Log:Proteus and Ember, Scene 3

Proteus and Ember 2016/08/30 	 Night Marshal|Detective Carpenter Caleb Daemon Natasha Proteus Dialydd

3

A beach house, about 10 miles south of Colonial Bay, looking out onto a small inlet. There are tall grasses between the house and the beach proper. A small sailboat is tied up at a dock in the water. The house itself is a simple two-story structure, likely without a basement. The walls are wooden and the exterior is painted a light yellow.

Former supervillain, Ember - AKA Charles Williams, had been found dead in his apartment. The building was badly burned, as a result of his powers going out of control after getting stabbed by something metallic. He had been out of prison for only a couple of weeks, and had yet to move back in with his wife, who lives on the east side. He had several known associates...

The Phantom, a mystic, who died a couple of years ago. Amaryllis, a sorceress and Phantom's wife. Proteus, a shape-shifting android. Jaeger, a man with light powers who has no record and is now a lawyer of all things.

The heroes had been called in by Detective Carpenter, since it looked like there was meta involvement. It was also revealed that Ember had a mystic amulet which amplified his powers. It's currently suspected that Proteus killed Ember while looking for this amulet.

Someone appearing as 'Charles' accessed a safety deposit box after Ember had already been killed, hence the assumption that Proteus was involved. And it was also revealed by Jaeger when he was interviewed that Charles and his wife owned a beach house south of the city. The heroes believed that's where the amulet might be found...

The heroes were heading to the beach house with Carpenter to check it out. The detective pulls up outside the place and gets out of his car. "I think this is the place."

When looking for a magic item a young dragon is a great substitute for a bloodhound. So Ellbeth invites Natasha to come along.

An invisible Daemon backflips off the Detective's car as it pulls to a stop in front of the beachhouse.

Daemon remains invisible, the only evidence of his existence is the depressions in the grass leading up to the house. As he looks at the house, he continues reading the files on Jaegar, Phantom & Amaryllis.

Natasha is happy to help! Sniffing for magic things is one of her favourite things!

Dialydd stands next to Caleb and looks over the house and its environs. He lets his senses fall open to the Dream of Reality to see what he can perceive from this distance. (Detect Physical Objects, Energy, Magic, and Mental Powers (No Sense Group), Discriminatory), 360 Degree Arc of Perception, Range, Targeting)

It's been a long time since Caleb has ridden in a car. They weren't common in most of the worlds he passed through while looking for home, and since arriving back on Earth he has mostly found teleporting more convenient. That said, it seemed rude to turn down the offer of a ride. As they approach the beachhouse, he scans it view remote viewing portals, sharing the view with anyone interested.

Ellbeth briefly considers mentally walking through the dwelling but desists in view of the detective's presence. It is an illegal invasion of privacy after all. And she might just get caught.

Carpenter heads toward the door to the house. "I did get a warrant to search, so we're okay. But we need to announce ourselves to anyone inside." He knocks on the door.

Natasha heads toward the house, sniffing all the way.

A man in a floppy hat, t-shirt, and shorts is walking along hte beach, just in sight of the house. Seeing the group, he turns and walks toward you all.

Natasha goes right up to the house and keeps sniffing, clearly eager to get inside.

Caleb approaches the man on the beach. With his legs. He's being all non-spatially-anomalous today. Who knows why?

Ellbeth 'looks' with her mind to see if the stranger in shorts and t-shirt approaching has a human class mind or not, using an undetectable probe.

Dialydd trails along behind Caleb like a tall, burka covered shadow.

There's no answer at the door. The man walking toward the group has a fishing rod over his shoulder. Once he's close enough, he says, "Can I help you folks? Maisie hasn't been around much this season. I don't think you'll find her here."

Caleb smiles winningly and lets Detective Carpenter handle the official introductions and whatnot.

Carpenter shows his badge, "I'm Detective Carpenter. CBPD. We're here to search the place. Maisie is Charles's wife, yes?" The fisherman nods, "Aye, that's right, I think." He pauses a moment, "Though I think she calls him 'Chuck'."

Natasha knocks on the door anyway, since we're supposed to announce ourselves to anyone inside. Given no reply she extends the claws of one forefoot and looks questioningly at the detective.

Carpenter nods, "Have you seen anyone come and go from the house here in the last week or so, Mister...." The fisherman nods, "Just the mail delivery. And my name is Jason Smith."

Ellbeth smiles as she strolls over to join Caleb and the detective. "I'm sorry. I think I misheard. Did you say Proteus?" she asks the beachwalker.

Robe wanders back towards the house as Detective Carpenter speaks to Jason Smith. He nods, politely it seems, to Ellbeth and then, after a moment, to the dragonet. He asks in somewhat broken English with what sounds like a Scandanavian accent, "Is door locked? This one knows basic floorplan of home."

Daemon hangs back as the optehrs approach the door. Considering their professions & power levels, Daemon is worried about booby traps of the mystical variety.

As the Detective makes himself known Daemon holds his breath- not that anyone would hear him breathing if he so chose. But some habits break hard.

He listens as the fisherman introduces himself.

Everything seems clear enough for now. Daemon decides since the Detective announced himself, Daemon would get to snooping.

In one leap he lands silently on the roof of the house, and begins heading for the back, to see if he can gain entrance another way.

Carpenter hears the name 'Proteus' and eyes 'Mr. Smith' cautiously. He places a hand on his gun inside his coat. Meanwhile, the fisherman hears Ellbeth say the same very name. His face goes cold and his arm changes into a long metal blade.

Proteus's arm extends into a long sword-like blade and he takes a swipe at the nearest target, Detective Carpenter. The detective, for his part, sees it at the last second and attempts to dodge.

Ellbeth casts a hurried shield spell and teleports in front of detective Carpenter to interpose herself.

Ellbeth is knocked back against the detective as the blade just penetrates her shield spell but is then blocked by the enchanted robe she is wearing.

Natasha charges at the nasty knife-person-robot! Luckily she's met robots before and had an idea...

Proteus is just a little too quick, avoiding the magic sent its way by the small dragon.

Natasha is disappointed to miss with her corrosive breath.

Nexus raises his defenses and strikes at Proteus

The blast hits Proteus, who grunts quietly. It must not have affected him overly. Perhaps it has something to do with the shapeshifter's ability to soak a hit.

Robe turns from his inspection of the front door to look at the fight that has broken out. He hilts his head to one side then murmurs quietly in his native tongue, "Go to sleep." To those with active magical or mental senses, golden sand streams from the youth towards Proteus with the speed of thought.

The sands of sleep miss Proteus completely. Dialydd frowns behind his veils and resolves to practice more.

Daemon turns around, just as he's about to hop off the rooftop to inspect the backside of the building and what might be hidden inside.

"Of course..." He says as the sound of the scuffle reaches his ears. This new information doesn't dissuade him or deter him from his original plan.

He turns on his heel and drops to the ground facing the building. He lands without a sound.

He checks inside the closest window to make sure he's not spotted. Then he crouches down near the sliding glass door. He tests it to make sure the door is locked. No sense in wasting valuable time trying to pick a lock or put a hole large enough for his hand to fit through to unlock the door when its wide open.

He finds it unlocked. But no matter, Daemon has met few locales that were capable of denying him entry.

He finds this beachhouse is no different than the majority. He pulls the lock diagram up in his menta datastream and then picks the lock with practiced efficiency.

A moment later, he's sliding the door open and disappearing from sight again as he moves towards Proteus and the other heroes. Their location relative to him is easy enough to find- they aren't being quiet after all.//Full phase move through house to get into position behind Proteus without his awareness if possible.

Proteus is expressionless as he decides to instead key on the target who identified him, rather than the detective. Its form shifts to that of Ellbeth, but still with a bladed arm, and it brings down the weapon on its target...

Ellbeth is protected from physical injury by her shielding spell and enchanted robes. The impact shakes her up though, as does being down from the sheer force of the bladed strike.

Daemon creeps up behind Proteus. He deactivates his nanocloak and comes into view just as he winds up to punch Proteus from behind.

So far his tactical decision to continue around the back has not cost anyone their lives. He's grateful for that and plans to do whatever is in power to keep that from happening.

Simultaneously, he hopes Proteus hasn't destroyed any evidence here in the beachhouse.

With spider-like speed and strength he hurls his balled up fist at the robotic lifeform. He doesn't pull his punches- as he hopes to catch the android by surprise.

Proteus gets struck and its body seems to give slightly as it's hit. It topples over, placing its arms on the ground. Like a liquid, its body morphs until it is upright again.

Natasha tries once again to corrode the nasty robot with rusting breath!

Proteus grimaces as its surface rusts over and becomes brittle. It isn't used to this...after all, it should be rust-proof. In theory.

Carpenter backs up, getting a little distance, and he draws his firearm, leveling it at Proteus.

Robe watches the fight and decides to try a different tactic as he raises his defenses about himself. He thinks "Hopefully I can affect its mind. Well, no harm in trying." as he tries to weave a waking dream of everyone being just slightly out of their true position in Proteus' mind so as to give them better defense against the shapeshifter..

Ellbeth climbs back to her feet and then reaches out with her mind to try and grab Proteus and hold him still.

Proteus shifts, causing the rust to shear away...and it lashes out with an extended bladed arm at Natasha.

Ellbeth stares in shocked surprise as Proteus stretches out to attack Natasha. She thought she had the android all wrapped up.

Carpenter fires as Proteus breaks free, and the bullet goes 'thud' against the android's body. The bullet drops harmlessly to the ground.

Natasha is annoyed that the robot got out of the corrosion, but is still quick enough to dodge its attack!

Daemon watches in sickening curiousity as Proteus absorbs his blow by turning himself inside out- or something.

He steps back to try another tactic out.

He leaps up to the ceiling and skitters a bit further back from Proteus.

He watches Natasha magically rust the stainless robot with keen interest.

Daemon pulls up the electromagnetic band around him and targets Proteus. He searches for some kind of signal coming to or from the robot. Perhaps violence is not the path here. Perhaps he can hack his way through this burgeoning fiasco.

His results aren't promising.

He shrugs from his upside down perch and throws a punch at Proteus. It's more of a punch at the air between he and Proteus- but as soon as his arm is fully extended a flat disc covered in webbing is launched from the top of his hands.

The disc rotates in the air to maintain its trajectory as it flies towards the android.

Proteus is hit...but only because he'

Proteus is hit...but only because he's being held currently by Ellbeth. The disc hits the android and it shudders. That definitely had an effect.

Robe notes the various tactics being used against Proteus and frown behind his veils. He decides to double down and try to maintain the daydream he's hopefully planted in Proteus mind while thinking 'If the Mechanic had left me my gun, I'd probably be more effective versus this robot.'//Maintaining Mental Illusion, DCV 6

Daemon holds his ground... well ceiling.

He throws a left punch in the air repeating his previous effort. Another disc is launched as his arm is extended.

Proteus is hit again by the stun disc...and it wobbles. It's not quite out of commission, but it's awful close.

Now the magical rust has been flaked off by Proteus she attempts to tightens the grip she has on the android squeezing it and, wondering just how far it can stretch, lifting it up in the air as far as she can at this moment.

Proteus struggles against Ellbeth's grip, but it finally concedes. Its body collapses, but still retaining Ellbeth's appearance...plus the bladed arms.