Busting Ghosts and Taking Names (foal/OPEN)

Kristen smirked at Kane and Jay's banter. Nodding at 'Geldolio' before catching up to him. Before Jay and Kicker came back into earshot of the two, Kristen lowered her voice a bit to speak to the 'Storm Mage'.

"So how long do you plan to keep this disguise up, o great storm mage?" she grinned, "You might be fooling them, but you aren't fooling me. And you won't fool them, either." she added, motioning to beyond the graveyard entrance.

When they entered the graveyard, the group would have to travel deep into the cemetery before Kristen would sense any demonic presence. They came upon a huge gothic mausoleum, one that appeared to be at least a century or two old.


The stone plaque on its wall was emblazoned with engravings that read:



Demonic energy seeped out from within, accompanied by a feeling of dreadfulness that any person could sense. Kristen admittedly knew nothing about this 'Jeremiah Blackfoot', but she figured since he died at such a young age, his death was unnatural, and probably had something to do with the demonic energy sweeping around the group.

(Sorry this took so long guys)

Jay was looking around at the different headstones, not really paying attention to where they were going when she almost walked into Kristen and looked over her shoulder to see the mauseluam. "Whoa..." she stared for a few moments then shivered and fluffef up her feathers, "is that where we're goin?"

(no worries, foal. It's fine.^^)

Toji winces as Sat calls him out. Found out!!! Maybe he can salvage this...." Hmmm? Whatever do you mean?" Then, the halfling remembers she can sense spiritual energy." Dang it....I need to learn how to cloak my s.e......Alright, sis, I'll go ahead and reveal myself.....NOW!!!" He throws off his cloak, revealing his true form as the fake teeth's and padding fall out of his mouth into a empty hand." Behold!! It is I, the okamian Halfling, and grand fighter of Titans United, Lightning Wolf!!" He clicks the plastic claws of his glove together, making a sound like faint applause. Yep.....looked like he found the theatre channel....Then, his okamian instincts kick in and he turns to the maseleoum." Waaaah? For some reason....I'm not liking that thing...." He blurs in close, reading the plate." Aaah....so young...."

Kane chuckled and rolled his trouser sleeves up before following their group to the graveyard. When he saw the gothic mausoleum he gave a slow whistle Wow, very creepy... then he felt something, some sort of feeling of dread. If he was creeped out, it didn't show on the outside, in his career as a hero he had learnt how to perform a perfect poker face. He turned to angel-face, who was clearly the one to look to in these situations Normally I'd be in charge, as the most badass one in the group, but in this case I think it would be better if you led. So what do we do now?

Kristen couldn't help but grin at the reactions of the others. She supposed she was just excited - it had been a long time since she had been demon hunting with so many people. Suddenly, the door of the mausoleum opened of it's own volition, and a haunting groan emanated across a breeze from within. Kristen shivered - but it wasn't from the cold. The demonic presence coming from within the confines of the tomb were far above normal levels; so much so it was slightly unnerving for even Kristen. She didn't show any signs of fear though, and when Kicker asked what they were going to do next, Kristen had one answer.

"We go inside."

Normally, mausoleum-type tombs would be small, claustrophobic-inducing spaces, but this was not the case for this specific structure. Indeed, Kristen had sensed the epicenter of the demonic presence to be deep underground. So when the group had gathered inside the building, Kristen shot out a hand, using telekinesis to move the cover of the stone coffin aside.

In case anyone was freaked out further, she added, "That was me, this time."

Underneath the cover of the coffin, the container was empty, and where the bottom was, there was  a wide set of stairs, a corridor leading deep underground. "As I suspected. This mausoleum is a front for the entrance to an ancient catacomb. The source of this maddening aura is likely at the main antechamber, a few floors down. Let's go."

When they started climbing down the stairs, it would begin to get dark as the light from the city would dim. Kristen remembered Jay's fiery wings. "Jay, can you light us up a bit, please?" Soon they made it to the first floor of the catacombs. Remains of the long deceased in the form of bones and dust lined the stone walls.

"We should all stick together now. I've heard that most catacombs are labyrinthine in structure. It's very easy to get lost. I can navigate our way down, but we need to stick together and make landmarks to find our way back up."

Jay nodded and let her wings flare up as it darkened around them, "id be glad to light some of us up more then others," Jay joked as she smirked at Kicker, hoping to lighten the chilling feeling around them. She let her flaming wing go close to the wall when Kristen mentioned making landmarks, burning the wall a little. "Would that work at all?" Jay asked, "we can smear it a little in the direction we went too."

Toji grits his teeth, growling. This feeling.....it was beyond normal dread. Yah....there was a demon in there...a powerful one. The halfling grins as his eyes change black and gold, his canines lengthening. " Well...let's go stomp this punk." He follows the group, whistling a song he had recently heard called TipToe through the tulips. Toji then grins, quoting a show when he hears Kris say they should stick together." Well, groovy. Can I totally get a gooby snack? You know, edible courage? Hahahaha!!"

Kane heard the doors to the mausoleum open on their own, he turned to look, then looked back at Kristen as she said to keep on going, he smiled Good choice as they entered, Kristen removed the lid from the coffin, revealing some stairs. Kane wasn't afraid or anything, but he didn't want to go first in case anything was in there, so he followed in after the others had gone in for a few seconds. Once they got to the first floor, Kristen advised them all to stick together, that was most certainly a plan he could get behind, but he stayed silent.

Well, it was good that the group agreed it was a good idea to stick together. It seems they were all relatively spooked about this place. Toji then remarked something about wanting gooby snacks or scooby snacks or something, Kristen wasn't sure, but before she could ask what he meant, a loud groan ripped through the catacomb, causing the whole structure to shake. The temperature pitched downwards and the demonic energy intensified. When the energy peaked, the ceiling from above them gave, collapsing down into a pile of heavy debris. "Look out!!" Kristen exclaimed, dodging away from the collapse and tackling the person beside her with her.

When the dust cleared, it was dark at first. But that was probably because Kristen had closed her eyes. When she opened them, she realized that she had instinctively activated her light forcefield, creating a dim cyan glow on the walls and debris around her. Groaning in irritation, she rose back up to her feet, examining the damage the collapse had caused. The passageway was sealed off.

"Aha, you forget, demon." she muttered to herself, taking a stance and thrusting both arms at the rubble, trying to move it with telekinesis. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but when Kristen's aura collided with the stone, an inexplicable shriek of protest assailed her ears as a noticeable spiritual force was preventing her from moving the stone wall. Whatever demonic force was in the labyrinth with them had a strong enough presence to effect even the outer regions of it's domain.

Kristen tried again - her will was not so easily broken. The shriek intensified as Kristen engaged in a battle of wills with the entity for what seemed like hours but was mere moments. Her cyan wings of light manifested for a brief moment due to the power surge of the struggle and she was sliding across the floor a few inches. With a gasp of exhaustion, she disengaged from the entity holding the wall, dropping to one knee to catch her breath. Her forcefield disintegrated for a while as she regained energy.

"Damn it... it's no use. This debris won't budge." she spoke in between breaths. "Whatever's in here is keeping me from moving it. Don't try breaking it down, you'll only waste your energy."

Jay looked at the wall curiously then back at Kristen, then the wall, "well maybe if you asked it nicely?" she walked over and tapped the wall with the back of her knuckles, "Scuse me, but if you could just let us out. Some of us are a little claustrophobic...." she paused as if she would get an answer, but nothing, "uh huh....see this is why we cant be friends." She crossed her arms and turned her back on the wall as if it had insulted her.

Toji,meanwhile, was standing stock stroll, growling and crosspopping veins showing up as a flat rock sat on his head, slowly cracking across the middle.As it finishes cracking, falling to both sides, he dashes toward, howling as he lets out a huge series of rapidly blows upon the stones." Stupid demon, I'll pummel these rocvks, then I'll pummel you..thanks to you I have a headache!Eat rotten fruit and puke!! Im a Okamian, you little Satkla!!!"After a bit of pummeling, he stops, staring wideyed at the rubble, which was unmarked, and grins sheepishly at Kris." Uhm....sorry,lost my temper....heheheheh...."

Suddenly the ground started to shake and the ceiling started to crumble, rocks began to fall but Kane dodged them all with grace and dashed over to the safety zone, he would have saved the others but they didn't turn out to even need his help, good for them. Kristen then tried to move the rocks, but apparently something was wrong because she was unable to do it, when she tried again she was physically pushed back and still she could do nothing!

Kane stood there for a few seconds, twiddling his thumbs So, uhh... now what?

"We have no choice, there is only one way to go for now." Kristen stated, regaining her energy and rising. She turned her back to the collapse, and started walking. "Let's go."

As the group ventured further into the catacombs and underground, the feeling of dread and demonic energy would build and increase. At each fork in the labyrinth, the ceiling would collapse on one path, as if whatever was possessing the catacombs was leading the group on. This left the only choice to be the path left passable. Eventually they arrived at a large antechamber, now 100ft underground. In its center, a stone casket stood, that also served as an altar of sorts. A strange dark mist hung about the whole room, and was thickest above the altar.

"Whatever demon that lives here, it's main body must preside in this space. It lured us here for some reason... but why?" Kristen thought aloud.

As if to confirm the Nephilim's statement, a dark figure cloaked in crimson appeared, levitating just above the stone casket.

Spoiler:

The figure grinned disarmingly, orange eyes glimmering among the dark mist."Welcome, foolish mortals... to my domain."

Jay paused seeing the creature and grinned nervously, "uh hi. Ya know if you wanted to throw a party I would have suggested cookies and streamers...." she turned back to her friends, "im gonna take a wild guess and say hes not our buddy?" She whispered inching away from the casket as much as she could. "All in favor of tripping Airhead now?" She joked lighty looking over at Kicker.

Toji watches as the figure appears, and chuckles as Jay jokes. At least she wasn't screaming in fear. The halfling examines the figure, watching it to make sure it didn't react without him knowing. He'd wait for for Kristen's reaction, but let lightning crackle around his form. Might as well give fair warning...