Heart of the Cards - 3/16

[17:33] Nemaine had left the Kitty Kisses maid cafe, after having awoken there from the sudden explosion of necromatic energy the other night that had kicked her unconscious. She is being made to move, something tugging her along, her body shuddering and jerking as she gets to the docks. The sun is starting to set on the horizon, and the waves are lashing against the posts, the tide coming in and slooowly rising and rising. They will need to move fast or get trapped by the tide

[17:44] Lily O'Keefe had made her way down to the docks once again, leaning over to look at the water. It was high, so much higher and Lily couldn't help but squint at the waves with some trepidation. If it was fresh water, she'd feel a lot more confident in her ability to soothe it but her reluctant magic only worked a little with the brine of the sea. "Uh, so, there's a cave down there the... uh, my friend says," Lily said to Nemi like she'd been expecting her but then this WAS when and where she'd been told to show up for any sort of rescue. She'd assumed that the letter was from Sato as it was curt and to the point but she hadn't actually bothered to check and really, wouldn't know how if it wasn't on the outside of the letter like a normal post mark - it hadn't been but Lily was nothing if not obliging and the presence of the fortune teller seemed to confirm it. Lily deliberately left out that her friend was a *seal* because that sounded super crazy even to Lily but who better to know the harbor. She pointed down to the water, offering to anyone else drawn to the docks at this time. "But it's prolly under water right about now so I hope folks can swim okay? I... I'm okay with water but the sea is sort of feisty." Lily was, however, a strong swimmer.

[17:49] Gonzo Giustizieri hasn't put much thought into the 'three of pentacles' written on his palm for the past few weeks, mostly just...idly scratching at it on occasion, seeing if it'll fade. It hasn't. It was a crazy stroke of luck that he'd seen the old fortuneteller leaving the cafe when he was on his way to a shift...and the way she was moving, it seemed like following her was way more important than a stupid couple hours spent rollerskating around a moldering cafe. So he's here on the docks, trailing after Nemi. "Right, right, the sea..." He gives it a skeptical look, then shrugs. "The Pacific, it is more temperamental than my Atlantic, but swimming, it is easy. I am more concerned about the breathing."

[17:51] Damir is here. He doesn't totally know why. Just one of those weird whims, the sort that leads one to pack up a bag of tools and wander around until he stumbles upon what is bothering him. The student hasn't been around near the docks since the last weird encounter with Kiernan and Lily over here. So, of course, it figures that when he turns the corner, Lily is here...right where he'd been drawn to. He's about to turn on his heel and quickly walk away -- up until he hears talk of a cave. And Lily suggesting people swim. He furrows his brows and proceeds closer across the cobblestone, sidling up to Gonzo, first looking at Lily, then at Nemi, then at the sea, and then back at Lily. "...Swimming? After last time? Are you sure?" The hand clutching his bag tightens. "Erm...why?"

[17:53] Odette di Benedetti Normally, her walks in the evening were leisurely strolls, but the effort it had taken for her to even pull the hooded dress over her head had had taken so much concentration. If she did not find some sustenance tonight, things were going to get scary.

She'd been finishing dressing when she'd heard Alex leave the house, and knowing the condition they were in, Odette felt compelled to follow and, if nothing else, try to keep them safe. It took so much restraint to not reach out to Alex as they stood at the ravine, peering down at the writhing mass of spirits melded together, but she'd hung back, letting them process.

She'd intended to go down to the docks and locate some poor bloke with no name and no one to miss him stepping off a boat, so when Alex's journey took them that direction, she was relieved.

As the docks came into view, her relief was short lived, and Odette found herself disturbed to notice a lot of traffic on the wharf, much of it being so many familiar faces.

The letter! Sod it all, she'd completely forgotten about it in all the chaos of the last few days.

Stepping up alongside Alex, she said nothing, but looked at the seer, once more noticing the glimmering cords and unconsciously, her fingers curled into her palm, nails biting at the soft flesh that still homed her tattoo of the Sun.

[17:55] Alex had gone out for a walk, drawn by the ceaseless groans of agony they could distantly hear echoing out from the ravine nigh-incessantly. A constant reminder of what had happened a few nights ago and their own culpability in the matter. After seeing it for themselves, it was maddening, and they needed to get away, at least for a while. So they wandered off, frostbitten as they were, down to the docks to try and clear their head, only to spy a rather large crowd forming there. A distraction, maybe? They wandered closer to listen and find out, only then noticing Odette had wandered up beside them and glancing her way with a blink. "O-oh... Were you... there the whole time? What's going on?"

[17:56] Kyuu (daisylurve): Escape. Kyuu has been caged the past couple days, literally. It was for the safety of everyone else, really. But try as his keeper might, the fox is a wily creature. Mind you, he knows he should stay. But he isn’t thinking with the higher mind right now. No. His feral instincts are driving him. Be that as it may, he is prowling – drawn to the harbor. Unseen tails swishing as he paces barefoot over the cobbles. His molten gold gaze is drawn here and there to the people working in he area. But here are too many. Taking a breath, releasing it, he moves away and fonds a simple pleasure in the thump of his feet against the salt slicked planks. He might have received a letter at some point – but he has been ah.. busy. So, just as Fate guided him to the first gathering of the cards, here he is again. Scenting Lily, he draws closer then leans in and verifies with a rather weird and obvious sniff. “Lily.” He then peers toward Nemine and curls an impish smile for her, gold tipped fingers waving gently in a hello.

[17:57] Liu Taiyang wandered over towards the dock front, the man seeming less to have made it there out of any responsibility to... And more out of simple fate. Again he is stumbling and staggering about, the air around him reeking of alcohol.

He is, after all, nothing but a simple beggar.

He laughs to himself softly as he approaches, seeing Nemi's body twitching and moving about erratically. Well, maybe so, but behind the laugh is a deeper concern. The Dao itself is pulling Nemi's body along, in a way that it seldom did except in matters of great import.

Already, the beggar is subtly calling forth his internal energies, pouring them about himself. Did it want them to go across the waves...?

He simply... Stumbled towards the dock as Lily pointed to the spot they were to go. "Itsh down there, ya frenmd said...?" he slurs, all but incoherently. He peers over goonishly.

"Ah dun sheee anmythin... Yer sure... dere's a thing down there...?"

He giggles to himself, as he staggers around at the edge of the shore. He always seems like he might fall in at any time, but he never does, even when the wind blows - as if he is always precisely where he is meant to be at all times.

[18:00] Calliope Hunter stops on the docks pointing the parasol shaped wire at Nemaine before she gives chase in the form of quick, swaying, steps. "Mom! There you are! I've been looking all over for you after you just ran out, I know you hate responsibility but damn! Ice so cold even I can't thaw it." Under the smile there's a hint of concern, shown in her owns steps mimicking the jerking steps rather than in the smile on her face. Her eyes shift over nearly familiar faces, one by one, smiling at Kyuu and wiggling her fingertips at him, before stopping on the beggar. "What's down there we're all in a tizzy about?"

[18:08] Nemaine had not realized that she was being followed. That's not uncommon however. When her Sight is locked and the strands of fate that bind her to her deck are pulling her along behind them, she does not notice anything but the path forward. Slowly people are gathering. Ones and twos and threes and fours. The searchers are here. Some are new, some are old, some are silver, and some are gold. Her hands are tapping at the deck...and the newcomers each will find a card on them. It would allow them each to see what it is...before it dissolves in their hands, or where it had landed, leaving a inked tattoo on their hands. "Not...your Mom... Wrong version" She murmurs to Calliope... For the 50th time just today

As Lily speaks, her sightless gaze turns towards her. There is a deep breath and a nod before she is moving jerkily towards the edge of the pier. There is a glance over her shoulder, meeting each of their eyes before she is just jumping into the water and moving towards the cave, slowly but surely moving.

[18:09] Nemaine Virajas (shadowcat1811): (( *inked tattoo on their skin somewhere of their card))

[18:12] Lily O'Keefe had flushed and averted her eyes at Damir's soft reminder that the last time had led to a lot of missing clothing and - more importantly - missing chunks of flesh. Even if the leg was fully healed, it twinged a reminder. "Oh, uh, well. Yes, y'see. The missin' lady; her friend - " Lily turned but just as Nemi went to leap into the water. "Wait, no! There's monsters-!" Lily said, already kicking off her boots. She glanced back at Odette, her expression concerned at the way she looked. She started however when Kyuu... sniffed?? her, turning to blink once. Lily took her glasses off and tossed them on her boots as she hurried out the explanation. "There are monsters in the water an its dangerous an its probably deep but the lady that Miss Nemaine is lookin' for is somewhere down there an if I CAN help, I need to. It's sort of up t'the rest of you if you wanna do the same an no hard feelings if'n you don't but, uh, if I don't come back if someone could tell Rourke to write my nan an let my family know, it'd be a kindness." And with that rather ominous statement - and for Damir, for the SECOND time - Lily turned and with a little leap swan dove into the water below the pier.

[18:16] Gonzo Giustizieri blinks as Nemi disappears over the edge of the pier, but...well, she seems like she knows what she's doing. Damir, on the other hand, seems nervous. He looks around at everyone else, takes approximately one second to think about what he's doing, and then upon hearing the word monsters and seeing a second girl dive under the water, decides on the best course of action. "Do not worry. I will protect you from the monsters," he tells Damir reassuringly with a pat on the shoulder. She kicks off her boots, then stoops down, sweeps Damir's legs out from under him, carries him down to the edge of the pier and drops him in the water like a sack of bricks. She jumps in after Damir without wasting a second.

[18:16] Liu Taiyang shrugs, drunkenly slurring in his thick Chinese accent: "Dunt knuw... The ri'rur woman thar... She shaid... Diwn der be a cave..."

He giggles some more, as he points down into the water, his cheeks red with Asian flush.

Taiyang seems to simply wobble around on the pier, his wooden sandals clacking against the wooden bar, though his eyes keep on the water where Nemi fell in even as he staggers and sways. As ever, the drunkenness is nothing but an act. His eyes simply follow the tangle of Dao that surrounds both Nemi and Lily today to an abnormal degree, tracks their movements... It's not until after they seem to have arrived by the entrance of the cave would he simply... Stagger forwards, laughing drunkenly, and fall clumsily into the water.

To the vast majority of onlookers, he'd simply vanish out of sight once he was below the dark, reflective surface of the water, and reappear with the rest of them at the cave, as if he'd teleported. That wasn't QUITE the case - rather, it was simply a swift footwork adopted for venturing beneath water.

[18:19] Odette di Benedetti waved a slightly dismissive hand at Alex's question, avoiding answering when there were other things to address.

She lifted her hand, showing them the tattoo of the sun on her palm and tilting her head toward them to murmur,

"I had forgotten about a letter...arranging a meeting here to hopefully...".

Her velvet rasp hushed as someone behind her chortled. Something about this whole scene had her teeth on edge.

Or, perhaps it was just the ravenous gnawing in her soul that had her agitated and hyper-reflexive. Every sound, every movement felt like nails on a chalkboard to the tiny revenant at the moment.

The Seer is lurching, the edge of the dock slipping away as she jumped into the water.

Lily's explanation would land on startled ears as she, too, dove into the water. Odette was fully aware that terrors existed under that water as she'd seen it with her own eyes as she'd tried to wrench Kiernan from it's grip.

Not even looking at Alex, she'd hiss at them,

"Shit. Do not follow.", already breaking into a run for the edge of the dock and jumping into the water to see to Lily's safety.

[18:21] Kyuu (daisylurve): Just after his wave, Nemaine steps off the pier and plunges into the water. Kyuu’s ears perk and he leans out to watch the bubbles trail up then casts a glance aside to Lily as she .. begins to strip. Yes, 100% of his attention is focused on watching that for a beat. He even misses the greeting from Calliope. But then something works thought. Monsters. Its been a long time since he went hunting monsters. Suddenly the grin he gives Lily is far too feral and all sorts of toothy. While she is tossing her glasses aside he just casually cannonballs off the pier, his laughter abruptly cutting off as he disappears beneath the surface with a splash. As he sinks further down, he prompts a shift to occur. Gills open up long his neck, flaring for a breath. There is little to head his swimming – casting a glance around he locates the sinking form of Nemaine and dives after her.

[18:22] Kyuu (daisylurve): head/hinder

[18:24] Damir's eyebrows shoot right up at Lily's mention of the missing lady. Oh shit, that's right. How many days had it been...? He glances down at his wrist, tugging back the sleeve to look at his watch. What he sees instead gives him pause. The corpse of a bird imprinted on his arm.

The word "Death".

For a moment, time stops. His heart pounds in his chest; he could swear it's skipping beats. The sound of two splashes, then the feeling of Gonzo's hands on him, breaks his reverie. "Wh-- what are you-- " He shouts, clinging to the bag in his arms, far too late to stop the inenvitable. His head cranes around to look at the nearing dock and then snaps up to glare at Gonzo. "This is /not/ funny. No. Do not -- hey!"

He splashes into the water, boots and blazer and bag and all.

[18:25] Alex blinked and glanced down when they felt some kind of paper in the half-numb fingers of their right hand, glancing down to find the five of pentacles in their grasp. "Huh... where did..." They mumbled, only to watch the card dissolve as its symbol appeared on the inside of their one good arm instead. They stared at it blankly for a moment, before glancing up with ever-deepening confusion to see everyone running off to dive into the water after the seer who'd gone first. "Is that... did someone mention... monsters?" They worried, more so when Odette only briefly tried to explain what was happening before she ran off too. "W-wait, Odette!" They called after her. She's told them to stay, and they weren't exactly dressed for a swim, and they were numb all over and currently down a functioning arm... but well, they couldn't let Odette run off into danger on her own, right? They took a deep breath, certain they were going to regret this as they hurried up to the edge and hopped in after her.

[18:38] Murke (murkeheol): Calli closes the wire parasol and sets in on her shoulder, only for slim card to fall from it, fluttering out, until she catches it between three fingers. The page of wands is held, distracting her from her goal of bullying the elderly, until it warps over her skin. "I don't even have to pay for both reading and tattoo? Jeez. Okay, I guess this makes up for all the missed birthdays." Then when she looks up again, Nemaine is missing, already in the water. "That wasn't an invitation to..." Now watching Damir get scooped up and dropped into the water by Gonzo, there's a quiet. "Ooooh serial killer! Oh, oh. That's fun." The parasol is dropped to the ground with a clang and her boots are abandoned next to them before she takes herself after them. She doesn't bother with true speed, not yet. She runs, takes a deep breath, and dives, starting to shift her only eyes, trading a piece of her human guise for the eyes which mimic a sharks. Though they're not quite ready by the time she

hits the water.

[18:40] Nemaine does not seem concerned as she hears the splashes of people coming in behind her. There is a blankness to her face. Knock Knock, is anyone home? To those with Sight, Nemi is damn near blinding to their eyes. The strands that are winding around her are binding tighter and tighter. She is moving towards the path that she is meant to go to. There is no such thing as free will for the carrion crow. There is only what fate has decided her path shall be.

As she gets to the cave, she ducks inside, disappearing from view for a bit before people get there. When people arrive she moves forward without a word. She's acting as the Guide for this. As she moves forward, there is suddenly rotting, decomposing arms reaching up, grasping at her...and dragging her down and under the water. She sinks down...but seconds later a very large flock of dark birds burst from the water and cawing loudly down at the other. She flies forward leaving them behind. To those in the water, they can now see bodies upon rotted bodies blocking the way forward. They aren't moving but they certainly are a bit of a road block.

[18:48] Lily O'Keefe was a strong swimmer and though she hit the water after Nemi and Kyuu, she pulled herself down towards the entrance. She grimaced, a few bubbles trickling from the corners of her mouth with the movement at the sight of more rotted, bloated ghouls. Still, there was only so much air. Lily paused for a moment, her legs churning and her brow creasing in focus. Most of the people leaping into the water were, like her, needing to breathe air. Her hands came up in front of her breast bone and the witch focused, coaxing the water around her fingers to churn and spin until there was a captured air bubble in the water that she pushed forward, gesturing towards where it came to stop above the zombies for those that might need to catch their breath. Shaking the tingles out of her hand, Lily went to swim through the channel only to have her leg - the same damn leg! - caught by one zombie's gnarled hand and yank her down with strength that Lily *remembered*.

[18:49] Liu Taiyang waits until well after Nemi had moved through the seaweed before following after her from the pier itself. It was... Child's play, for him, really. No one would have even seen him as he moved through the water, long after the rest had already jumped in, long after many of them had been caught by the decomposing hands. Everything that happened, after all, was but fate. It was Dao. And he followed Nemi's Dao as she guided him, and the clawing hands did not even grasp at his cloak. He was not simply untouched - he went unnoticed.

[18:56] Gonzo Giustizieri was not expecting zombies. Like, there are many things one would expect to find underwater, but zombies? Did not make the list. She would've been so much happier with sharks. A nasty corpse-hand comes from out of nowhere to snag her leg, and she thrashes, trying to loosen its grip. That air bubble Lily set up is looking real inviting, if only she can get this stupid...fucking...dead guy...to let go! She pulls her leg up closer to her chest and bends down, grabbing for the zombie's fingers and trying to snap them until it releases its grip. Yuckkkkkkkk. Ewwwwww.

[18:58] Kyuu (daisylurve): Kyuu is intrigued by the sheer amount of bodies collected down here but their rot makes the water taste bad. He wrinkles his nose and swims after Nemaine, hoping that those are not he monsters they were referring to. Those taste bad. He wants – needs, something fresh. With a heart beat. As he swims above, an air bubble forms and he looks up at it, intrigued. Which just leaves him unguarded. One of those dead hands reaches out to grasp his barefoot and starts to tug him down. He looks down and allows the glamor to spill away from his arms. Long, sharp, golden claws replace the Jewelry that always adorns his hands and a flash of gold can be seen in his eyes. Down swoop those claws as he tugs to free himself.

[19:00] Odette di Benedetti knew it was a luxury to not have to breathe, never more

so than when having to be in water.

She immediately spotted Lily and kicked hard, propelling her small form after the redhead who was following the Seer.

She watched in amazement as Lily created the bubble only to have that amazement rupture as two things happened simultaneously: Lily jerked as one of those horrid creatures snagged her leg, and in ehr peripheral vision, she spotted Alex.

As Lily's plight seemed most urgent, Odette kicked hard again, racing in with the thought of grabbing Lily's arm and thinking it would be wiser to simply take out her attacker.

Every ounce of strength she had would be focused into her upper body as she reached for the zombie's hand wrapped around Lily's leg.

[19:00] Damir doesn't stand a chance. Not only has he just been dropped into frigid sea water unprepared, having to concentrate very hard in order to not immediately drown or lose his bag...he's also immediately confronted with a blinding brightness from Nemi's direction. He slams his eyes shut. Unfortunately, this means that he's totally unaware of the nearby air bubble...or even the zombie below. Something grabs him and holds tight. His eyes snap open. He lets out a bubbling scream and writhes around in the water, trying to kick away from whatever the hell it is. (He doesn't know if Gonzo and he are dating but he is nevertheless going to have to consider breaking up with her after this.)

[19:01] Alex was correct, they very much immediately regretted their choice. Odette was a vampire. What could they possibly do that would be helpful in a situation like this? Now they were even colder, soaked to the bone, and surrounded like the others by a swarm of submarine undead. And this time, they couldn't even speak to make friends with them! A flurry of panicked bubbles spills from their lips as they kick and scramble to try and break free from the grasping hands gripping their limbs tightly and threatening to drag them deeper before they could come up for air. Almost on instinct in their panic, tendrils of seaweed seemed to stretch out towards them, grasping at the undead in return and trying to pry them away. Worse, it didn't seem anyone else but Odette was having much more luck.

[19:06] Calliope Hunter's eyes open once under the water, only to find the hands of the dead wrapping themselves around her. None manage to sink past the skin and the pressure isn't hard enough to pain her, but still her human guise is abandoned as her form twists further, and with the metamorphosis of her shape complete this time. Purple thorns and golden petals replace human teeth and skin, which are turned onto her attackers so she might rip herself free. Even as she struggles her eyes scan the area for those around her and seeing that burst of bubbles, which is why instead of freeing herself, vined tendrils reach for what she hopes is not a screaming mortal and instead tries to pull Damir free of his binds.

[19:17] Nemaine is soaring above them as a huge flock of birds. As Tayang whizzes by, she CAWS loudly. She's swarming around and around and around, watching them all struggle to break free. All of them seem to be getting out.. all except the one that is insisting on calling her mother. The birds swarm around each other, becoming a solid mass. What appears is not what anyone would have thought of as Nemaine. Large talonned feet, going up avian legs, black upon black skin, dark feathers looking down, solid black eyes watching the bright monstrosity in the water. There is a rippling echoing caw as she drops down.

Inches from the water, she lashes herself up, and tries to hook her talons around Calliope's shoulders, cawing in what almost sounds like a berating fashion. She's still got a humanoid head, but doesn't seem like she wants to, or maybe is able to speak a human tongue at the moment. She is a harpy in truth and if she is able to lift and break Calliope free, she will move back towards the passage deeper into the cave. They have a person to rescue, and the ties will not let her leave anyone behind... they are needed.

The others that have moved past, will soon fine the water getting shallower, and solid ground under their feet leading them into a cave that has a gleaming opaque membrane of a barrier blocking them from moving forward, and a being standing there. Each of them would see it a bit different. To some it would look like a man, wearing heavy robes, and a quarterstaff at his side. Some would see a heavily armed centurion waiting and guarding. Some would see a well dressed butler, blocking their way. In all ways this is a Gatekeeper. And this is his charge.

[19:27] Lily O'Keefe gave Odette a grateful look as the woman shattered the bones holding her in place before there could be more teeth tearing into her flesh. That was not an experience she wanted to repeat any time soon. As soon as she was free, Lily was able to take over swimming for herself - taking advantage of the air pocket before pointing the way along the chasm deeper. There were twists and turns to these passageways but her information had been good and the instructions traded for with fish surprisingly clear. When they reached a place that the passageway turned to air once more, Lily took another grateful breath before leaning her hands on her thighs to pant for a few moments before she managed to wheeze and nod in a way politely to the gate guardian. She turned back briefly, watching to make sure that no one was lost along the way and when she saw enough heads pop up, she turned back towards the guardian. "Sacrifice, aye?" Lily muttered, glancing down at her hand where the words that had 'The Fool' were now replaced with 'Knight of Cups'. Lily had actually given this some thought as she gave the cards credence and with only a little grimace of regret, reached up to unwind the braids she kept her hair in. It hadn't been cut yet, not in her entire life, and as she unwound the braid from its pins, it fell long and loose down to her ankles. Leaning down, she reached for the knife in her boot and with only a little breath and huff, she sliced the braid off, leaving the loose waves to fall now just past her shoulders. Lily thrust the long braid out towards the gate, held in her fist and her chin steady and firm even if she looked pained by the loss. "S'possed to save this for magic for my wedding night but that's not likely to happen anyway an I think it fits for what the cards said. Fertility, love. Loss. Here. Take it, it's yours. I give it willingly. Can I pass?"

[19:29] Liu Taiyang simply smiles at the caw, drunkenly flailing his arms about as he wades through into the open-air parts of the cave, now free to breathe again. He staggers about clumsily through the water, with little to none of the grace that none of the others would have seen him pass through the zombie clump with. No, he's acting every bit a drunken beggar - but of course, how in the WORLD could a drunken beggar have somehow made it through past the grasping corpses without any of the others none the wiser? Let alone before anyone else?

His eyes fall upon the Gatekeeper, then tracks something invisible along to Nemi's shapeshifted form, then back again. He turns his palm over, to four staves upon his palm.

[Trill], he murmurs softly beneath his breath, his finger tapping against his temple for a moment, disguised as simply him scratching his head.

[19:31] Kyuu (daisylurve): Swipe!! Those golden talons slice through zombie flesh and trail a murky cloud of gore through the water. He bares his golden fangs at the horde of dead below and briefly, the horns that gracefully arc upward from his head glint in the water before succumbing to his glamor again. The severed arm twitches and.. keeps holding on? But it is no longer attached to anything. Kyuu is free. He kicks up to hover in the water higher above and casts a brief glance about, spying the bright sea flower as she reaches out to save Damir with little care for her own predicament. Gold glowing eyes focus downward, and he lifts a hand, curing his ever so sharp claws into fist with the intent to exert an unbearable amount of telekinetic pressure on the zombie clinging to her, and those around it. As Nemaine flies in to free the flower, the fox’s vindictive force presses down. Only after this satisfying effort to crush his foes to mush is completed does he turn to swim off after the rest of the group. He will be the last to arrive – just in time to see Lily’s hair sacrificed, perhaps?

[19:37] Odette di Benedetti wrapped an arm around Lily's waist as soon as she was free of the zombie, propelling them both out of reach of the clamoring fiends

Releasing Lily, she nodded in answer as the redhead motioned toward what appeared to be a portal.

She'd follow imminently.

Odette pulled herself up, spinning in slow circles as she scanned the murky depth for Alex's pale head.

A huge wash of relief flooded her as she saw them, swimming with the others, toward the mouth of the cave. Keeping them in sight, she'd

move along the ever-steadying sea floor to find the water getting shallower, at last popping her head out of it at the mouth of the cave.

Standing before the glimmering portal was a centurion, clearly guarding what lay beyond, and facing him, Lily reached up with a knife in hand and severed her braid away before holding it out to the guard.

"What the.....", she hisses, closing the distance to the others and finding Alex.

[

19:39] Gonzo Giustizieri isn't surprised when the corpse's fingers bend unnaturally, and at the ease with which they break. A long time in water'd do that to anyone. She's grateful, though-- now that it's gone, she can see the stream of bubbles coming from Damir, and that's no good. God, the guy...is getting attacked by some plants now...? What the hell is wrong with him? Why does he attract trouble like this? She shoves her head into the air bubble, takes a breath, and starts swimming toward Calliope with the intent of...probably stopping the lady from attacking Damir. She's about to reach for the other woman when a fucking-- when birds-- she draws back, saltwater stinging her eyes. She doesn't have time for paranoia or uncertainty, so instead, she lets curiosity take their place. She follows the bird.

After a while, there's air, and then, ahead of them...for a moment, her mouth presses into a thin line, surprised and displeased by the form of the gatekeeper. One shake of the head, and the expression's gone. "What's this asshole want with us?" She has a good idea, considering the hood, the robes, the sword. This thing is watching over a boundary line. Then Lily offers her hair, and...he thinks he's supposed to do this too. "Payment, yes? Two coins over the eyes? No, I did not think so. Okay." He tries to think of something the bird-- the gatekeeper would want that isn't a liver, an eye, a pound of flesh, something...

"I am going to level with you. I am not supposed to possess objects with sentimental value. But," she says, and lifts a thin, gold chain with a cross at the end out of her pocket, then goes to stand next to Lily and offer it to the gatekeeper. "I was making an exception for this. Had too much practical use to let go of. It was my sister's. Yours now."

[19:43] Alex wriggled away from the zombies as the undead were mired in a tangle of seaweed, hastily swimming and trudging through the murky depths after the others as their lungs burned for the sweet taste of air. They gasped sharply when they finally caught up and managed to reach the shallows, dragging themselves out of the water like a wet rat from a sunken ship. Amidst the crowd, they spied Odette coming towards them and sloshed their way pitifully over to her side with guilt splashed across their features. "I know... this was foolish..." They muttered, before blinking and furrowing their brows uncertainly at the imposing figure of the hound-like gatekeeper at the barrier, at least as they saw it, as well as Lily offering up her hair. "Are we... all supposed to cut something off? I already lost almost all of my hair..." They whispered to Odette.

[19:46] Damir's flailing gets him nowhere. Panic starts to set in, and as he squirms in protest he tries to wrestle his bag open. It's not until after he's managed to wrench out a scalpel that he notices the colorful tendrils peeling the zombie off of him. With one final kick, he manages to get away, and goes tumbling into the air bubble. As he crouches there gasping for breath, his gaze follows the tendrils along to their owner, who appears similarly imperiled. And for a moment he freezes, eyes wide, merely watching as Calliope freed by Nemaine. As soon as she's away from the zombie, he sets the scalpel between his teeth, and reaches out to grab Calliope's.../something/ to yank her along as he swims to catch up with the group.

When he reaches the second pocket of air, encountering the gatekeeper and the scene unfolding ahead of him, he almost wishes he hadn't. He just scowls and looks back and forth, before dropping his bag at the gatekeeper's feet. Honestly, he's getting sick of carrying it around. The bag is full of various entomological supplies -- empty specimen tubes, one or two specimen tubes with beetles inside, observational notes, a guide for identifying beetles, and other such things.

[19:55] Calliope Hunter, both rescued and scolded by a someone who has never had any blood relation to her, splits her face open in a wide thorned grin. Though it's not until she's pulled into the cave with Damir that she speaks, her plantlike form reshaping to something more humanoid and it's revealed Damir grabbed what twists back into a wrist. "Mommigan to the rescue!" The nickname she'd been using is folded in with folklore, forming a pun designed to inspire Nemaine to leave her to die next time. Then she looks down at her new tattoo as she sees Lily offer a sacrifice. Ambition. New beginnings. What is she willing to sacrifice when she wants everything? Rather than deal with question that right now she looks to Damir. "Hey, you okay, Serial killer?" Then when his bag is dropped, there's at it and finally a sigh. "Fine, fine. I'll play, even as much as a I hate a game. Does it have to be a physical item to sacrifice?"

[19:59] Nemaine would struggle to hold Calliope in her talons. She's not a big woman in any form, and this is not an easy transfer but once they get free of the zombies, who are dealing with Kyuu's very grumpy slamming of them into walls. She flaps her wings a few more times and than just glides, letting them soar. Once she's low enough to the water again, she carefully lets go and goes ahead, shifting back into the elderly woman when they get to the shore, her head bowed as she waits for the others.

Looking up as others join, she gives them a strained almost sad smile before walking forward to the gatekeeper. They seem to share a silent message, and the Gatekeeper eventually holds out his hands. Taloned fingers lay within them, showing the word "The Empress" before they nod. "All must give a sacrifice that is worthy of the soul that the one who watches has seen in your souls. Make your sacrifice" The word reverberates through the room before Lily reaches up and offers her hair. The Gatekeeper listens to her reasons a than he nods, reaching out and laying a finger on it. Like the cards that each of them had received, it dissolves into a fine gold mist. "Accepted you may pass" Gonzo's sacrifice gets the same consideration, and the same acceptance, the cross vanishing into the fine gold mist "Accepted you may pass". Calliope's question pulls the Gatekeeper's attention to her.. and it merely states "It must be a sacrifice, what that sacrifice is... is up to you"

[19:59] Odette di Benedetti 's pale head shook as she eyed Alex's contrition, heard the muttered admission of foolishness,

"Indeed. But, you're safe. I...I don't know.". The words were whispered in hushed tones as her dark, bruised eyes twitched between those offering sacrifices and the Gatekeeper.

Her hands immediately lifted to her waist, one covering the other and those fingers latched on to the one thing she'd have to offer, if it was needed: The ring that allowed her to walk in daylight.

Twisting it off, she held it in her palm and felt the weight of it against the Sun tattoo, hoping it would be enough for them to pass.

Granted, the ring no longer held magic in it, as it had not been charged since she'd arrived to the island, but nevertheless Odette stepped forward and lifted her hand, presenting it to the centurion.

"My daylight ring."

[20:05] Lily O'Keefe passed through the portal, vanishing from people's vision as she did so.

[20:07] Liu Taiyang looks down to his hand. The 'Four of Wands'. A card, to his understanding, that was a matter of homecoming. Of inner peace. Of transition. He frowns a little. A sacrifice. What of home could a homeless man even sacrifice? And how would a man sacrifice his inner peace?

Neither seemed entirely possible, unless...

But he was unprepared, utterly unprepared.

He is silent a long time, before slowly lifting up his staff, leveling it towards the Gatekeeper. To him, the Gatekeeper's image would shift to an image like of himself. A beggar, garbed in a heavy cloak, stiffer and heavier than any mundane article of clothing should be, and armed with a quarterstaff. His countenance changes. He's not a drunken beggar anymore - he's an old, old warrior, a wandering martial artist who has seen too many things. He's an immortal.

He speaks in his native, ancient, Mythic-era Chinese.

[I have nothing to give you of home or homecoming, for I am homeless and always have been.] he says to the gatekeeper with full sincerity.

[ what do you ask me to sacrifice...?] There's a thrum of energy to his shoulders, a slow, cold spark glittering in his eyes. [Is it that you are asking me to come home? To give up the way of the wanderer? But that is not something I can do. It would deny of me myself in full.]

He pauses. [But I will give you this, then. Perhaps this itself is Dao. I offer you my complacency..] A piece of his inner peace. Perhaps not in whole. But in part. It was the part that let him rest comfortably in his Dao as it was. That kept him safe from straying too far off the path in effort. It was the sacrifice of an endless wanderer who was beginning to see the convergence of the road.

[20:13] Gonzo Giustizieri scrunches his face up. The tarot people put another soul inside of him? "Ew. Another soul? I only need the one--" Calliope's question gives him pause, and before he can consider, maybe not the time or the place, the words are out. "Hey, lady, you could lose the shirt!" There's an obnoxious laugh, but almost immediately he flinches under the imagined disapproval of the masked executioner at the gate. He holds his hands up in surrender. "Sorry, sir. I am moving, I am moving." He follows Lily through the portal and to the other side.

[20:16] Damir stares hard at the Gatekeeper as it evaluates the various sacrifices submitted to it. He pulls the bladed tool out from between his teeth and peers over at Calliope with a confused scowl. "Killer...? Just because I have scalpel?" He sighs, and glances down at the marking on his arm. Death. Killer. It's kind of freaking him out a bit.

What could possibly be a sacrifice 'worthy of the soul of' DEATH?

"Scalpel is for specimen examination, not for death," he mutters under his breath, squatting down to start rummaging through his bag. Occasionally he glances up, biting his lip as others are shuffled through. And then...his hand pauses on something. He frowns, sighs again, and stands to approach the Gatekeeper.

He raises the sleeve of his blazer to show the imprint of Death, and gingerly offers something he'd really been hoping to keep for himself. A specimen box, containing a butterfly chrysalis. The form between one life and another.

[20:19] Calliope Hunter moves to the Guardian, "I have nothing to give which I cannot replace, except maybe my top! It is super cute, and you'd look absolutely stunning in it." She winks at Gonzo. "Or maybe I should give it to you?" The shifting guardian she sees is more likely to inspire nightmares, but still she smiles at it. "Or I can offer something irreplaceable, a Dream that gave birth to a monster, the memory both of mine and the corpse I clawed my way out of, it was a wish for death while praying for life." She offers out her hand, the page of wands imprinted on it, to see if it will be accepted. It's dangerous to give something so fundamental, but, embracing opportunity even into danger is yet another excess she must feed and it was fundamental to the dead, not the newly living.

[20:19] Kyuu (daisylurve): Kyuu’s body has been heated from the excitement and use of magic. As he emerges from the water the drops that cling to him begin to steam, cooling him down as the tendrils of steam coil about his body in lazy swirls. There is a golden sheen to his skin, it reflects the light and gleans beneath the tattoos that are etched onto his arms. The illusion that hid his claws are gone and they curve with wicked precision, an extension of his actual fingers. He works his way out of the shallows and approaches the group. His attention, however, is riveted on the gatekeeper and he feels the knife of homesickness piercing his heart. Even after all these lives, the centuries of time that has passed, he would know the guardian of the gates of heaven when he saw them. Eyes narrow as he stares at the ethereal form – for him, this is who guards all gates – and he growls. “What more could you possibly want from me? I have already given so much.” And he has. He has lost everything that had made him what he was. There is no arguing that he is resentful of this demand. It infuriates him. This is not the lovely tailor who crafts so many beautiful things for all the people right now. No. This is something else. He hisses, much like a cat, then stalks away a foot or two, paces, and then returns. The gatekeeper isn’t at fault for he wrongs he has been dealt – but this is the face that has topped him from returning home. He lifts a hand, cups it, then presses one of those too sharp claws into his palm. Rich blood wells up from the injury, viscus and with a sheen like golden oil on the surface. Lifting the hand toward the gate keeper he states, “If you know who I am, then you know the value of this.” Divine blood, rich in Aether.

[20:26] Alex listened to what was demanded of them from the gatekeeper, and from Nemi, a look of confusion falling over their features as they tried to puzzle out the part about souls seen inside of souls. "I don't know what that means..." They murmured, before noticing others checking their card markings, and glancing down at their own with a frown. "I don't know what this means either..." The fingers of their good hand rose to brush up across the slowly healing flesh of their frostbitten cheeks, before lowering to tug at the bandages around their left arm. The flesh was a sickly pale green and black, thoroughly dead, and they couldn't feel it at all. "I guess I don't need this anymore... but..." But it was still attached. They tried to think of anything else they had on them, but they carried nothing but their own clothes. And... They reached into their vest pocket to pull out a now-soggy, old photograph of Delilah, the one thing they'd had to remember her by for all those years in the asylum after they'd lost her. They'd almost rather part with the arm, but they tentatively, reluctantly stepped up to offer the dripping portrait to the gatekeeper.

[20:45] Nemaine steps aside as people start to pass through the portal. Waiting on the others to see if their sacrifices are accepted. As Odette walks up to the Gatekeeper and offers that ring, the being frowns. There is a shake of the head and a gentle hand closes over the one offering the ring "That is not what the Sun is to you. To your heart. You are offering something that is not a sacrifice. It is not accepted" There is sorrow in it's voice as it speaks down to her and than a touch of the head. Between one blink to another.. she is gone. Nemi is quick to reassure "Home. She was sent home..."

As Taiyang moves forth and speaks, the Gatekeeper turns to look at him. Only they two have knowledge of how they each appear. The words are considered, like all the others have been considered, and then the Gatekeeper is moving forward. A hand lifts and lays against Taiyang's chest, pressing in and responding "You will never be able to step back and just allow something to happen without attempting aid. You are beloved of the Dao, and it will move you like it has moved the Watcher. And you will listen. This sacrifice is acceptable. You may pass" And than it steps back and away.

The Gatekeeper turns as Damir comes to it, and it's presence shifts again, to whatever Damir would see of it. There is a quiet presence to the being, a steadfastness, shoring up what could have been an awful duty with kindness. Some have passed through and others been sent home. The Gatekeeper looks down at the offered butterfly chrysalis, and than at the card upon Damir's skin, and there is a small smile and a nod "Accepted, you may pass" Approval clear before it moves forth.

As Calliope comes up and starts to make their teasing of everyone clear, the Gatekeeper changes. It becose a small creature, with grand wings, like a carniverous butterfly that has come out to play. It watches and waits for the decision of what will be offered and than alights upon the outstretched hand, landing and standing still. It's voice is still resonate and strong, echoing about them "You will never hold a memory that dear again if you give it away. You will always has a space in your mind where you know it is missing. And it will cause you sorrow to find it gone, each time the hole is pressed against. Your sacrifice is accepted. You may pass"

Kyuu is next to come forth, and the rage is watched impassively. It is the keeper of the gates, and it understands the anger, the homesickness, the desperate desire to go back. It understands and it knows, and it holds that pain in itself. It waits. Waits for a decision to be made. And when the fox in human flesh stalks back and offers up his blood with rage, there is a gentle touch. "Your blood is not the sacrifice that was needed. The strength to come back...to accept. The sacrifice is accepted, you may pass"

Alex steps forth and the being smiles at them. They do not look large and imposing, they don't seem harsh or angry, or stern. They are more matronly and caring, running an hand over their shoulder, taking care of them with a mother's kindness. As the sacrifice is debated, there is patience within the being that guards the Gate. There is little that it has never seen, so it can be patient. When the sacrifice is finally made, there is little debate...just a soft nod "The sacrifice is accepted, you may pass"

When all have been accepted and all pass through the Gate... Nemaine looks upon the Gatekeeper once more and is given a stoic slow bow... before she is too through the gate.

[20:53] Lily O'Keefe had passed into the cave, her bare feet on the cave floor. All around were aether crystals sticking out of the wall; large and thrumming with power. Ominously, though, for those familiar with the aetherite, most of these had taken on a ruddy, bloody tinge. The scent of *meat* was thick in the air and the blood was almost cloying in the air. It was fresh but so much blood should not BE fresh. It was the power of the aether that kept it fluid and fresh. From the other room were soft noises that were hard to make out the light patter of what sounded like rain or at least liquid dropping on the ground. Lily had taken her gun out, enough to clean it and check the powder before replacing it in the holster. As the rest of the people popped through, she gestured to where Nemaine had started to stride ahead through the shadows. "I'm glad you're okay," she offered softly to Damir as he passed through the portal. Offering Gonzo a faint version of her usual grin and then she turned concerned eyes to the near feral Kyuu as the others filtered in.

[20:57] Liu Taiyang glances for a moment towards Kyuu. He frowns slightly. He recognizes the SHIFT in demeanour of the little deity, and to him it screams of qi deviation. He also knows the value of what Kyuu bleeds. A kind of it runs in his own veins, he himself, after all. His fingers run over his rosary beads, one of which remains intimately familiar to Kyuu. The godling had rather become something dangerous.

It might be helpful to his plans, or might be more detrimental. But looking at Kyuu now... It seemed it might quickly become something of the first, instead.

The gatekeeper pressed its - or rather, Taiyang's own hand - against his chest. The thing before him was, in that moment, a reflection - the dense weave of Dao becoming an image of what might be, or might not be. Taiyang bowed, waved his staff, and the Gatekeeper vanished from 'vision', returning to the amorphous weave of fate and causality that Taiyang saw it for in truth. And he passed through the barrier and was gone, his countenance now more serious, though the smell of rice wine still lingered about him. But he no longer was staggering about as a fool. Instead he took in his suurroundings, grimly. His eyes turned from place to place.

[21:04] Kyuu (daisylurve): There is a shiver that runs through Kyuu as his sacrifice is both declined and accepted. The reason it is accepted in some way mollifies the fox. Briefly, he closes his eyes then bows his head to the gatekeeper. Respect. His hand is once again lifted, but instead of offering it out, the fox laps the blood up from the cup of his hand. It cannot be allowed to be wasted, after all. Too dangerous to willingly feed to the water in a rinse. There is no shame in the act of consumption, but it stirs his hunger for other things. For the things he had escaped his cage for. The shiver turns to a shudder as he stalks through the gate with a swish of unseen tails, ears pressed flat to his head. When he enters the room beyond, the golden glint of his fangs are seen again and he sways, the hunger roiling through him. One glance is leveled upon Lily. Heated, hungry. Ravenous. It’s the look of a man who wants to do bad things. But .what. bad things? The aura of danger is like chalk to a board, for those who pick up on such things. Steeling his spine, Kyuu stalks past Lily and further through the cave, after Nemi.

[21:07] Gonzo Giustizieri had lingered for just a moment at the doorway, catching something private between Calliope and the Gatekeeper-- something he shouldn't have heard, and then it's taken from her, and...well, the meaty scent of the strange place is a welcome distraction. He takes a deep breath in, looking around, all curiosity. He gives Lily a beaming smile in return, claps Damir on the back, and Calliope gets a friendly punch to the shoulder as everyone congregates. "Wonderful sacrifices, my friends. This place, it is nice, isn't it? There is something very wrong here!" He sounds very excited, despite that. Kyuu looks at Lily weird for a second, and Gonzo swats a hand in the fox's direction. "Hey! Be nice to the lady!" Something drips on her arm, and she stares at it for a moment, distracted, before-- yeah, licking it. Even if she can't tell if it's poisoned or...weird, or something, maybe it'll have a distinct enough taste to...do some kind of identification.

[21:10] Damir is solemn as the Gatekeeper surveys him. Even after the acceptance, and the little smile is granted, he is solemn. It might cause one to wonder what exactly he sees. As soon as he's accepted, he takes a step back to grab his bag, before shuffling inside. Lily's sudden voice is welcome and he smiles over at her. "You too. Although I really do not know what we are doing here." He glances down the to the gate to watch as others are granted access - some seeming to have stronger experiences than others - and frowns. "I do not think I like this."

And with that he proceeds on inside, a scalpel in one hand, a bag of various bug stuff in the other. Definitely ready for uh....rescuing a missing woman? As soon as he properly makes his way inside, he turns to look at Gonzo to say something. Unfortunately, just then, the smell of blood really hits him at the same time that Gonzo's hand slaps his back. He turns several shades of green and immediately rushes to a corner to start retching.

[21:11] Alex: felt a small ache growing somewhere deep in their chest at the gentle, caring demeanor from the gatekeeper, a faltering smile crossing their lips towards her, before they passed on through the barrier with the others. The sight of the massive Aether crystals filling the cavern sent an immediate jolt of horror through them considering what they'd just seen a tiny one of these things do only a few nights ago. A groan of anxiety rose in their throat, but they followed closely after the others, lingering towards the back, Surprisingly, something did manage to draw their attention away from the dread of the room itself, an overwhelming sense of danger and unease rolling off of Kyuu, who they only just now finally recognized as the one with the fluffy tails from the cabaret the other night. They lingered closer to the fox, stretching out their good hand to tentatively rest against his shoulder with a gentle pat. "Hey... Are you alright?" They asked him softly as the lot of them ventured further into the caverns.

[21:17] Calliope Hunter steps into the cavern, her face is hidden , tucked behind flowerfloss petals that make up hair, but there's still a sad smile. "I've lost one already, what's one more, when I have a new awakening to be my compass? This one's my favorite anyways." It's the only one she has left and the words are used to self soothe as she feels the edges of the gaping hole in her mind. Then she's punched right in the shoulder. if she'd been paying attention, she might have remained steady, but she didn't. There's a stumble forward before she turns sharp teeth towards Gonzo, visibly angry. Only for it to dissipate into a sharp smile. "You still want my top or no, cutie?" Of course it exactly then that Damir's retching catches her attention. "Excuse me, I have to go make this worse." As the blood rains down, she wipes at her face, smearing it. "Hey Killer, you want something to help keep the blood off you?" Kyuu gets a look over, the rage drawing her interest, before a thought is tucked away for later.

[21:21] Nemaine is striding forward as people are looking about. She seems resigned. She seems ready for something. The rain of blood down upon them all seems to not phase her at all. She is striding forth towards something that is pulsating in the corner. She steps through clouds of mist, red soaking her in her entirety. She can hear the others speaking, and even hear Damir's retching behind her, but she's not stopping. She can't stop. Footsteps follow her as Kyuu moves in her wake, but she doesn't look around, not until she's in front o the arch where something is waiting. She turns to look out at them all, and than she smiles, kind and gentle before...everything happens.

[21:24] Thirteen (aimee.frakture): As soon as Gonzos arm touched the droplet of floating blood there a a thrum in the air as if the cavern itself beat like a heart. The droplets lackadaisically floating in the air swirled to life spinning in a cyclone of sanguine dread. As the blood whirled a fine mist raised in the air and in the center of the chamber the larger orbs coalesced into a towering form a construct vaguely humanoid entirely built of sticky coagulated blood. The 'head' swung and eyeless hollows focused on Nemaine one too long arm reached out toward her and clenched in a fist. Every blood vessel in her body suddenly ruptured as her lifeblood answered the creations call and flowed in long tendrils swirling form her frail form to add to it's strength as it grew feeding on her life-force leaving behind only a desiccated husk as it turned to open its toothless maw in a silent roar at the interlopers across the cave.

[21:29] Lily O'Keefe shrieked, extending one hand towards the woman as she was *devoured* before any of them could blink an eye. Lily didn't know Nemaine well but the older woman had been kind and she certainly didn't deserve this! Lily's gaze clouded over and she clenched her hand into a fist. Over the island, thunder rumbled as a storm rolled into the harbor, brought in by Lily's uncontrolled power once more. Not that it did a fat lot of good in here. "How.... How do we kill it," the small witch said tightly before her gaze strayed to the meat construct that the thing was guarding. There were a lot of things that Lily wasn't good at but detecting life in a barren cave - that she could do. "There's a life behind it still. A heart still beating! In that thing!" Lily pointed towards the flesh amalgam and then intended to try and dodge around the monster, assuming that the more martial would find a way to kill it. Hopefully. It deserved to die.

[21:34] Liu Taiyang mutters, quietly: "The one you've all been seeking is here, then. And others. Many, many others." There's a frisson of cognitive dissonance in him. This place FEELS wrong, and it's so close to the heart of the isle and it all screams of the Demonic Path.

"This work is of a demonic path. I would advise you all to be quite careful," he tells the others. Not that he particularly thinks that many of them are likely to actually LISTEN to that advice. Most of them seemed a little more brash, a little less wise. The godling seems to have had their state of mind affected by qi deviation. He carefully begins to venture forwards, deeper towards the room with the raining blood.

"I believe... We may be too late," he says. His eyes flick from one part of the room, to the next, to the next. In each drop of blood is entangled a torn weave of fate, a future which should have been and never would be. Each from a different person.

All of it is horribly, horribly wrong.

His eyes follow Nemi as the strings of fate pull her towards the centre of the room into which he had just ventured, This is wrong, everything is wrong...!

He's reaching into his cloak but there's nothing he can do to stop what comes. He hurls seeds across the cavern, scattering them across the ground by the monstrous thing - but it's too late; the Seer, bound up as threads of Dao, feeds the terrible thing born here. "I see," he mutters simply, before shouting out a single word in Chinese, lifting his staff. [GROW!]

Ancient, mythic Aether floods out of Taiyang as his glamour burns away in the midst of an attempt to draw out as great an extent of his true ability as he can, WILLING a forest into existence, a cage of a tangle of trees that wraps tightly around the construct of coagulated blood - an attempt to obstruct its abilities to directly attack the group, at least in this moment, and to obstruct its ability to move.

[21:37] Kyuu (daisylurve): Kyuu is a shadow to Nemi, pacing in her wake with a slight hunch to his frame. There is nothing about him that suggests weakness. No. this is aggression. In a way, he is personifying the card he was given, strength. But he is also feral – a wild look to his eye that suggests that he might feast upon anything that triggers him. He looks up at the ancient woman, meets her gentle gaze, and then shudders as she explodes. He turns to lay eyes on who has destroyed their guide and the blood slicked fur on the back of his neck stiffens. It might roar silently, but he answers its call with a growl. All that rage that started with the zombies, boiled with the gatekeeper? It erupts now as he lifts his hands and slaps them together, pressing the blood Gollum with the intense force and focus of his Telekinesis as he unleashes the rage upon it. Does it deserve the harsh treatment? Yes. Yes it does. Maybe he should have targeted the flesh thing behind him.. but it’s the Gollum that killed the birb.

[21:44] Damir tries to get a handle on his retching as the others of the group trickle in to the room. It's tough; the smell of blood is strong, and foul, and paired with the zombie encounter and the strange things his Sight is granting him, it's just Way Too Much. He straightens up, miserably wiping at his face with a seawater-soaked sleeve, and grimaces at the smell of that, too. "Ugh," he groans. Then he looks up at Calliope. "Ugh," he groans again, covering his eyes, and shaking his head. "I am fine. We should just --"

And then there's the horrible sound of Nemi exploding, and Lily shrieking. Yeah, that one's gonna haunt some nightmares for a while. "Shit," he hisses, pushing past Calliope to staggers over in Lily's direction. "Do you think that heart...is the woman?"

[21:47] Gonzo Giustizieri swings around to give Calliope a helpless little shrug. "We revisit the shirt once this is taken care of, yeah?" Okay, horrifying blood amalgamation...presumably dead fortune teller...what can be done here? "It has a heart? In the usual place?!" His hand drops to his pocket, and...as usual, the only weapon he's got on hand is basically a metal baseball with a gyroscope inside. He spins it around in his hand, thinking...and figures the trees are probably good enough for now. He tries to duck past the blood creature and regroup with Lily. "There's a living person in here still? Trapped?"

[21:54] Alex was rather unsurprised to see the blood throughout the room coalescing into a massive blood golem of sorts, not the freakiest thing they'd ever seen with the kinds of visions that already plagued them, but the sight of the thing so casually turning to the harpy and turning her into a lifeless husk was beyond them. They stared on in silent horror for a moment, until Lily's shouts managed to snap them out of it, their eye following her over to the... fleshy thing practically melded to the wall. There was no way they were going to be able to fight either creature one-handed with their scrawny physique, so they tried to focus, remembering what it felt like when they'd been possessed and forced to use these powers against their friends, but now trying it of their own will. They saw the bloody beast reaching out towards Gonzo, the stranger that came to their rescue a few nights ago, about to smash a bloody limb down atop him, and in a panic, they hardened their focus and gave their impromptu ally a telekinetic shove!

[21:54] Thirteen (aimee.frakture): The creature senses the roiling power in the fox and in them it's enemy. As it is pummeled by telekinetic force it Reaches out and Raising both blobby arms in an overhead smash trying to bring them down on Kyuus head. The tearing telekinetic force pushes back against the construct sloughing off volumes of blood which slowly work their way back toward the creature.

Out of the rough and infertile gerund strange trees grow twisted and dark but still answering the witches command vines and branches snaring and sapping the constructs mass of bloody wrath only for more of the gobbets of blood and viscera adorning the cavern to flow toward the creation.

[22:03] Lily O'Keefe dodged her way past the monster as it thankfully focused on much bigger and more dangerous opponent. A fact that Lily is most grateful for even if she is *worried* about the shift in the genteel tailor. Something to worry about later when there's not a crisis. Blood stains her white shirt, mists her hair and coats her feet as she slip-scrambles her way to the alcove and the pulsing monstrosity. It is akin to fleshcrafting, where bodies have been pushed in and melded into this growing horror. Most are... well alive, perhaps but so mangled and monstrous that untangling them is impossible. They have become one creature except for one defiantly beating heart that still pulses to its own defiant rhythm and not the rhythm that the entire cave is pulsing too. Lily nods as she is joined, her expression grateful as she has no idea how to untangle the person FUSED with this horror. Her hand gropes along the flesh ball until she finds one fragile ankle, the skin still paper thin over bone sticking out at an angle here. "Yes. Here," Lily says firmly, with certainty as her fingers close on the ankle and find that defiant pulse point. "Right here but she's fused - stuck - we can't just... cut her free, I don't think, at least not without knowing WHAT we're cutting." Lily says as she wraps her hand around the ankle and sends a thread of her own wayward magic into it as an anchor, trying to help anyone who might know more untangle salvageableperson from the poor wretches already consumed.

[22:12] Kyuu (daisylurve): Rage. Blistering, hot. Boiling. It wells up within the delicate fox and burns through him, melting away layers of his glamor. The sheen upon his skin darkens and becomes metallic – true gold splattered with the blood that splatters through the air as he rips into the blood golem. The golden horns upon his head are seen briefly before they flare and burn – blackening with the heat of his hatred. They almost seem to shatter but the bots and pieces reform. It is more like molten metal parting and then rejoining while barely holding a form. Like the blood construct he is ripping apart, the parts of it slowly reforming. Nine golden tails flare and roil about him aggressively, the metallic fur reflecting what light there is in the cave. The fox calls out a war cry and slashes a hand through the air. The motion drives the fierce attack of his next telekinetic strike. He is no blood worker. He cannot control the blood of this beast. But he will pry it apart until the others tear it’s heart out.

[22:13] Liu Taiyang felt the surge of Aether pouring out of him difficult to control. So he had indeed become complacent, he mused silently as he focused on reining in his Aether - his qi. Ancient. Old. A thing of mythic ages and how often had he used it? But he felt his qi synchronizing with that of one of those around him - a plant-like person, the one he'd seen helping the other free themselves from the corpse-grasps.

He redoubled his force this time. Redoubled his control. Focused his qi. "Godling, if you are still rational - keep that thing occupied and I will return what is yours!" He reaches into his cloak. "If any of you understand arrays, formations, wards, I suggest strongly -" he pulls out several stones and sticks, tossing them in a formation around the cage of plantlife, "That you help me set up such a thing against influences from beyond this plane!"

[22:17] Damir is in lock-step behind Lily. At least, as much as one can be while skittering acrossed blood-soaked floors in water-soaked shoes. A lot of schlorping and slipping and schlucking and praying that he doesn't slip and stab himself with his scalpel, all the while trying to fight back the nausea.

When they reach the awful pile of flesh, it takes him a few moments to orient himself. But there's something that Lily says that brings him back to the moment. "No, I think...I think we can cut," he replies, squatting down. He drops his bag on the ground next to him before reaching over to the ankle. "I can make sure she does not bleed out. Please do not ask me how. Just trust me." His own magic seeps out from his fingertips, seeking out arteries and veins and capillaries -- in the hope he can find exactly where the flesh amalgam ends and the woman begins.

[22:18] Alex let out a sigh of relief to see Gonzo shoot past just in time to avoid being smashed by the flailing blood golem limb. Well, if they accomplished nothing else, at least they'd done that. But now it was up to Liu, Kyuu, and themselves to keep the Blood Golem busy while the others worked. They really did feel like the deflated, useless third wheel by comparison to the other two here, but they did their best to focus again, straining and sweating as they turned their attention to the rocky ceiling above the thing this time, trying to telekinetically tug at any loose stones or dirt to drop upon the blood golem's head, to muddy or bury the thing and further slow it down. "I'm sorry! I don't know anything about any of that!" They called back to Liu apologetically.

[22:19] Gonzo Giustizieri is grateful for that telekinetic shove, even as it means she nearly faceplants into the mushy ground behind the monster. She scrambles up to Lily, hand following the path Lily's takes, and touching the ankle, feeling the life. Right. He /knows/ life, knows death, knows the ins and outs of a body like the back of his hand. "Novak. Do you still have that scalpel? Give it." He...starts moving to climb up the fleshy mass, searching for anything that could be considered an 'edge', a 'boundary', what separates the living meat from the dead. This is where his family's witchcraft lives, in the energy of the body, its strengths and weaknesses, searching for ways to heal, to ease pain, bring peace. Helps coming from a line of doctors. "You are talking with the body? You are preventing the bleeding? I can cut. My hand is steady. We can convince it to free her." Only the blood...rolls away. "Um. Well, I am sure this one person does not need the all the blood of these...twelve? However many."

[22:28] Thirteen (aimee.frakture): Rocks and crystals from the ceiling fall and scatter the warding materials afield the energies of this place overwhelming the nascent blockade. Globs of blood whiz though the air absorbed by the golem as it rears back under the foxes ferocious attack faster than he can tear into the creature until first one claw then the next is caught in the coagulating mass as the fox is slowly pulled the mass of blood slowly creeping up his limbs pulling him ever closer to being fully absorbed by the bloody mass.

[22:32] Lily O'Keefe nodded at the pair as they crouched next to the gross flesh blob. "I can heal, a little," Lily was pumping more energy out than she thought, aiding Damir's blood magic in stitching together the woman's body with wayward healing magic. The flower scent of her magic though was blanketed out by all the ambient flesh and blood. As they worked, an ankle slowly gave way to a calf and even remnants of the tattered robes that the vendor had been wearing when she was captured. "It's working. Keep cutting!" Lily offered.

[22:36] Damir is so intent on getting a good read on the woman's life signs, that it takes him a second to realize exactly what Gonzo's asking. "Oh," he says, lifting up his scalpel arm to pass off the tool. "Probably a better idea than what I was thinking. Here." With that handed off, he can focus more on having both hands channelling his magic. Given how much blood is in the room, the focus is pretty necessary. He feels the pulse of her heart pushing the blood through her veins, the ways that it follows the pathways of vessels that grant life to limbs -- and ensures that anything that might accidentally become severed in the "surgery" is rapidly knitted together.

[22:41] Gonzo Giustizieri feels almost at home here, strangely enough. He knows what he's doing in a way that's comforting, familiar-- it's not just bravado and stupidity, it's years of training and familial knowledge. With Lily's magic helping guide his own sense of the life within it, the scalpel is used to cut away dead flesh with as much precision as he can muster...and with it, the form of the vendor appears, giving him a better idea of what they're working with. "Oh! Her!" He mutters a quiet apology to the vendor as he scrambles over the flesh mass to get a better angle and cut away the other side now.

[22:42] Liu Taiyang didn't really expect anyone to know much of any of the arts of arrays or formations. It was an obscure art, be it in the West or in the East, and so he was doing his best to set up as powerful a ward as he could in limited time and bad conditions that could forcibly sever the foreign influence that was corrupting the Dao. If there was a hermeticist here, the attempt would go much better. But so far, none had revealed such abilities.

No, all Taiyang can do is pour out his Aether, fill the ward with it while hoping the prison of plantlife would hold, that the godling facing the bloody monster would hold it in place and keep it from attacking him or attempting to destroy the wards.

Never mind, he notes, as the godling goes down. The mortal, well-intentioned but foolish, drops rocks over the nascent wards.

He reaches into his cloak again. This is now a last ditch effort.

He pulls out, instead of seeds, three each pits of a peach tree, and two each pits of a plum tree, and two each pits of an apricot tree. throws them in succession - one, two, three, four, five. Then six and seven, he lays in front of himself. [The Dao detests your existence, and you are not worthy to challenge it. GROW!] he commands of the trees, and again his Aether pours out of him, desperately attempting to keep the construct imprisoned and caged even as the locations of the seeds he throws will be the basis of his ward after this spell completes. Assuming, of course, that he is not defeated prior to then.

He mustn't be. What this thing was did not belong to this Dao. It was a disruption to the harmony of the world, and not in the way he himself desired.

It had to be purged. For the sake of his vision. For the sake of his Dao.

[22:47] Kyuu (daisylurve): The promise issued from Taiyang’s lips earns him a feral grin from the wild fox. There is flame in his eyes, motes of amber sparks swirling around his lithe frame as he begins to move. He knows about Wards. A hand lifts and he clicks his fingers together to pull some of the elements of the ward into position – but the man’s efforts are destroyed, and Kyuu is caught up in the grasp of the golem. He screams – but it isn’t in pain. No, its that rage, boiling up within him again.. and being sucked right into the golem. He can feel it, absorbing his fire and a sudden chill runs through him. He will not allow himself to be consumed. In an effort to break free, he pushes outward with his telekinesis in an effort to fling himself out of its grip.. and maybe into a wall. But this is fine. It will be fine. So long as the thing doesn’t have him.

[22:50] Alex winced as they just couldn't find any patches of earth weak enough to bring down on the swirling blood amalgam, only serving to foil Liu's attempts at a ward in the process. "Scheisse..." They cursed, but gasped to see Kyuu starting to get sucked into the bloody creature before them, eye widening sharply. They dove in, wrapping their good arm around the fox's waist and digging their heels into the stones beneath them as they tugged backwards with all the strength their slender, half-numb frame could muster, throwing the force of their own, less-practiced telekinesis behind it as well!

[22:55] Thirteen (aimee.frakture): Echoing off the walls like a whisper from everywhere and nowhere at once, "Betraaaayers paaawn." the formless voice hushed as the plants surged up to tangle in the bloody mass binding and restraining the creature as he flails reaching for Alex pulling at his vital force to no avail as the binding plants close in around it holding it in place for the moment as Kyuu slides free from it's sticky grasp it thrashed soundlessly crying out in wrath and anguish.

[22:57] Nemaine Virajas (shadowcat1811): As the glob is carefully and meticulously removed from the Vendor's body, she begins to slip and slide clear. Her body is dead weight, but as alive as she possibly could be. When the last strand is removed... she falls free and to the ground. There is a flash of white light, bright, blinding, pure and the sound of a laugh, crystal clear and bell-like that rings it's peals through the air, calming even the most enraged souls, before it fades away. The light fades and the vendor is gone. As is the body of the Fortuneteller who had been laying dessicated and shriveled up behind them.

It feels like a failure. They had come to rescue the Fortune Vendor, they had come for answers to questions, and had received none. They had come for a rescue, and had instead witnessed two deaths.

Or had they?

There is a shimmer of prismatic light, as though thousands of crystals are refracting light upon the room, hitting and bouncing to the corrupted crystals before pinging off to another. From within that shimmery pool something forms. Hair a pure white instead of the black and white that it had been, Eyes of the palest blue, just flecks of gold remaining, all set within a lined face stare out at them, patiently, calmly. She had gone to her execution, knowing that her sacrifice was needed, and that the seekers that she had brought...not once, but twice would set her free. She's wearing the robe of the Fortune Vendor, and in her hands are several cards, one each for all of them. She would go to each and give them their cards...and if they take them, they are transported instantly back home, but they leave feeling the warmth of a Mother's love... The Empress smiling down on them one final time before the words fade fully from flesh.

[23:01] Thirteen (aimee.frakture): As the light suffuses the room and Nemiane is reborn anew the bound construct silently howls and ruptures painting those stilll nearby with it's vile corrupted blood. The mist in he air and the orbs floating fall to the ground and slowly begin to seep into the dirt and stone of the floor. It seems the creature is defeated or at the least disrupted for a time.

[23:02] Lily O'Keefe The flesh construct sliced away and once it was fully cut from the body, it collapsed, cut from the lifesource it had been trying to consume. Lily is non plussed as she sits back on her heels as everything vanishes. The light that is Nemaine's touches the crystal. Those that linger to see the crystals will see them run clear and clean, the blood on the ground and the rotten flesh absorbed into the lingering plant life. Though magic will take them home, this cave will be unreachable to those that make the swim to attempt to return, as if the island has tucked it back away once more close to its heart. Lily will step out, reach for a card and those looking closely will see the Queen of Cups on this new card as it the image burns in before the constable is whisked away by magic.

[2023/03/16 23:05] Liu Taiyang turned himself as the blood exploded everywhere, his brow furrowed, before his eyes dart about from place to place. He smiles, understanding now. But he's not complacent, anymore - he's sacrificed that. He comes back to check whether the cave is gone as soon as he has taken the card and recovered his qi... Wherever it deposits him, as, of course, a homeless man has no home.