Bedside Manner (Open RP)

The twin ice blades struck Dire , but it was hard to tell the effect , as her already blood splatted form masked any fresh wounds , the ploy had not slowed Dire , who noe struke back ...


first , the metal wand spat a ball of dark energy at the Woman , and them Dire's left are hurled a crystal spine , envenomed and scapel sharp ...as the two cloesd the howling ring of magic reached out to assult the Woman (( death shroud))...

just short of contact Dire halted , gathered power (( build up )) and unleashed the crystal Spines in a wave of magic ..(( spine burst )) ...

The woman in black reeled from the assault. Whatever dark energies encircled her were slowly draining her own energy - this was not going to be a long-lasting battle if she went head to head with Dire. The blast from the wand blurred her vision briefly.

As several shards of dark magic cut at the woman, the zombie-like slaves behind slowed down. Her hold on them was waivering as her own wellbeing was in danger.

She was also hurtling inevitably towards Dire.

At least the twin ice swords had made some kind of mark on the haunt, although it was difficult to tell; perhaps she should unleash more powerful magic in order to slow her opponent enough to get to safety?

The woman stopped herself short of coming face to face, literally, with Dire. She drew in the coldness around her and inhaled. When she exhaled, a cloud of icy daggers shot out at Dire in a wide arc ((Frost Breath)).

She wasted no time after that in drawing more magical energy and fired a chilling blast of cold, designed to freeze an opponent in their tracks ((Freeze Ray)) - although instead of aiming at Dire's body, she went for the head again.

As she fired the freezing cold at Dire she retreated backwards, her army of slaves no more than a foot away.

The stack of mercenaries, quite used to ignoring battle going on around them, finally managed to find the maintenence closet.

Ocnar spotted the unconscious men, but waited for Moose and Knuckles to get to his back before they entered the room, Ocnar sweeping on the left, Moose the right. Knuckles began to check underneath any space large enough to hide a human being.

---

Upstairs, Balgair finally muttered something coherent, "Sweet chocolately Christ, my head hurts..."

Dr. Grimwald glanced at Sev, who had not moved from his position at Balgair's side. Shrugging, the doctor set down a bottle of pain pills, "I'm going on my rounds, those should hold her. I'll check back in a few minutes.

..It was clear that Dire was not going to stop , any wounds from the ice swords had not distracted her , on she came , face passive but focused , the shiny black eyes locked hard on the Woman ....

The cloud of ice shards enveloped Dire , her own magic crackling as it tried to counter the effects , , Dire came on , emerging from the icy cloud , her whole self covered in frost , small rips and rents in her clothing and skin , but still she advanced ...

Then the chilling blast of cold stuck at Dire's face , a sheet of solid ice seemed to grow , coating her head ...and then her lips parted into a smile , and the ice shattered as her Obsidian shield of magic destroyed the Woman's enchantment ....

Dire changed tactics as the Woman retreated , she fired off another burst of spines , sending yet more of the venom into the Woman ..then sprinting forward , Dire let the dark magics flow directly to her fist and struck with a fury of blows at the Woman (( sands of Mu )) , and readied another crystal shard for throwing ((Lunge))

The woman in black recoiled from the quick succession of blows - her vision was blurred by dark magic - and she fell back into the arms of her slaves.

As each blow had landed on her, the people behind the woman in black had become more aware. It would only take a few more hits and it looked as though their enslavement would be finished.

The woman dived between the legs of her slaves, emerging behind them so that they provided a wall between her and Dire. She reached the small pile of discarded artefacts, picking up another dagger and a handful of small charms.

Concentrating for a second, the charms dissolved in her hand and wisps of energy shot up the woman in black's arm. She was recharging some of her power.

Acid couldn't help but laugh as Rosalind greeted the 'tree', remarking to her, "Rosie, that's not a tree. That's J...wait a sec. No, that's not James. The heck is that?"

As if to answer his question, the arm-shaped 'tree' gave a shake and the earth responded with a rock, the plant rising from the ground by virtue of a gob of - of all things - fire, which in the process of rising coalesced into a shape that could've been a rough torso. Indeed, that was the very final shape it assumed, thick and broad-shoudlered, and carrying a head that could've come from so many monsters of legend it was hard to describe. The spike-lined lower jaw that jutted forward beyond the noseless face was likely the only defining mark.

The tree seemed to be, and was indeed the thing's right arm, and the left one soon followed, formed by water that pooled from the soil and coalesced to shape in heedless defiance of gravity. This only continued further, for the creature then rose on one leg of loose, wind-swept sand, and another composed of large, dense, and murky-looking slabs of rock. In the end, it was easily three meters tall, its composite form of wood, fire, water, earth, and wind towering over all assembled.

"...Joy?" the Khelari finally managed to get out, having stared at the thing in silence for several long seconds, "Is that you?"

The flaming jaws of the creature only responded with a light-hearted, truly melodious giggle...

The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit just watched the unfolding spectacle with a big O plastered onto his face. And then the laughter came, and he responded in time with a high-pitched childish laugh. He then grinned a toothy shark's grin, and whispered...

"It's Showtime...!"

There was an explosion of confetti, a flash of dark red, and the kid vanished into thin air!

Dire halted , letting the slave crowd get a little closer , just to the edge of her death shroud ,

" ..are we having fun yet , did you think that you had power , real power cost and i do not think you would pay the price .."

Dire's head snapped to the left and a single word called a bright flash light to reveal a squat figure , over long arms drag upon the floor and a horrid redcap sat on its head ..... (( non combat pet redcap ..yes its distraction time ))

the Redcap was behind the Woman , and well clear of the slaves ..its grined a grin of pointed teeth

" if you dont like my magic , would you like to try Hothithrael's , he is such a devoted friend , a very merry fellow .."

with the distraction in place Dire hurled her self both backwards and upwards , her flying ability cutting back in as she assended clear of the advancing slave wall ..reaching the celing she spun to face the Woman .....

Perhaps no one noticed her being a disembodied spirit could be a challenge. She noticed the Red cap and guessed at Dire's plan. Fading out of sight (Superior Invisibility) she moved to where Hothithrael was.

She wasn't sure what she could or should do but she wanted to help. Was Dire a hero? She shook her head the other woman was controlling people Dire has to be one of the good guys. Dire wanted a distraction then a distraction it shall be. Closing her eyes she focused on making a bang... Well the result was her ectoplasm flared creating a bright flash of light (Flash). "Um... BOO!"

The woman grabbed the Redcap by the feet just as the flash of light lit the room up. She didn't have time to shield her eyes.

She heard the little demon squeal and threw it in a direction that she hoped Dire was in.

Her eyes hurt but she stumbled towards where she remembered the door had been. Unsure of where she should be attacking, the woman raised her arms and brought them down in a swift motion. Cold energy swirled in a cloud above her before it descended in the morgue ((Ice Storm)). If it hit her slaves then so be it - their sudden awareness of the situation caused by her lack of control could provide an excellent distraction for Dire.

Her eyes still stinging, the woman grabbed the splintered doorframe to steady herself and called out into the corridor:

"Help! There's a mad woman attacking me! Help!"

Concentrating as best she could, her features changed and her clothes, at first a swathe of black, softened to look more like a tattered raincoat. It was a simple spell but effective. Or so she hoped.

She clutched the dagger, pulled her 'coat' tight and stumbled through the corridor towards the stairs.

"Tango!" Ocnar shouted as the woman revealed herself, flinging some bolt of energy or another that missed them.

Crossing the room, Ocnar aimed and slammed his rifle into the woman's jaw, hopefully knocking her to the ground. Moose approached in a half circle pattern, so that he didn't cross Knuckle's line of fire, who was sighted in on the woman.

Moose drew a set of plastic zip ties that they used to restrain people. As soon as Ocnar had the woman on the ground, he'd be in and assisting, ready to secure her arms, and find a gag.

Samwise and Rick kept their weapons trained down the hallway, waiting for the clear, or backup sign from the entry team.

Dire had made good use of the distractions of the Redcap , and the Spirit caused flash , she had moved clear of the Slaves and was circling towards the Woman once more , still at ceiling level weaving between light fittings ..

However the vile Womans launching of Hothithrael , now turned the tables , as Dire as forced cut back across the room to save the poor little chap , totally relying on Hoth'ies grabing skills , Dire simple placed her legs in the way , and true to form the little chap caught hold of her legs and hung on for grim life , as such ..

Keeping clear of the Slaves , and safely landing Hothithrael all took time , and when Dire looked up the Woman had crossed the door way and fled ...

With a quick pat on Hoth'ies head Dire , now running , sped after the Woman , hoping to out pace the Slaves following her .....

"Two strange women fighting in a morgue mind controlled zombie folks... And no one cares to explain anything to me!" Still invisible thought a slight shimmer in the air when she moved gave her away if anyone bothered to notice.

She passed one of the zombie like people and siphoning energy from him causing the fellow to slow down and her to gain a boost in speed. With that catching up to Dire was easy.

"Well then." the Khelari remarked to more than one thing, wondering just what odd thing would happen next, as well as suppressing the desire to immediately toss at least a dozen questions at the composite elemental's head. After a few long moments, he realized he was just standing there, and with what could best be described as a brain-click turned to Rosie, "Oh. Right. Um, Rosie - Joy. Joy - Rosie. She's a were-human. She's a pnevma spirit. Kind of like the deal with Hawaii's volcanoes. Except different. I'll explain later. Right now..."

Acid held the congressman up to the amalgamation, "Could you give this guy a once-over, tell me what you find? I don't think he's been infected, but I'd like to make sure."

"Of course." Joy replied soft-spokenly, touching the human with the hand of wood, "Oh my..."

"Is the monster gone yet?" The invisible Urban Fellow of Merry Wit asked from somewhere. He sounded extremely worried.

"Oh hey, charmed, I'm sure!" Rosie chattered to Joy, tail wagging as if nothing strange were happening in the least. "You should totally meet Emry! Ah, scratch that, he might like you more than me. <_< He's cranky anyway!"

Turning around, she grinned at UFoMW's vocal direction. "Are you kidding me? You can look at this two ways, kiddo. Either all of us are monsters or none of us are."

She beamed, with an expression that meant she'd probably be ruffling his hair if she could find him. "At least all the monsters are your friends, right? :3"

((You done yet, Devious? Am I allowed to interact in a manner that will have a meaningful effect on the direction of the story?))

((So long as you don't try and auto things again, sure.))

"Right." Acid remarked in the same regard as Rosie, then returned to speaking with Joy. Some unfamiliar technical terms fell, but the general gist that the spirit had found roughly the same thing as Rosie was easy enough to distill. Whatever this infection the Khelari was looking for was, the congressman didn't have any on or in him.

"Well then, I guess that settles that." he looked in the general direction Jase and Rosie, "I guess things worked out well enough after all then. Think I'll be taking this guy to the hospital on Peregrine Island now. You guys wanna tag along...?"

((In this thread? *I* haven’t auto’ed anything, unlike some.

…but I didn’t want to interrupt your important thread defining exposition.))

After reaching for the congressman earlier, Jase’s grasp, having apparently missed, accidentally dropped a kunai knife from his imaginary sleeve. “Woops,” he muttered with a little smile. As the lizard man and the dog discussed the congressman back and forth, Jase just shifted his eyes from one and then the other and then down to the knife stabbed into the ground with his hand still reaching but now only at air. He continued to look on innocently enough.

The Matron made a whimpering 'Oomph' noise as the gun butt hit her square on the jaw. The magical doohickey she'd been carrying dropped to the floor and broke like a china cup. There was a faint smell of sulphur as it did so.

Angela Knowles collapsed to the floor.

Moose and Ocnar swooped down upon the slumped woman, restraining her to the best of their abilities.

"Room Clear!" Knuckles shouted back as Ocnar gave the thumbs up.

Samwise and Rick stepped inside, and Rick began to check the unconscious men for injury. When Ocnar mentioned the brief light show, Rick took out a roll of gauze to stuff in the presumed magician's mouth. It didn't stop all magic users, but it it covered quite a few.

The hulking Commando meanwhile looked at the electrical panels and opened them up, trying his best to fix whatever was wrong with it.

Rosie's attention span had pointed her elsewhere.

"Whatcha want with 'em, lady?" she said, standing between the now-pale woman and the three-square with Acid, Jase, and UF. "Depending on your answer we may have to fight, or we may not, so let's just get stuff straight 'fore we bust some heads."

She rushed ahead trying to catch up the the woman in black. Not having a clue what was going on she decided to spy a bit. Perhaps she can figure out who really was the bad guy here. Thought in truth she already put the woman in black in the Villain group in her mind. Turning children into mindless minions! She did many bad things in her life nothing truthfully villainous but she did have an arrest record. Mostly minor crimes destruction of property, Drugs, disturbing the peace. But harming children was way beyond anything she could forgive, it was also why she was now a wayward spirit.

Mad woman? Perhaps two can play at that game. She smiled and turned focusing on the onrushing Dire Lament. Making herself visible, thought still see through she was directly in front of Dire.

"You don't know me and I don't know you. But it seems we both don't like the black witch so here is a little something to help you get the upper hand..." With that she focused her spiritual form and wrapped a haze around Dire. Soon Dire was concealed in the ectoplasm field to anyone else she was invisible. (Grant Invisibility)

Then she shifted some of her energy to Dire boosting her body's natural speed beyond normal ability. (Speed boost)