After taking the time to appreciate the majestic sight before him,
Halesey decides to comment approvingly on the size of
Larry's vortex.
"Er. Wow. Nice vortex, Larry. Let me try again.""Get the potato out of your ass and get casting!" Larry replies, and the two proceed to try and finalize their vortex shenanigans.
[Halesey's affinity roll: 1-->4]
[Larry's affinity roll: 3+1]
It seems, however, that Halesey can't quite concentrate without being mesmerized by so many vortexes in the vicinity - it is as if the champignon-potato combo is staring him in the very soul, beckoning him to approach and swim in their otherworldly currents. It's all he can do not to start slowly waltzing into the swirling mess of reality that's been made here. Larry, for his part, does quite a bit better, and after he steps back and makes a few noteworthy gestures, some of which are directed at Halesey, yet another champignon vortex appears on the church's facade, resulting in about a 2:1 vortex-to-exposed-church ratio in total.
Luckily, it appears that Halesey's effort was entirely unnecessary, as Larry becomes keenly aware of something - the vortexes begin to move rapidly, converging on one another, champignons and potatoes mixing in a chaotic fashion. And then, with a low, resounding rumble, darkness begins to billow from the vortexes, and unearthly music begins to boom from it, sounding something like a slow mix of doom metal and northern European dance music punctuated by the screams and growls of the sinful and unworthy. Shapes slowly begin to emerge from the darkness, prowling the area for a few moments. This entrance, while undoubtedly quite dramatic, is cut off by one of the shapes speaking up.
"Ey, where's the bloody gen-lit? There was supposed to be some dirty god mags here!" it says, sounding rather unsatisfied, and a chorus of similarly disappointed murmurs erupts, echoing similar sentiments.
"Can't you mortal bastards do anything right? I paid good souls for your smut!" it says to Larry, Halesey and the mafiosi, its eyes two glowing red points nestled within solid shadow, and begins to approach, a whole bunch of hellspawn following behind, some already calling for blood (and some hardly having stopped the entire time). Larry and Halesey hardly need any more hints to start backing away, and the mafiosi quickly begin to regroup in a protective barrier when suddenly the darkness is cut off, and instead bright light bathes the entire area.
"Aw, shite, it's some kind of sting operation!" the shade exclaims as altogether more tangible, fleshy figures with extreme numbers of limbs and teeth, their irregular bodies wielding spears of holy light and fire and their wings taking on the character of mighty claws, descend upon the demons present, rending flesh and screaming praises to the powers above as they dice, cage and bind the deceived appreciators of truly heavenly pornography. The battle is violent, but very quick, with what Larry and Halesey presume to be angels quickly encircling and ensuring domination over their quarry, capturing them in strange cages of knives and water when they invariably cry uncle after differing degrees of punishment are doled out to them by the merciless defenders of the heavens.
When the snaring and subdual is complete, all the heavenly figures momentarily turn their many and terrible heads toward their mortal collaborators. Their eyes of unspeakable brightness pierce into their mind for but a short moment, and the angels collectively nod in what the two perceive to be a gesture of approval before disappearing back into the portal, which closes right after them, leaving nothing, not even the vortexes that spawned them, in their wake. The church as well as the street both look to be completely unharmed, and aside from slight ripples through the air and a few splashes of demonic ichor on the ground one did not really have grounds to suspect a mythical struggle may have taken place here at all.
It's all quite a bit to take in, and when the two men and their mafiosi have taken a moment to process it all, they notice that the fellow in the van seems to have pulled up next to them, and seems to be waving cheerily.
"Great job, guys! I knew I could count on you," he says, leaning out of the window.
"Got those demons good, we did. All thanks to your efforts. How do you guys feel?"* * * * *
Eta, awash with responsibility, guides Lois on her first restaurant experience.
"Well, let's sit down and order I suppose. Then we can find out what you like! It'll be fun!""If you say so," Lois shrugs, following Eta as they take a seat at one of the booths not too far from a lively contingent of older gentlemen debating some issue of the day or another. Soon a hideously elderly, lanky waitress slinks over to the table, her general features and looks reminding one more of a mummified Mongolian warrior than somebody who might conceivably have any business purveying tea and cakes.
"May I... take your order?" she asks in a dusty yet authoritative voice.
"Hello there, dear madam. I was just informing my friend here that this establishment sells the most exquisite tea and cakes. Would you be so kind as to bring us two cups of tea and a selection of your finest cupcakes for us to try? My friend just got here from out of town you see, and I'm giving her a small tour of the city and I told her we must absolutely stop by here to try your fine desserts.""The pilgrim's platter, yes," the waitress murmurs and bows a little.
"You have chosen well," she says, slowly walking away afterwards.
"Wonder what she's going to bring us," Lois says. She does not have to wonder long, as the waitress returns within half a minute, a large platter covered in cupcakes of every sort in one hand and a plate with two cups of tea on it in the other. Placing both on the table, she bows again, then leaves without a word.
"So... what are we supposed to do with these?" Lois asks, picking up one of the darker, more chocolatey muffins on the platter.
"Eat them, right?"* * * * *
Dave, after a little browsing, decides to get himself a practically new pair of suit pants (they seem very carefully tailored, too, and come with a very nice belt, not to mention the fact that they seem to fit very well), a ratty pair of hammer pants that definitely seem to have been around back in the eighties and used extensively for all sorts of unorthodox moves, judging from the locations and shapes of the patches, and a very nice-looking pair of Renaissance-style pantaloons that probably came from somebody stabbed to death at a renfaire, as such items often do. Replete with pants in stark contrast to his earlier state, Dave puts on the suit pants immediately, paying a grand total of four dollars for all these treasures he has obtained, and heads out of the store to take a closer look at Mills High.
From an external inspection, Dave concludes several things - for one, there seems to be a giant hole in the roof. Furthermore, the entire front of the school is covered in what look like the exploded remains of living people. The front door as well as the metal shutter covering it seem to have been hit repeatedly with washing machines that Dave is pretty sure would fetch a highly impressive price at any respectable appliance outlet. And he thinks he hears things happening inside the school right now.
Question is, with all of these telltale signs of danger before him, would that be a very good idea? For all he knows, all this gore out front could be brave adventurers that made the horrible mistake of venturing inside.
* * * * *
John deflects any responsibility for the predicament he happens to be in, probably with some justification.
"Oh, quit your bitchin'. I only had your best interests in mind. I mean, I think we can agree that this little venture was, in fact, not a great idea. Oh well, Luz, any other way to get to the roof?" he says, and Luz shrugs.
"I don't think so. There should be another door on the other side of this wing, but I don't think it's likely to be any less locked."John takes a look at the door again. Its handle seems to have been removed a long time ago. There's just a somewhat old lock on it. From the looks of it, the door opens outward, so kicking it in is probably not a very good idea.
"Plus that watchman fucker's over there," Trey adds.
Among the alternatives John can think of is calling Mr. Lee - he still has his phone, and... huh. He seems to have one missed call from eleven minutes ago, from an unknown number. Must have been distracted at the time.
"That too. Eh, fuck it, let's try it the regular way," Luz says, facing the door again. John gets out of the way immediately, mostly out of reflex.
[Luz's affinity roll: 1-->4]
She points her hand at the door, but nothing happens. She clenches her teeth and tries again with more feeling and flourish in the gesture, but this only seems to cause something in her ribcage to poke unpleasantly against something else, and she groans before slumping up against the wall.
"Hrm... how about you guys check if you can get new spells? I'm feeling kind of down on magic right now," she says after a moment of trying to breathe as calmly and gently as possible.
Author
Topic: The Forgotten Art: Approaching the Nexus (Read 272469 times)