the feeling of /wrongness/ in the air.
Wuyin Tsai	"It is a mystery we will have to solve," Wuyin tells Ainsley, "to figure out precisely what happened here." God knows he's curious about what exactly is happening here. Why is the Filth -- if that's what it is -- on Ainsley's world? How did it get out of theirs, when there's only one way to reach the Multiverse proper, and when it can't go through /that/? Wuyin follows Ainsley, watching their surroundings. He's looking for signs of life, and not /un/life, which is quickly proven to be the majority population here. As the creatures start to rise, Wuyin pulls his focus from his belt, Anima surging through his body and into his palm. A jet of fire erupts from his free hand, the magical flamethrower focused on the creatures as they rise and approach both, trying to keep the area immediately near him free of them. Faruja would approve. "A city of this size and shape, there are bound to be hold-outs, likely beneath us," Wuyin calls back to Staren over the roar of flames. "This is nothing too new -- destroy the creatures as they come and we will begin a search!"
Riva Banari	"I guess that's something we're going to have to find out, Ains." Riva says, not as joking as usual. There's too much horror going on for her to make jokes. She looks even less enthused as the dead rise. Anima begins rolling into her guns, blue-green energy sizzling through the conduits as she begins immediately firing. Time to find out if she can fire through the ward field. The one grasping at Ainsley is the primary target. "AINS! GET BACK!" She yells. She has guns, don't panic. She has guns, don't panic. She has guns, don't panic. She really doesn't want to panic.
Inga Freyjasdottir	Inga nods to Wuyin, following his gaze to the ward. "It seems to be doing the trick, but I can reinforce it I think," she offers. That can be left for another time however. It is time to do what they've come to do--investigate. Blinking, Inga's hand moves to pat one of her belt pouches. Something there causes her to smile briefly. The smile dies young as they begin to move out, the oppressive feel of wrongness in the air is enough to raise the small hairs on the back of her neck. The anima that saturates is bizarre in itself, but...well, it feels so much like Kingsmouth. "Thor protect us," she sighs, looking toward the puddle of blood that begins now to boil. Then, it engulfs a body, and the dead rise. "I do not know how it could have happened, but it has," she tells Ainsley. "Everyone, be careful," she says. But everyone knows what they are doing here. They are professionals. Inga cuts again into her flesh, standing her ground as skeletons lurch toward them. Spears of crimson form in the air and and flung out quickly toward the attackers, glowing with the empowerment of her anima. "Yes, Ainsley. If there are survivors, where do you think they might be?" she asks, wincing at the sound of Riva's gunshots. They may be highly effective but they are still so damned /noisy/! "Perhaps I should have done charms of concealment..." she grumbles to herself.
Ainsley	Fire is amazingly effective. So effective that it's absurd, in fact, as if the skeletons were animated by demonic gasoline. The murky blackness covering them combusts violently in some cases, smoldering and sending piles of bones screeching in all directions from a mockery of pain. These are just the minor creatures, though, the undead going down with the same ease that the whole party would be familiar with. Blood magic, on the other hand, isn't that great. One of the creatures ends up lurching back from one of the impacts, a piece of it blown off. It does not get stronger, but it's clear that they are mildly resistant. Enough blood spears puts down a skeleton or three, and they don't get back up, the blood settling at the bottom of the pile of bones as it slowly dissolves. Anima makes even their own affinity capable of destroying them, apparently. Ainsley has people to support her, but she doesn't look all that willing to throw lightning bolts at the animated corpses of her people. It's the burning sight of one of the skeletons dying for good that snaps her out of it, her mind brought back into focus. She looks down at the skeletons as they are blasted apart by fire, holiness, blood magic and good old Anima-infused gunfire. It bolsters her confidence significantly. She floats to an open spot and blasts one of the skeletons to shards with a bolt of lightning, leaving a smoldering mess on the street. After she does this, her neutrality, the mellow voice everyone is used to, returns, when she answers Inga, "The temple." She points to the vaguely Aztec pyramid structure down a short road. "We could check that. It may have more warding on it that held out against this. Alternatively, we would have to go underground. None of the important infrastructure of the city is above-ground." She grimaces as she realizes something. "The city is practically a nest for these things now." The door she was trying earlier rattles. Then something pounds on it from the other side. And then the second strike buckles the stone frame. There's plenty of warning before the REAL threat comes barreling out of the building-- An unnatural tall, lizard-like beast with pale scales and a skull for a head staggers and slams into the nearby ward barrier, its form blurring and distorting with red and black smoke. It sizzles but doesn't burn, instead emitting an acrid puff. It lurches backward, black muck dribbling from its eyes, its nose, its mouth, and from gouges all over its body. It seems to be dressed head to toe in marks like this, but the marks are made of sharp angles like an Aztec pattern. Everything it touches is smeared in a shivering and bending red glow that festers like the blood animating the nearby corpses. It is only disoriented for a split second, before it begins charging at the nearest source of familiar mana, hungering for it: Ainsley. She fires bolts of bright lightning at it, but they don't seem to stop it, instead only slowing it down. She steadily backs up from it, kiting it down the street like this, until she ends up back within the park's wards. Enraged, the beast slams its head stubbornly against the ward over... and over... and over... letting out a mournful, distorted howling like a desperate animal. Well, whatever it is, it's distracted.
Faruja	Wuyin's flamethrower gets a nod from Faruja. The Inquisitor approves such fiery retribution. Amidst controlling the esper, the Inquisitor nods to Ainsley. There's relief in his voice as there's a return to normalcy. She can do it. She has those who love her here. "Faram protect any whom yet live within!" He assents, before doors buckle, and a skull-headed beast-like lizard tries to smash into his lover! The rat takes out his stopwatch, and crushes it. A grey film seeks out the area around the creature, attempting to halt time around it! He nods to the others, to study or Purge as necessary. He'll try to keep the thing frozen.
Riva Banari	Riva fires away, leveliing gunfire all over the place. Her gunshots might not be as awesome as the flame blasts, but she has something the others don't: Stopping power. As soon as the thing charges Ainsley, she yells, "AINS!" Again. And she levels both guns at the beast attempting to smash through the ward, and unleashes a torrent of bullets. "HEY PUNK!" Riva yells, trying to get its attention with hwe voice as well as her gunfire. "COME GET SOME!"
Staren	When it's clear the party's not going to just draw them all into the wards, he starts dispatching zombies with his weaponry, blasting individuals with energy weapons and chucking fireballs (via staff or magic wand) at groups. Underground. Great. Because horrible hungry goop zombies in /tunnels/ would be better. And then there's a /new/ terrible noise, and Staren looks over to see what's giving Ainsley trouble. "What the hell is that thing?!" He flies over, swapping weapons to draw an oversized revolver and cock it. "Was it like that when it was alive??" And then he shoots it, hovering at what he hopes is just out of its reach. If magic's not working, well... the Mad Morg McGee Annihilator's mad-science-powered bullets (two per shot!) were made for just this sort of thing, right? He'll empty the cylinder if needed... although, preferring the safety of range and precise aim, he opts not to attempt to fan it.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa Says "I'm with you on that Riva but where are we going to get enough fire as I have a feeling that's what we're go9ng to need." it always seems to come down to fire, in the multivse? She has to wonder about that. "...Easy meat in its mind I suspect. So few people traveling unaware and so few to sound the alarm as quickly." she looks out at the horror and then pauses. "It could be targeting us for our interferance in Kingsmouth."
Inga Freyjasdottir	The spears of blood do not seem to be nearly as effective as fire, which Wuyin and Faruja's people are tossing around quite effectively. Inga's lips purse for a moment before she lets out a sigh. Well, she hasn't had very much opportunity to practice but... Inga is ready to do /something/ when the large creature bursts through the door behind Ainsley. All is chaos then, and she cannot do what she'd intended without catching Ainsley in the attack as well. Cursing, Inga limps out of the way, seeing Ainsley's intention to get back within the ward. This seems like a fine plan. Once Ainsley is within the boundry of the ward again, Ing raises her staff and aims it at the thing clawing at the barrier. The runes carved into her staff light up red and one word is uttered; "Bál" and a blast of magical fire manifests, wooshing toward the creature's back.
Wuyin Tsai	Wu does not have any problem with scattering the rank-and-file skeletons with a hand full of fire. He has to lay off the constant stream of burning death now and then, catching his breath and drawing up more Anima with which to incinerate the things. Honestly, he's just glad that it isn't more complicated than that. "To answer your previous question," Wuyin yells to Faruja, "yes, it is like a disease, or a poison, but of the mind first and the body second." He unleashes another burst of fire, a ball rising off his hand and sent spinning into the nearest skeleton. "It seems to drive men mad and then twist them into abominations against God and man. We have information suggesting it is transmissible through non-standard means as well as physical exposure, so avoid reading any mad scrawls we may find in the city." His analysis is pretty calm, all things considered. Maybe it has something to do with these things /actually dying/. Wuyin lowers his hand, shaking it and flexing his fingers. He looks to the new threat, a frown gradually growing on his face. "I am uncertain if the warding will hold; destroy it if it's feasible from beyond it." He pauses, thoughtful for a second, and then adds, "I do not recommend going underground until daylight. It seems unwise."
Ainsley	Whatever this new beast is, it is not immune to time magic. It is, however, resistant to it. The same iridescent effect billows off of it like the warding, but it crackles and shreds itself, as if the wards etched into the beast were broken. It shudders and struggles, clawing at the bubble of magic before it, trying to get at Ainsley, not processing the presence of the others quick enough to target any of them. And then they open fire on it. It gets lit aflame quite effectively by Inga's magic, apparently sharing the weakness of the lesser undead. However, this doesn't kill it instantly or make it explode, even if it does visible harm to it. It seems to struggle in slow-motion pain against the burning sensation, seemingly noticing this where it had not noticed the scorching of its hands and head against the blood magic ward it was slamming itself against. Staren's gunfire blows big holes in the rotting creature, spattering the barrier with quickly-dissolving black. This makes Ainsley flinch, as if expecting the goo to hit her in the face. She lets out a shuddering sigh when it seems the wards keep the gross stuff AWAY from her. Following Wuyin's command, she unleashes lightning into its face, which seems to work through the ward just fine! She can just camp in there and take potshots at it from relative safety, apparently. The beast is sent staggering backwards, weakened by all of the attacks. Its head twists to look over its shoulder at Riva with a crackling of bone and sinew, the time magic only then beginning to dissolve from it as the wards resist it, body jerking from the gunfire she puts into it. Then it turns in unsteady steps, like a rhino repositioning for another charge. And it charges toward her, giving the impression of a boulder threatening to smear a whip-wielding adventurer against the stone road. It is quite large and quite determined to maim her if it gets within reach of her. Seems this takes a LOT more punishment than the standard skeleton! The damage done to it so far has slowed down its gait, but not by enough to make it less frightfully dangerous when it singles out its prey.
Riva Banari	The thing takes a lot of fire. And gunfire. And a lot of other things. When the thing decides it's built like a freight train and it's all ready to run someone over, and it decides on Riva, she begins really, really regretting hitting the taunt button. But better her than Ainsley. With a desperate yell, Riva sets her stance and fires.. up into the air? Is she panicking? Does she not have enough gun? The blue-green energy bolts arc through the air and come down, splashing into the ground around the beast-man to create a shimmering pool of energy of the same color, with a honeycomb pattern glittering within. The power clings to the beast's legs, attempting to arrest its movement for a critical moment... And Riva takes advantage of this to hurl herself to one side in an attempt to get out of that charge! "THIS IS GONNA SUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" Riva yells. Not the best battlecry but it's what she's got.
Staren	It took six Annihilator shots and kept going? Staren's never seen that outside of an Elite or something /really/ scary. This is no normal monster. Not even a normal /Filth/ monster. Also, Inga can throw fireballs. "You can throw fire? Nice!" He blew holes in it, though. That's progress, and that's something he can use: Missiles are launched, targeted to try and fly into the holes and explode, maybe blow the monster apart a little (these are the focused, small explosions rather than the big firey ones.) And if that doesn't finish it, Staren pulls out the raiser rifle and starts blasting at increasingly powerful settings, hoping the energy release will explode the monster from the inside. He's not worried about Riva. Elites can handle themselves, right?
Faruja	Wuyin's words only have the rat scowling harder! "Mind and soul as well? Faram save the afflicted! We must ensure we art untainted once we quit this place." Cautions the rat in turn. Inga lights it on fire momentarily. Faruja nods vaguely. "Adequate." He says quietly. /Discrete/ respect points. And then the beast is trying to run down the good Templar Banari! The Inquisitor incants, and the esper of Earth, Golem, appears from the side to try to slam into the horrific monster to check its advance upon her! Oh, and punch it in the face with big, meaty earth-Golem hands.
Inga Freyjasdottir	Inga's lip curls slightly, nose wrinkling as Wuyin describes the Filth to Faruja. "Indeed, it is insidious and extremely contagious. Do not open yourself to it in /any/ way. My ward is meant to strengthen you against invasion, but even so, take no chances!" she cautions. The creature charges toward Riva now, and Inga curses under her breath. Blood still drips from her wound, so Inga uses it before she heals fully. This time, she flings it from her wound in a spray, her blood suddenly sizzles and burns on contact as if acid. She hopes that will slow it down. Acid burns are pretty painful. The witch then moves as quickly as she's able into the barrier, hoping the thing doesn't somehow break through. Just in case, Inga begins moving around the perimeter, chanting and drawing symbols in her blood along the ground, hoping to reinforce the barrier. Faruja's adequate comment is given a brief look, followed by a roll of the eyes. "Yes, I do not recommend going beneath ground. Once this thing is taken care of I recommend we all get within the barrier once more and I can work a charm of concealment on us as I have done in Kingsmouth," she cries, hoping all would hear her. Inga glances toward Staren, smiling quite brightly of a sudden. "Wizard taught me," she tells him, then gets back to reinforcing that ward.
Wuyin Tsai	Wuyin has provided his helpful information and driven Faruja further into the depths of /zealous fury/. He feels as though this is only helping their chances at killing everything that was previously-dead in this city. The giant thing goes after Riva now, and Wuyin watches it do just that. For a moment, he looks like he's going to just let her get run down. He drifts vertically, hovering a foot or two off the ground and reaching up with one hand to take hold of his glasses. There's a sound almost like a rumbling that builds around him. He pulls the glasses off -- -- and fires eye lasers?! FZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAT The beams are aimed at the back of the thing's leg, right around the knee, mid-charge. They do something weird to magic and magnetism both, stripping away inherent magical protections and then dragging whatever it hits down towards the ground. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to affect the whole thing. Fortunately, it's mid-charge, and with that kind of weight and momentum being thrown forward...
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa is looking to the new beast she looks at it and already has her rifle coming up but she has held off shooting as she's trying to line ip a shot. She takes a moment with the XCOM issue battle rifle waits for it and then fires off several bursts at the thing. "This stuff it bad news to put it midly!" She keeps shooting now in controled bursts and wonmders what good is she in a combat situation. "It gets in your head. I don't even think I'm safe against it." Even with her brain being NBC sealed. "I ... need to get some better gear I'm going to just be slowing all of you down at this rate!"
Ainsley	Don't worry about Ainsley! She's busily sniping skeletons as they slowly make their way to party members in a deceptively intelligent manner, trying to catch them off-guard while they're focused on the Blood Warrior. She shatters them here and there with little crackles of lightning and wind, thanking the creators of Aztlan under her breath for this little haven in the chaos. The Warrior finds its course thrown off by something about as big as it is! It doesn't stop moving even when struck in the head, but it staggers and violently swerves off its path, then stumbles when struck in the leg by eye lasers! It slams into the street face-first, leaving an impressive groove there as if its head was make of steel, but this durability doesn't last long, thanks to the combination of Inga and Wuyin. The Warrior's armor wards dissolve away rapidly, and all it takes is one more well-aimed laser blast and pepper of gunfire to cause the creature to violently explode into a shower of Life mana, which makes a few of the nearby crystalline street lamps buzz and explode in response! The noise dies down soon after, the soft glass-like chimes of broken crystals replacing the oppressive explosion. A black scorch in the shape of the creature has been left there in the street, complete with skull print.
Inga Freyjasdottir	Inga looks toward Wuyin, eyes wide. "You just shot fire out of your eyes," she says. "Teach me."
Faruja	For once Inga doesn't get an objection. NO, he's not letting /that/ into him! Wuyin uses eye lasors, and Faruja whistles. That was rather effective! With the beast dead, Faruja turns to his allies. Thankfully a quick burst of gravity magic ensures he and anyone near to him isn't shredded by falling crystal street lamps. "Is everyone hale?" he questions. The rat's pointedly looking at Ainsley first. After? He'll inspect the scorch mark wher the Blood Warrior was. "Any idea what that was, Ainsley? It seemed different than the risen citizenry."
Staren	"Finally!" The monster... exploded! ...And left a skull mark. "Well, that's weird..." After a moment, Staren lands by the others. "I am fine. Assuming I'm not infected, anyway. I don't think there's an easy way to tell." Faruja already asked the other thing he was wondering.
Wuyin Tsai	Wuyin drops to the ground again. He places his 3D glasses back where they belong, adjusting them slightly and smirking in Inga's direction. "Perhaps once you've learned a little more elemental magic. It is a complicated technique." Elite abilities always are, yo. "I am fine. Inspect yourselves for any... splatter." He's already in the process of doing that.
Ainsley	Ainsley is over there, behind the barrier. She stays pointedly behind the magical wall until she's sure she's not about to be tackled by a huge monster. She gingerly walks over to where the Warrior once was, staring down at the scorch mark, obviously impressed by the sight. "That," she tells Faruja, halting to think about it, "That was one of the warriors tasked with keeping watch over the wards on the outer edges of the city. The wards on them are like armor. Life magic. Makes them resistant to harm and pain. I'm... not sure why he didn't just dissolve when turned into this..." She crouches to look at the scorch mark more closely, but doesn't get closer to it. "Maybe it held him together...?" "Most Quetzal can't practice magic," she tells Faruja and anyone else listening. She doesn't elaborate, instead letting out a sigh and standing up. "We should establish a camp properly. This will crisis will take a very long time to investigate."
Staren	Staren listens, and nods a bit at the explanation of what it was. At the advice to stay and form a camp... "If these things only rise at night... Why don't we only come through the warpgate during the day, and search the temple and catacombs in the morning?"
Riva Banari	The explosion promptly throws Riva across the street, sending her cracking into the ground painfully. Thankfully, it's not lethally. Riva gets up after a minute and groans, putting a hand to her head. "I hope I don't have a concussion..." She mutters, and stumbles her way over into the warded area, wherein she begins rummaging for tacos. "Yeah. That's a good idea." She says absently to Ainsley's suggestion. "This place looks like hell but at least we can drive some stakes and get some tents up."
Faruja	Faruja nods to Wuyin, and proceeds to burn his robes. Give him a moment. Thankfully, there's plate mail beneath. A nod to the lizardess. "Mayhaps they succumbed to this 'Filth', or the energies they safeguarded. Strange. Quite, priorities." With that? The Inquisitor is already trying to set up camp, radio'ing his comptriots out near the warp gate. Time to get some manpower up in here!
Inga Freyjasdottir	Inga lets out a breath as the creature is finally brought down. The mark it leaves behind is puzzling indeed. A sigh to Wuyin, followed by a nod. "I suppose I will have plentiful opportunity to sharpen those skills," she responds. A camp? "Mmm, well, I have reinforced the wards. I do suggest we come during the day and try to get to the temple. We must find survivors first," she says. She is checking herself over for splatters, but she appears to be clean. She's sure all the blood on her is actually her own.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa seems to be quite worried after everything and how it panned out this is not what she was expecting. She was expecting things to be very bad but nothing on this level. She lowers her wepaon, switches the safey back on and moves her finger off the trigger. "Physically I'm fine metally I'll get back to you later. What it was it was ... horrible and things just got worse for us in dealing with this. I'll see about getting us some supplies loaded up here getting camp going? Now that's something I can do."