[Twi] Twilight IV: No More Heroes! (Now also lynching Sword of Truth!)

The Midnighter
The thing leans close again. "That would be sad, pretty. But if you loose, no more world. No more pretties ever. If you win, then only a matter of waiting. So it is better to let you lose." An overlong, forked tongue slithers out of it's mouth.

Anderson and Kira
Within minutes of each other, you emerge in the courtyard of what seems to be a temple. A statue of two proud figures is in the center. Or at least, you take it for that. But after a moments glance, you change your impression. The man looks vain, arrogant and uncaring, the woman looks insipid and shallow. It is deserted, just like everything else. The silvery form of the Sliph vanishes behind you.

The Midnighter

"Suit yourself. I'll do it my way. Carrier: Door to Sagittarius A."

The Midnighter punches the Fallen as it leans closer once more.

"Last chance. Five seconds and counting."

Jenny Sparks

Jenny looses another bolt at the wolves. They were getting closer...and she was running out of power.

Sanya:

"If we cannot get one to surrender, then how do we know why they are attacking?" he gently scolds, then considers what she said, and nods. "They died on their feet, fighting for what they believed. Good a death as any."

His ears perk at the jangling, and he reflexively pulls out several white handkerchiefs embroidered with silver crosses. Then he looks at the amount of Denarii Heinkel has on hand, and raises his eyebrows.

"Hmmm. A large catch. I haven't captured that many Fallen since that fight in the Aquarium. My hat off to you and Father Anderson!" He inclines his head. Pondering, he ties the handkerchiefs together and stuffs them in the bag's opening.

"To cut down on 'accidents'." he says by way of explanation. His brow furrowed.

"No one touched these coins with their bare hands, Da? Not you, not the Paladin?"

His tone was level, but the danger his words conveyed was clear. Anyone who touched a blackened Denarii would be invaded by the Fallen's consciousness, and tempted. Worse, even if they threw away the coin, they could still summon it back to them instantly with a thought, and the Fallen always left a shadow copy of their personality in the unfortunate person's head, whispering, tempting...

((Colesign explains why Moloch isn't bothered, though having read the books you probably know that for yourself.))

Midnighter
"I am not so easily gotten rid of." The demon replies, then recedes into the coin.

Jenny Sparks
A tall, Grey haired man in a blue coat and black underclothes is standing behind the wolves, watching expressionlessly. He has pale skin and narrow, intense eyes.
A wolf forms out of his chest and bounds towards you. "Gaze into the abyss." He mouths. "What stares back? You shall be consumed."

((I know that. The Midnighter doesn't, however.))

The Midnighter

"So much for rational self-interest."

He tosses the coin into the portal.

"Time to go, Crowley. I'll manage on my own."

Jenny Sparks

"Nietzche? Cute." Jenny doesn't have much power left, but she has enough to take down one man. At least, for the next minute or so.

"Who the hell are you?"

Jenny Sparks
"I am chaos." He replies calmly, as another animal emerges from his chest. This one is vaguely simian, a monkey of some description, though it's gone before you can get a good look at it.
"I am the abyss. And you cannot escape." He continues advancing, making his way closer and closer. More emerge, an enormous snake and several smaller ones slivering down his arm and onto the ground, where they advance towards you.

Midnighter
It's not gone. You can still feel it tickling the back of your mind, as though watching you. You can still feel the weight of the coin in your had.
Temptation is not so easily cast aside.

Ozymandius
Misa takes the coin back, leaving her with three, and smiles. "Well, that was productive." She, or maybe he, says. "I suppose I'll see you all later. Ciao." Abruptly, the attire vanishes, and Misa Amani is sitting in place. She raises her head, confused. "Where is Light?


A portal opens. Unless they choose otherwise, both Ghost Riders, Misa, Apollo, Ozymandius and Midnighter are back on the carrier. If Jules runs, he can make it on board as well, although he can't make it on board unnoticed.
Hawksmoor is up, and looks far better. He's sitting up, and has some feeling back in his limbs. Apparently what he mostly feels is blinding pain, but it's still a marked improvement.
Apparently, Richard is not dead, but not well either. Hawksmoor knows his stuff, if that's what he says, then it's fact. He 'dealt' with Richard and the leather girls first, then the lady in white started shooting 'black lightening' and knocked him cold. Then, torture.

Anderson
Anderson looks around briefly, then goes and sits next to the statue, waiting to see what happens. He does, however, keep an eye on Light, especially his hands. If Light tries anything, he sticks a bayonet in his gut before he can finish.

Heinkel Wolfe
Behind her sunglasses, she raises an eyebrow, although you don't se it. "Vhat do hyu vant to ask zem?" She asks, confused. They are clearly aggressive, and attacking despite being unprovoked. Open and shut case.
She hands him the coins, somewhat reluctantly. "Hyu vill have to return them zo. Ve have vaults vere zey vill never be found."
At his questioning of the coins, she nodds, somewhat reluctantly. It feels like breaking Anderson's trust. "Ja. Anderson vas tricked to take vun. He said it vos his burden to bare."

Sanya:

Sanya takes the sack (a bit surprised that Heinkel would give them up so willingly to an A.C.K.C.E.D, i.e. Agnostic-Communist-Knight of the Cross-Ex-Denarian).

"Not to worry. They'll be secure, and see the inside of the vaults soon enough."

He places them in a side pocket of his duffel bag, and zips it shut, then buckles a flap over it, in a fashion showing that he had handled such coins before. He listened to Heinkel's confession about Anderson, and nodded with a sigh.

"These things happen. Nichivo. Still, it is not sentence of doom. He did not take up the coin after touching it, Da?" A nod. "Then he must deal with the Fallen's shadow in his head. Difficult. But Anderson is..."

Sanya tried to choose a tactful word, as tactful as you can be when discussing anyone who mixes Bible quotations and massacres.

"...a man of conviction. Not so easily tempted. The Fallen have seduced men and women for Millennia, both forewarned and ignorant. But they can be overcome. My friend Dresden did it. I..."

Sanya hesitated.

"...did too. I know how they tempt. Perhaps I can give Anderson good advice, and then it is even more likely he can overcome it too."

There was some more rustling in the background, and Sanya looked up, raising his Kalashnikov again.

"So my view is that we should join Anderson and whoever else, and figure out how to reverse Medieval Times. Or stay here and fight off inevitable onslaught. I'm sure it will work out."

He put the duffel across his shoulder again.

"Besides," he said cheerfully. "As long as no one else besides Anderson has touched the Denarii, there shouldn't be any problem!"

Team wide eyed idealism (Archer, Sanya, Heinkel Wolfe)
Another of the shuffling, twisted things emerges. It's the last one.

Two streets away, an old, bony man in plain robes is seated on a likewise plain chair, eating an apple. Around him are twenty priestesses in severe, pink robes, staring directly at him. Only a few look out of their twenties. This is deceiving, due to the effects of their temple they've aged one year for every ten. In truth they are all far older then him, though you'd never guess it given the deference they are showing him. Beside him is another man in plain robes, reading a scroll under his breath.
"They didn't take the bait." Zeddicus observes. "And I doubt Shota will lend us anymore of her creatures." He stares at them. Not one of them seem to be offering opinions, simply deferring to everything he says.
He gestures widely, and vaguely, then takes another bite of the apple. "I'm not ready to die myself. Are you? I should think not! You are all much too young, and far too pretty. And I don't much like fighting either when I can avoid it. It's so... barbaric. So instead we shall be subtle. Subtle! Do you think you can manage that? I should say you can. We have more then enough power here to demolish half the continent!" He takes another bite, then gets up and begins pacing. "But then we risk the treasures, and we don't want to do that. So we'll have to win using conventional methods, not just throw power at them! Get them on the run. Wear them down. Don't risk yourselves too much, we're all irreplaceable, but make sure we get the treasures! Now fire away!"
They form a circle around him, and lower their heads. one by one, they begin chanting.
A gleaming red figure begins to take form, bare muscle and bone, undefined but terrible in it's malign potential.
The wizard paces around them, waving his arms. "More! More! Come, we need power the world hasn't felt since before the great war. Push yourselves! Push I say! Tear open the fabric, and let it emerge! Rise Up!! RISE UP!"
The figure arranges itself into a strange, humanoid shape, a changing creature with no set form or nature. It's body swelled and shrank periodically, and it's form underwent changes, in one moment bipedal, the next as many as twenty limbs thrashing. It had no mouth, eyes or nostrils, they were to complicated for it to form. But it didn't need them, it could sense without them, and their magic sustained.
Zeddicus smiles, then says a single word. "Kill."

The beam Katana is presumably still in the vampire's ass, and after taking both blows, he attempts to drive it forward and down to make a circular cut as he falls.
***
Jules after seeing the coast had been clear, tried to sneak into the dungeon and observe what the pair were doing.

Bob
Bob looks at the man who's animals were advancing on the people who were helping him, and not finding a rock to throw, did the next best thing. He dashed forward and tried to tackle the man to the ground. Some part of his mind was screaming that this was suicidal, but...he'd be okay. He knew it, somehow.

Light
"A suggestion on where we should go from here, Father?" We can't stand around all day.

Sanya, Agent of A.C.K.C.E.D.

"Hold a Moment." Sanya says, holding up a hand to forestal Heinkel's bullet ballet.

He switches the Kalashnikov to single shot, waits for the dwarf creature to come a bit closer, and attempts to kneecap the creature on both kneecaps. If it keeps coming, he'll keep shooting until it goes down. If it is disabled, he will drag it over to the wagon, draw Esperacchius, and cheerfully say:

"Privet! We would like to like to know why you are trying to kill us, and who sent you! It would be very sad, if you were to keep silent."

The Bride

As the vampire is slammed into the wall, the bride loses grip on her sword. Which still sits hanging out of the vampire's gut.

"No, thats possible. I just destroyed your heart. You have to be dead."

***

Ghost Rider

As much as he'd like to head back up to tha Carrier and work things out more there is no way in Heaven or Hell that Johnny is going to leave Anderson and Light alone down there. He reves his bike up and rides forward into Silph's portal to follow them.

Ghost Rider
The sliph closes before you can enter, and you ram into the wall behind it instead. When you calm down, it occurs to you it's probably for the best. If you had gotten in there is a good chance you would have died. While you know that rationally, it's still hard medicine to swallow.
"I talked to Light." Your brother says. "He says it can be reversed. But only when he gets back to earth and talks to his shinigami. I say bullsh*t, but you were right. If she can't fulfill the terms of the note, she just dies. So I imagine he's going to get rid of the two of us before we can do something."
He cracks his knuckles. "But all we have to do is find a way into Limbo, and kill the Shinigami who owns the notebook."
The portal is still open, and Samuel L Jackson arrives.

Sanya
The thing moans, and clutches it's leg, but doesn't say anything. You wonder if it can. It certainly doesn't seem very intelligent.

Jules
The two flaming skeletons are talking. They could be anyone, though one is wearing the same leather that the man who interrogated Light had been wearing. They don't notice you until they are done talking.

The Bride and Travis
He removes the sword and hands it to her, ignoring Travis (he removed the beam katanna, but left it on the ground and ignored it). "My heart was broken a long time ago." He offers by way of explanation, and while you are no doctor you would be pretty unubiquitous in saying the human body doesn't work that way.
It's ridiculous. Nothing is having effect.
Abruptly, you remember what Alice said. Vulnerable to crushing, and fire.

Bob
A tremendous mouth full of sharp teeth opens in his chest, and a pair of constrictor snakes emerge from his arms, coiling around you and beginning to coil around you, your body groaning in pain as they begin to crush the life out of you.
Only... they don't. You let out the breath you've been holding, as, after four minutes, you come to understand you don't actually need to breathe, and while your bones are snapping and your muscles rupturing, it's really only annoying, and whenever they reduce pressure your body fixes itself.
Staring at the mouth, immobilized by the snakes, you wonder if you are immune to being eaten as well.

Archer
You sit on the edge of the building, watching the priest or nun - you are unsure of her exact clerical standing, she is a most unconventional woman - who has been providing you with mana since you were summoned. Perhaps that makes her your master, although given the bizarre circumstances of your summoning it's probably best to think of yourself as independent.
The scuttling dwarf things have been mostly dealt with, and her newest acquaintance, a dark skinned man of Arabic extraction with an artifact that fairly blazes with power (between them now, they have enough magical artifacts to make Gilgamesh fairly green with envy. The nail, the noose, the twenty coins and now this).
You haven't interfered yet, of course, she can protect herself quite handily. But you watch anyway, having nowhere else to be.
Then you catch a flicker of movement. Your attention is riveted as, four streets away, you notice something coming into being from the bizarrest summoning you've ever laid eyes on.
An odd amalgamation of skinless flesh and flailing limbs, surrounded by magicians. Independently they're fairly weak, bar the old, plainly dressed man, but working together they have amassed power beyond any summoning you've even conceived. Whatever that thing is, it seems to be some sort of familiar bound to all of them equally, perhaps some sort of sentient giant golem, although even that wouldn't really explain it. All you can tell for sure is that the thing they've bought into being is dangerous, and you can't be sure of your ability to take it.
And worse, Heinkel, or her companion, hasn't noticed it yet.
You're move.

Sanya:

The Knight frowns at his Captive's lack of speech.

"Hmmm. Most unfortunate." He raises his saber, light glinting off the tip... and sheathes it, picking up the crippled dwarf thing and dragging it off to the sidelines. Then, to Heinkel's bewilderment, he pulls out a first aid kit and quickly disinfects and bandages the wound in 20 seconds. "Hope very much that you survive your injuries. Vyzdoravlivaj skoree."

He walks back over to Heinkel.

"So, what do you decide?"

Sanya
It gropes at you, not seeming to be threatening, then grabs the sword at your hip and tries to pull it out. "Mine. Mine Gimme!" It mutters, in vaguely coherent English.

Sanya, Agent of A.C.K.C.E.D.

Sanya gently but firmly removes the creatures hand from Esperacchius with surprising strength.

"Prasti, Master Dwarf. A Being of Power entrusted it to my care, and I cannot let it go so easily."

The dwarf is clearly, desperately, disappointed, and tries to grab it again.

Seeing as it cannot currently stand, Sanya stands up, bringing the Sword out of reach, and puts on his brightest smile.

"Still, no reason to be glum. Tell me why you need the sword, and perhaps we can accomplish both our goals."

He still awaits Heinkel's answer.

Sanya
It grabs for the sword again, still claiming it belongs to him, and you should give it to the dwarf figure, completely ignoring your reasonable tone of voice, or even the fact you spoke at all.

Heinkel considers putting it out of it's misery. She decides against it, mostly because random kindness seems to suit her companions way of thinking, and she'd rather not alienate him over something so simple.
The gun vanishes into her coat, and she kneels over next to him, looking down at the dwarf, but taking care not to touch it. "Vell, something is after us, ja?" She replies, removing her sunglasses to reveal big unfocussed eyes, a shade of blue so light they're almost white.
"Ze Iscariot does not run. Ve do not sureender so much as a step. That iz ze vay ve do these tings." Then she looks looks up at the clouds. "But the Iscariot is no more. Only me an' Anderson, and Yumiko." A certain fondness creeps into her tone as she says the two names. Her life is empty of all connection save god, but Yumiko is the closest thing she has to a friend and confidant, and Anderson is the closest she has to a father.
"Ve should keep movink." She says, her tone becoming decisive. "Take ze relics to safety, ja? Then ve can vorry about enemies."

Sanya, Agent of A.C.K.C.E.D.

The Knight of the Cross spreads his hands.

"If we cannot talk about this, construct dialogue, then I must leave. With the sword." He adds. "Can you not tell me why you want it?"

If the dwarf doesn't give a clear answer, he will sigh, walk to Heinkel's side, and say:

"Very reasonable, what you say." He ponders what must be done to secure the relics. "Perhaps if we find Midnighter? Heard he was in Basin City to break heads. We could use his Teleport Device thing to head straight to Rome. Though first we need to find him."

He turns around, and based on raw instinct, points a finger in a random direction. "Let's go...uh, that way, da!"

{{Assume that Archer has alerted the group to the horrible monster a short distance away.}}

Heinkel
The agent, somewhat familiar with Archer but still startled by his sudden arrival, draws her guns so fast they seem to have appeared in her hands. Her voice is icy calm. "Can you delay it?" She asks.
Given that he'll say yes, she nods and replaces her sunglasses. "Then hyu ha best do so. Do not die, ve vill need hyu again before the end." Impulsively, she kisses him on the cheek, then runs in the way Sanya indicated.

A thing emerges from behind the group, a mass of red, shiny skin and thrashing clawed limbs. It moves deceptively swiftly, and it occurs you that it seems to be subconsciously in control of it's changes, somewhat co-ordinated despite it's constantly shifting body with more limbs emerging and retracting at what seems to be random, and yet they never tangle or get in each others way. It's growing in size, it's about the size of a room now and is still swelling.
It moves unerringly towards you, sensing you without any visible stimuli, and speeding up.

"Go."

Archer turns to face his enemy. A wall of large blades springs into existence before the beast, blocking its path.

The beast pauses for a moment, giving the impression of studying the blades, although you can't be sure. It gingerly begins to slide through.
The blades knick and cut it superficially, a few cut deep, but the wounds close almost as soon as they slide away.
Not only does it seem hard to hurt, it apparently has a healing factor as well.

Behind it, you see the wizard smile. His creation is perfect.

Bob
Not the best idea, but he wasn't being hurt. That was good. He could handle this for a bit. Besides the thing couldn't attack the others while doing this. The could help him. Right? Bob breathes and says," A little help? Please?"

Heinkel turned as it approached and walked backwards, firing shot after precise shot at the coming monster as fast as the guns can handle without jamming. It's lack of discernible anatomy makes it difficult to know where she should shoot it, so she aims anywhere and everywhere.

Sanya:

Sanya sees that Heinkel's bullet are having little effect, and stows the Kalashnikov on his back.

Then he steps to Heinkel's side, and draws Esperacchius from it's scabberd.

White light floods the courtyard, blazing from the blade of the Sword, the Holy Light of Creation. Sanya raises it up to the sky, his face stern and implacable, a Champion of God.

"Leave this reality, creature, and harm no more."

Outwardly he is composed. Inwardly, though still stalwart, he 'crosses' his fingers, hoping that a Sword of the Cross, which can slay things from demons to Fallen to Vampire Gods, and even Outsiders (eldritch abominations immune to magic), can harm this thing.

{Maybe it's light could weaken the creature too. Maybe...}

A bow is formed in Archer's hands, and he nocks the Fake Spiral Sword. It shoots towards the beast faster than a bullet, and explodes on impact in a deafening roar.

{OOC: Would give a cooler description, but half-asleep}

The thing bounds forward, crossing the space between it and Archer in a single leap, limbs flailing and bony claws and talons growing out. In begins to reduce in size, as it's limbs weave a pattern of death. Anything caught by it is going to suffer.
It is, for the moment, ignoring Sanya and Heinkel. It is single minded, pursuing one target to the exclusion of all else, then moving on to the next.
And then the Spiral sword hits it.
The sword is little more then a white beam of light, impacting with a thunderclap, a deafening wave of sound then you all feel as a vibration. The world goes white as it explodes. The ground tremors and buckles at the incredible impact, as a unstoppable force meets an immovable object. Then the light fades, to reveal a scene of devastation at resulting move. But when it clears, the beast is still there, injured but not beaten, already putting itself back together.

This is going to be a tough fight.

The sisters of Light disperse, Zeddicus last to go. They have created a perfect weapon. No need to stay around.

Bob
The mouth slams shut on one outstretched arm, chomping through gristle, bone, muscle and flesh with a single bite, and tearing it to ribbons. You just manage to avoid losing it. It heals, but very slowly and reluctantly.