(Bad House) The Return

[Guru]

“Next time we should get wireless headsets or subvocs or something. Plan is good an all but if Team B gets cut off they could be incommunicado. You’re my eyes and Guide Anima, if you see anything you let me know. Now where’s the kitchen?”

The hippie had faded but the cool demeanor remained. He took three deep breaths, sliding the shell in then pulling the forestock back to prime the shell, pointer finger clicking the safety off then resting off the trigger as he pushed the butt into his shoulder. His other hand pushing the door open as he swept to the left, gun up in case of action. If it was all clear it would go back to aiming at the floor. One foot slowly crept in front of the other, walking on the balls of his feet to minimized the sound he’d make. He’s not sure how that would echo into the shadow but there had to be something.

[Aurora]

Finally, things were moving, and she returns the nod to Phoenyx.

A shrug to Kaze, “Just be careful and don’t take any unwarranted chances. I don’t know what this thing can do, and until I see it, I won’t know how best to try and handle it. But yes, I agree, burning this house is going to draw attention we don’t need.” Cause how do you explain five people near a burning house? Five because she can change herself into something else and be gone. Though that idea might open another idea.

Stepping into the area, she looks around. Maybe looking for a seven-foot spider, maybe just looking at the layout. “Where’d you guys find it the first time?” because that might be where it was. Secretly she hoped it wasn’t the basement. She hated basements, nothing good ever came from them.

[Phoenyx]

Anima seemed pleased about something. Didn't he realise she wanted him nearby to keep an eye on him? Oh well.

The door creaks open. The Arrow steps inside, pistol raised, hand supporting the butt.

Eyes look around sthe space, especially the walls - the walls she blurred past escaping the last time. They seemed strangely unmarked as the thing's claws were brought to mind. Her keen eyes were settling on the shoe.

The shoe? Was that there last time?

"We can just shout them," Phoenyx replies to Guru quietly. "No sound will leave the edge of the lot. But it will hear us."

She advances softly, aiming into the living room and looking around.

Yumyumcrow Phoenyx never saw the downstairs in any detail last time, so I'll have to trust to Kaze for that one

Are there any signs that the house has been abandoned down here? High levels of dust, that kind of thing?

Equipment: 1 pair of knives (one magical tool, one mundane), Pistol (Beretta M92, +2 lethal), Reinforced Leather trenchcoat (1/0), Cellphone.
Spells: Supernal Sight (Pot 6, cloaked), Organic Resilience (Pot 3, Cloaked), Sound Control Pot 4

[/SIZE][/mta]

[Kaze]

Kaze nods as Naga echoes his own thought about being in front of someone armed with a gun. "Thanks." He says with sincere gratitude for her consideration in his tone. He hears Naga chanting and catches the hint of a supernal flare from a golden glyph just there for a moment. Good, she's scouting her way, probably.


He thinks about the spells he's got up himself and wonders, "Should I drop my protection for you to upgrade it?" He asks Aurora.

Kaze drops his Supernal Vision and Transform Aura spells without saying anything about it, to be ready to cast Honing the Form on himself, if Aurora doesn't. Aurora seems to be back on track, whatever was bothering her before seems to be out of the picture, and she seems to have her game face on now. "I'm ready to boost my quickness too, if you want to save your control." He offers.


"Got it." Kaze acknowledges as Aurora reiterates the need to avoid taking unnecessary risks, and also confirms that she's going to need a moment to assess and decide what to do when they find the thing. Buying that time for her to figure it out is my job. Kaze determines to protect Aurora through this encounter to the best of his ability.


"The last time..." Kaze says quietly, even inside the house and the effects of Phoenyx's Sound Mastery spell, his gaze going thousand-mile, Zanshin aware and ready for ambush from any angle.

"Phoenyx sent me in the front with Anima, and she went around back with Star and Morgan. They climbed up into the second floor window. They found a door that wouldn't open, and we went up the stairs and came up to the same door from the other side. The thing was in the attic. I never saw it clearly. Anima said he did something and that we all had to get out, so I made sure he got out okay, and we left by the front door. I guess Star and Morgan jumped back out the window. Phoenyx came tearing down the stairs and slammed the front door shut in the thing's face right behind her," he says with obvious respect and admiration for the First Talon, "and that was the only time I saw it. Big and fast, was my impression." Kaze remembers.


"The microwave, Anima was messing with it, set it to blow up, I guess; it's not there. Also there were bags of spoiled groceries in here before; they're gone now." Kaze observes.

[Anima]

Spells

Peer across the gauntlet cloaked organic resilience Second Sight

Anima shivers, goose bumps forming as he moves through the sticky webs, feeling them stick to his skin. He can't help but shake a hand subconsciously, trying to shake the feeling of a cobweb clinging to him. He catches himself and stops the shaking, realizing he looks like a mad man to the other two. He raises the hand and points to the object buried in the Shadow.

'There," he speaks softly, as if he were staring at an unseen mounters, appearing to point at some random point on the ceiling. He tries to carefully set down his bag of false evidence, but the bottles clink together repeatedly in the process, as he slowly creeps towards the stairs.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-05-20 10:30:05	Anima rolls 1 to Stealth untrained (Dex+Stealth-1) (10 Again)	1	failure

[Yumyumcrow]

Naga casts her spell without a problem. Her senses whirl and then settle abruptly. The Warlock feels the shape of the house and is aware of what is going on each floor. She senses movement on the ground floor: six 'pings' including herself and it takes some moments for her to adjust and recognise them as her friends and allies.

The upper floor is mess of holes, debris, and lumps stuck on walls and ceiling. She even senses a slow drip of slime coming from a sac in the front room of the upper floor. Not that she is getting wet: but the sensation is not unlike cold fingers lightly tapping her head, running through her hair and down her back.

The attic is empty, yet filled with more sacs and strange obstructions. At least one is much, much, larger than a regular human.
Kaze leads the way into the kitchen / dining area, with Aurora following behind. They will reach the door to the hall unless they make stop to examine the kitchen. Kaze will see Phoenyx check out the living room as Guru steps into the house via the front door, loading his shotgun as he does. Anima is mounting the stairs, but despite a clear effort, the floorboards creak as he moves.
Phoenyx checks out the living room. The space is cluttered with cheap, old, furniture - a decor decades out of date. The appearance of living room clashes with the rest of the house. This house was rental, partly furnished. Whoever had lived here had been stuck with this living space.

The air is stale and there is a sheen of dust evident on the wooden furniture. That sheen has been disturbed at some point - someone else had taken note of the general state of neglect...

[Naga]

An involuntary shudder ran down Naga's spine, and she scowled. Thankfully, the disgusting sensations lasted only a moment. She had the information she needed.

Keeping her gun down at her side, she looked to Aurora, whom she kept pace with. "Team Phoenyx has entered the front of the house. First floor is clear. Nothing else is here except several cocoons up in the attic, including a very large one... and some sort of slimy sacs on the second floor. I don't think anything can hear us right now." She shrugged, though she continued to keep her voice low. Just in case.

"We may have an advantage here. If the Spider is... gestating?" She wasn't a scientist, and wasn't certain that was the correct word, but she got her point across, "then it may be vulnerable."

Her face turned in the direction she knew the other team was currently located, "Shall we go inform Phoenyx?"

[Guru]

He looked to Anima and pointed down the hall with a shrug, then looked to Phoenyx he didn't know where the kitchen was and didn't just want to stumble around a monster nest like a blind man so he kept his shotgun pointed at the ground and moved slowly wherever he was directed. He was trying not to break silence if he didn't have to.


He managed to remain somewhat silent thanks to the implanted muscle memory, the tightening of his ligaments to allow for more graceful footing.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2020-05-21 13:52:43	Guru rolls 5 to Stealth (Dex + Stealth - Untrained Penalties) (10 Again)	9, 9, 2, 1, 2	2 successes

[Aurora]

A shake of her head, “Not yet.” She didn’t like casting without a reason. And right now, there wasn’t one.

There was no desire to check out the kitchen too much. If their target wasn’t there, then she would move on.

Nodding to Naga, though the thought of slimy sacs just sound disgusting.

“Lets inform them, if we’re all in the house, we might as well move as one. Draw less attention that way.” Maybe? Sounded right in her head. But she kept her voice low as well. “Fire might be the best option. Unless we can poison them. Infect the sacs somehow.” She might be able to, and someone might be able to as well. Or maybe kill the big spider thing and it kills the sacs? She had no clue.

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx's eyes follow Anima's fingers pointing up to the Attic.

"Someone else has been here," She says in a low voice, gesturing with her pistol. "The dust is disturbed."

"Wait," she says to Anima. "Unless you'd rather be first in the firing line?" There's an amused dare in her quiet voice.

The Talon listens for the voices coming from up ahead. "We get the others. Move as one." She heads up the corridor to the Kitchen, looking in. "Upstairs," she says simply.

Equipment: 1 pair of knives (one magical tool, one mundane), Pistol (Beretta M92, +2 lethal), Reinforced Leather trenchcoat (1/0), Cellphone.
Spells: Supernal Sight (Pot 6, cloaked), Organic Resilience (Pot 3, Cloaked), Sound Control Pot 4