Con Spells Cloaked
Supreme Aug:Pre+3 Man+2 dur 12hrs;Skill Mastery Socialize+2 Persuasion+4 dur 12 hrs
As the Shaman's vision returns from the Shadow, he dances in place frantically. Pullinginvisibleimaginary webs off of us face and head. He can't suppress the feeling of tiny spiders crawling all over him. As he reorients himself, he waves a hand clearing dust from the air around him, hoping no one noticed his little freak out.
"It appears we are dealing with a parasitic spider spirit. It's definitely strengthened the gauntlet here with it's webs, therefore it is likely that there is a minor hallow here. It's safe to assume the spirit has grown in strength enough to completely possess a host, and it's already fed on at least one human, so it's likely quite formidable. I'd recommend guarding yourself poisons and toxins. If we can confirm the spirit is here, I suggest trapping it inside and burning the building down. It can break apart into hundreds of spiders if threatened, and if one survives, the cycle will begin again. Unfortunately, it still might escape to the shadow, if this place does have a hallow that is hidden from me, I can increase the strength of the gauntlet in addition to the webs it wove to try and impede its escape. "
3 successes
Hoooooly motherfucking shitballs.
A motherfucking Carpenter-esque, Cronenberged motherfucking monster was perched above them, right fucking where Morgan's head would have been if she and Phoenyx had managed to hoist her up there.
Bye bye baby Morgan! There goes your head!
A shiver passed through her as she realized just how close she'd come to the magical equivalent of the Darwin Awards. Thankfully, with her 360's on, she didn't need to look at the grotesque woman-thing to actually look at it.
And, thanks to the goddamn hole that Drywall man had hacked through the wall, she'd caught Onionman's rambling about this being some kind of spider thing. Fuck! If only her sis was here.
"It's in the goddamn attic. Operation Australia is a go. Who brought some motherfuckin' matches?"
The dust settles.
The spirit-thing moves abruptly, limbs ambulating in a manner distinctly inhuman. It vanishes from view but otherwise makes no sound, and causes no ambient sound to be made.
Good question West and I'm sorry I completely forgot to include this earlier.
There is a weak Resonance to scrutinise.
Phoenyx listens to the explanation from Anima - when it came to spirit creatures, she hoped the Thyrsus knew what he was talking about. He was more likely to know that she was. Whatever it was, it sounded bad.
"Is there any way of saving the host?" She asks. If they could, it was only right they try.
The Arrow turns to look at the Mastigos with a half-smile. "I am the matches." She glances back up to see the creature scuttle out of the lights. "It's moving... Morgan, cut the spell."
She pokes her head through Star's hole in the plasterboard. "Anima, can we save her or not? We do not have much time."
Kaze listens to Anima and nods. "I can help purge toxins if someone gets hit." He says quietly.
He scans around--and upwards--visually and with his other senses, trying to get his focus and 'edge' back on track.
Kaze moves cautiously to the side of the opening in the drywall that Star made, on the far side from where the cocoon is and trying to avoid the sticky mess around it.
"Are you guys coming through or do you want us in there? Sounds like the plan is to contain it and fire the place, not try to destroy it by direct action, right?" He recaps to make sure everyone is on the same page.
"We should be together, watching each others backs while we get this ready."
See? Fire fixes everything.
But Phoenyx isn't wrong.
"Can we? Save her. Spirits aren't my wheelhouse. Anyone have the skills to pay the bills?" Unless someone's got a surprise in their spellbook, that's probably only Anima . "Otherwise? Yeah. Destructium Conflagriosa."
If it weren't for the whole killing people thing, they could have just left it alone.
"Or...," here's an Idea, "We could call Aurora ."
1 success
A simple question, a complicated answer. His old mentor used to say, "if you have to think about it, ask yourself three questions, can you eat it? No thank you. Can you fuck it? Gross. Can you kill it? That's the one."
Saving the girl would be a mess, it'd take a Master of the Spirit Arcanum wielding the Practices of Making and Unraveling, and that he was not. He was pretty sure such a master didn't reside in Sacramento, but he's been wrong before. Best to go with the simple answer.
"Nope, time to burn this mother fucker down." The doctor makes for the stairs to g.t.f.o. "If it pops up, give a shout and I see what Practice of Ruling can do on the hybrid creature. Otherwise, I'm going to fuck all the way off and let the Arrow do her work."
Star is multi tasking.
Talking.Scheming.Thinking. Scrutinising.
The Illusionist turns his head to look back through the hole he had made and caught one last glimpse of the... spider woman.
It was enough. Enough to tag her aura; her signature. More spirit than human. And even more disturbingly, under his Supernal Vision her aura flickers into view - hybrid in more ways than one: too close to the vibrant colours of a true shapeshifter than a possessed or [/i]claimed[/i] human.
Her Resonance was clear though: Experimentation (or Mutation). And that same Resonance was all over the cocooned corpse that was still blocking the bedroom doorway.
The other mages Phoenyx Anima and Kaze are all in discussion. And already, the Shaman has decided to beat a hasty retreat as he heads off back down the stairs. Discretion is the better part of valour; and it is Wise to not act rashly in the face of the unknown.
Someone else is moving too...
"You don't want to be caught in there," Phoenyx shakes her head at Kaze. "Only escape is through the window."
Which the creature might not care about, but there is only so much she can do.
"I know Aurora is a Master of Life, but unless we can contain that thing somehow I don't see how that's going to make a difference to arachnid barbecue," the Arrow replies to Star slowly, following his dusty hole out onto the landing. "We work with what we've got. Anima says he knows spirits, so I'm prepared to go with his call."
She turns to the Thyrsus as he retreats. "Don't go too far. We're still stronger together. Did either of you," she looks to Kaze, "see working gas down there? Makes things like this a lot easier."
The doctor bounds down the stairs two at time, odd jangling, shaking, and rattling coming from his large, black doctor's bag as it jostles. He makes it to the kitchen, checking for a gas stove. As he hollers up the answer he checks that his latex gloves are still secure, grabs a tin can from the bag of groceries and throws it in the microwave. Before starting it up he whispers harshly in high speech, grabbing his small knife from the bag he uses the handle to punch the numbers on the timer. In his rush and frustration he has trouble forming the Imago in his mind clearly, he has to take a moment to breath then, using mana to build the imago he forces it into being, rousing the spirit of the microwave. He speaks to it quietly in the Spirit Tongue.
"Alright buddy, you're going to radiate the shit out of that can, you're a badass piece of tech that proves sleepers make miracles. Burn baby burn, make a disco inferno in your belly. Through the material, through twilight, and should you burn so bright you burn yourself out here, burn beyond the gauntlet. Burn it all."
He hits the start button and heads for the door. "I did a thing! Let's go!"
Re-posting to account for Paradox