Log:The Call of the Queen

All Hail the Carrion Queen 2014/10/30 Alistair Chen Ghostfist Guardian Lightray Paragon Pelana Porter Shaman 4

Old Town

Built on a long ridge rising slowly to Colonial Heights to the south, this is the oldest part of town. Narrow, often cobbled streets with cast iron streetlights still in the shape of the ancient gas lamps predominate, some residential, some commercial - even down side alleys delightful old shops can be found. Main Street runs its cobbled shop-lined length straight as an arrow from Colonial Heights to City Center, and feels to this day the heart of the city, for all that it plays to the tourists. Many of the buildings are old as the streets but as well maintained; others, like the main library, stand in contrast. The Main Street MagLev line runs the whole length of the road and farther, but parallel a bit to the east, to avoid disrupting its historic beauty.

The air is chilly and the smell of petrichor hangs int he air. It's not raining now, but it was a little earlier, leaving the streets wet and reflective. Shimmering. Beautiful as they reflect the lights and lit up business signs along Old Town's cobbled streets. They make up for the dark clouds blocking the starry sky. Too bad the rain forced most of the tourists and locals inside to avoid the rain, and most have yet to emerge.

Another reflective figure stands at the closed wrought iron gates of the cemetery, two ghostly lit orbs recessed in a featureless helm with two eye-slots. Paragon is just immobile, gazing into the hallowed grounds of the cemetery. Eventually, she takes a single half step towards it and halts.

Look! Up in the sky! It's... air! Well, and an Osprey flying over the city, headed back towards the nearest base. But.. up there, Abigail, in her fatigues, gives a salute to the craft commander, even though she outranks him.. it's a courtesy that she never skimps on. She steps over to the side hatch and leaps out. Skydiving without a parachute might actually be impressive.. if one couldn't -fly-. But Abby just enjoys the feel of the freefall for a bit... before popping her chute, so to speak. Her golden aura flares up as she gets within a small distance to the ground... and her descent slows until she sets her boots down on the sidewalk in Old Town. She turns and waves towards the craft that really... can't see her, and can't be seen anymore in the night sky. But.. again, they know she did it. She always does it.

Frankie Ghostfist prowls through the streets of Old Town, boots clipping and clopping against the wet cobblestones with sure footfalls while her leather longcoat gently whooshes in the breeze of her own movement. Tonight Ghostfist is not a gumshoe, but a monster hunter and she does not bother to hide it. What finally makes her pause is the sight of Paragon, just up the street, staring into the cemetery.

After observing Paragon for a long, long while, the huntress begins to move toward the lonely, still figure. Her hazel gaze flickers toward the golden Abigail slowing her own plummet to the merest of hops, skips, and jumps, studying the Marine for a few moments before Ghostfist returns her attention to Paragon, her stride in that direction unbroken.

Ghostfist knows about the rot that's been infesting the city, but that's it. However, she feels a sort of magical charge in the air. Something unhealthy and fetid. Yes, it's coming from the cemetery, but this is beyond that. It's somewhat centered over the cemetery, and spreads out around the surrounding block.

Pelana descends from the sky, all seven feet of her. She spied Paragon from up above, and she lands a considerate distance away, approaching slowly and openly. It should be noted that, as Pelana is a literal red dragon-woman, she probably looks fairly monstrous. On the other hand, her image is on movie posters and billboards all over town.

Paragon takes another step towards the cemetery and reaches her hand out tentatively for the gate until she lays a plated hand against the wet metal. Her attentions are focused beyond the gate as her head tilts slowly. Eventually, she notices Ghostfist's approach and pans her head towards her. "Do you feel that...?" she murmurs in an unsettled voice.

Ghostfist regards Paragon as the undead heroine's helm pivots toward her. Offering a grunt, Frankie doesn't so much respond as give the impression of understanding the unfinished question. She steps up alongside Paragon, hazel eyes flickering toward the cemetery for a moment before fixing back on Paragon herself again.

"Something bad lies in wait," comments Ghostfist, indicating the cemetery with a slightly gesture of her head.

Pelana trots up. "What's the the cemetery duty, folks? I know it's almost Halloween, but c'mon, you don't really expect ghosts, do you?" You paged Abigail with 'Up to you. Was just asking in case you wanted to RP developing a bit of a sense for this.'

In her very best Batman voice, Ghostfist replies to Pelana, "I ALWAYS expect ghosts."

And.. the odds are, Abigail's rapid descent and then sudden and abrupt cessation of descent.. passed by Pelana at a high speed. Well before she activated her golden plasma field. "Excuse me!" she called out as she passed Pelana. But then she landed and waved, and was grinning. Her grin fades a bit as she notices Paragon. She inclines her head and starts striding closer.

Paragon nods briefly to Ghostfist. "Something's...calling. Something's coming." Having Pelana trot up seems to snap Paragon out of her hazy fugue state and she takes a few rapid steps back from the cemetery, pulling her hand away from it as if concerned it would get burned or bitten. "Ghosts? No. Not now. Not yet."

Pelana hmms. "You think I should get big? I can totally get big if that'd help."

"It's not necessary," comments Ghostfist to Pelana. She frowns slightly, glaring into the cemetery as though reading the morning news. Her hands absently get shoved into the pockets of her leather coat, the gator scales glistening slickly in the street lights. "The energy is still building... Whatever you want to call this - summoning, conjuring, passing, whatever - isn't done yet."

"Feel what?" asks Abby as she steps closer. She inclines her head, "But.. seriously, if something is calling. Don't answer. Let it go to voicemail." she replies absently. She's no longer glowing of course, and in her olive green fatigues, not even a costume or street clothes. She even has her Marine ballcap style lid on. She eyes Ghostfist, knowing that she's an expert on stuff kinda like this. "Any thoughts?" she asks before grinning to Pelana in silent greeting.

Paragon may be only half listening to Abigail as she goes back to watching something beyond the cemetery gates.

Pelana peers. No magical senses trained, or other ones, more's the pity.

"It's some kind of summoning... Incomplete, like I said, but its effects are far ranging," replies Ghostfist. The huntress still hasn't shifted her gaze from the cemetery, though she seems to direct her attention toward her periphery to answer. Shifting her weight, Ghostfist casts a glance off toward one side of the cemetery and then the other, hazel eyes gleaming in the street lights. "Too many options, not enough information to narrow things down."

What are the odds that Porter would pass a cemetery on or around Halloween? One hundred percent, even if not by choice. He's not looking for trouble, especially not now. Just walking, wandering, thinking. Just not much thinking about where he's going. Or much attention, either.

Pelana is present nearby Paragon. Despite assurances to the contrary, she seems to be debating the wisdom of going kaiju, for this situation.

Ghostfist is standing beside Paragon, in full monster hunting garb, and is also staring darkly into the cemetery. She may or may not be trying to will evidence to leap out of the cemetery and into her hands.

Porter finally looks up from his thoughts at the large splash of red. "Oh, hey, Pel. What's..." His words pause as he notices Para and Ghostfist "...up?"

There's a skittering, scraping sound, and Ghostfist's sign comes. Spreading out from under the gates is a swarm of vermin, ranging from rats, to worms, to cockroaches, and everything in between. Lightning and thunder crack across the skies, leaping in between the clouds. It grows much colder and breezier.

After the mass exodus, a black opaque aura surrounds the the central part of the cemetery in a dome shape.

".. the hell?" asks Abigail as she reflexively lifts off the ground, spinning about as she does so like she's in some Chop Saki flick. She sees the vermin boiling out of the cemetery and narrows her eyes, "Do I blast'em?" she asks. And then.. the dome comes up. "Oh son of a..." she begins.

Ghostfist doesn't so much react to the mass exodus of vermin and worms nor even the vast dome of opaque darkness as she reacts to... Something else. The huntress' hands come out of her coat pockets, though one dips inside the coat itself and somewhere behind her back as she takes a step backward and a step sideways, slightly away from Paragon. A moment later, Ghostfist's eyes shade toward Paragon, widening in a mixture of horror and revulsion.

"The summoning is completing. The dome is some kind of spell - defense of some kind, perhaps? - but... Paragon."

Her free hand reaches out toward Paragon's shoulder as Ghostfist pulls a large dagger out from under her coat with her other hand. For the moment, these two actions seem disconnected from one another. "Paragon? Can you hear me?"

Paragon. Porter wasn't expecting to run into her. Any other day, he'd be thrilled to. Now, he's not so sure. "Something's wrong!" And he knows wrong. "Para?" He starts running for her and Ghostfist.

Paragon doesn't react verbally to Ghostfist's questioning. But her head slowly pans towards her. As she does so, two Wraiths float through the walls of the cemetery, one on each side of the gate.

Wraiths

Two ghostly apparitions with boney arms and stretched skin that poke out of tattered robes. They float and flutter in the air with dark hoods and no legs to speak of.

"Okay, am I shooting anything?" asks Abigail as she hovers there inside her golden glow. "Ghostfist, this is your specialty. Consider me a buck private and you the officer. Tell me what I'm doin' here." she adds. "Correction, what -we- are doing."

"The swarm's nothing," comments Ghostfist. She shakes Paragon lightly by the shoulder, receiving no particular response from the undead heroine. Frowning, Ghostfist glances over at Porter and offers a shrug, her gaze flickering toward the wraiths and then the cemetery walls again. "The summoning is beyond the barrier. Think you can shell it from here?"

Frankie's attention promptly shades back toward the shades, eyes narrowing as her grip tightens on her knife. Her lips peel back into a vicious, silent snarl as she sizes them up.

"Depends. Is that dome enclosed or do I need to blast through it?" asks Abigail. "But.. I can get some altitude and see if an airstrike is possible." And.. she puts action to words, launching herself that way.

"Something's wrong with Para!" Porter saw the bugs, and the black dome thing. He just has priorities. When the bad feeling gets worse the closer he gets to her, the more worried he gets. "Para?" He'll reach for her other shoulder to see if that helps. Meanwhile, his other hand hits a button on the thingamadoohickey on his belt.

At the mention of shelling the barrier, Paragon finally starts to turn about to face the other heroes and spreads out her arms, one hand in a fist, the other palm open. She starts to slam the two together with a thundering crack.

The wraiths react to the talk of the dome as well, and move around the same time Paragon does. One moves towards Ghostfast and raises a hand towards her. The other rotates in the air towards Abigail and draws down its hood.

Porter isn't sure what to make of things. Eeerie black domes. Wraithly things. And then Paragon acting weird. There's at least one possibly commonality here that he knows of. And someone said stuff was going on inside the dome. If that's what causing things, the quicer it's gone. "Can you get in and blow it up?!" Because there could always be a reflection of moonlight on the thing. Or maybe there's a flicker in the magic. Or maybe it went for a smoke break?

The massive dome remains unphased by Porter's luck. This time.

Caught between a threatening Paragon and a wraith pointing a hand at her, Ghostfist looks momentarily befuddled. Her befuddlement passes as surely as the crippling wave of cold that seems to roll off her back like water off a duck. Ghostfist's silent snarl turns predatory as her hazel eyes fix on the wraith in front of her.

Light starts to flicker and sputter around Ghostfist's knife-free hand, eventually turning into a faintly visible orb of ghostly "flame". Ghostfist takes a step toward the wraith and swings her fist at it's hooded face.

With the sound of great wings beating, Lightray flies into the combat propelled by his featherless tendril-like wings. A sword seemingly composed of sunlight glows in his hand as he prepares to strike at one the wraiths. The golden glowing blue haired figure shouts out in basso profundo, "You have to stop the ritual! I don't know how much longer I can resist! She, she calls..." His voice breaks with longing on the word 'She.'

The flame and strike form Ghostfist causes the wraith to flicker as it goes through its head. It makes a horrible hissing sound of something without breath.

Paragon is slow moving and unaffected by Porter's touch. Like a giant clockwork machine, she winds her arms back and brings them together with sudden speed and force, causing a massive shockwave to rattle Porter, Ghostfist, and even the wraiths to some lesser degree. Even the gates of the cemetery rattle and bend away from Paragon from the force she unleashes.

"SHE?! Oh, shi-" Porter never finishes the sentence as he's knocked backwards and onto the ground by the point-blank shockwave.

Fresh off of beating an unsolid wraith in the face, Ghostfist hears a terrible *BOOM* and gets hurled nearly 12 feet by the shockwave. Sadly, all she can think is 'Watta revoltin' development.'

The wraiths waver in the air from the blast, drifting away from Paragon.

Lightray shudders in something like both pain and pleasure at the sound of Paragon's shockwave. The glowing figure then turns in mid air to look to the living he now faces. In a harsh voice, he pronounces, "None shall prevent my Queen's arrival! Let the grave give you the peace you seek!" He then flashes forward in flight to strike at Porter with his sword of sunlight.

Porter barely has the chance to blink and flinch as the glowing sword slices through his ...hoodie and shirt, just grazing his skin. Maybe there's a benefit to not be swollen with massive muscles after all?

Chen hears a disturbance and charges towards it. Rounding a corner she sees Paragon at bay with supposed heroes ganging up on her. And among that number is Porter, who's incurred Chen's ire by breaking up with Paragon. "I'm here for you, Paragon!" she yells as her right arm extends in a jabbing martial fast strike at the aforementioned Porter.

Porter is smacked for a third time in less than as many seconds. Yeah... it's going to be one of THOSE days. Though... Ok, he really can't blame Chen. Even if he wasn't bouncing along the pavement... Shaking his head, he yells, "She's not herself! Neither is he! It's the Queen! Keep them busy!" As he gets busy smacking buttons on the belt thingamawhatsit. He already had the idea to try and get inside the dome to stop HER. Now? Hell, it seems like an even better idea. It's probably safer!

Porter vanishes with a FLASH-THWUMP of light and sound. NO longer is he sitting unceremoniously on his butt in the street. Now he's doing it inside the dome. Somewhere.

Porter sees: That mysterious somewhere in the dome is atop a grave with wilted flowers. Now that Porter is within, he can see several meters away atop a gently sloping hill, a crypt with a man standing before it. Encircling the crypt are several robed cultists chanting in a language you don't...wait, you know Latin! They're speaking it much more eloquently though.

Shaking her head, Abigail gets her pulse under control. "Seriously. It's a commercial holiday. I think folks are taking this -way- too far." she mutters. She eyes Paragon, and then the dome. Then Porter vanishes and she seems to get the idea that he's doing that whole.. antithesis of a soldier... being a hero. "Ghostfist. These guys have the stereotypical fear crap." she remarks as she streaks forward and launches at the shadowstuff dome, a plasma blast. She's testing a theory....

Oh look, reinforcements - except one is saying he's succumbing to some nebulous, unknown female. That's going to be a problem isn't it?

Ghostfist is trying to keep track of everything going on as she rolls across the sidewalk after Paragon's shockwave. She finally comes to a stop some 4 meters away from where she started, scuffed and dirty, but not injured apparently. As Porter struggles to teleport away, Ghostfist works to push herself back up to her feet and narrows her eyes at Chen and Lightray.

"The /HELL/ are you doing?! Paragon and Archangel here are under some necromancer's spell. Quit trying to kill us and start helping to free them," roars Ghostfist as she regains her bearings. In the process, the huntress adopts a defensive posture so she can better fend off attacks. You know, just in case.

Paragon turns around in a circle at the disappearance of Porter, her gaze focusing on the dome, then looking to Lightray. "Protect the Queen's passage." She turns about and leaps at Ghostfist, since she's the one resisting human. Her fist draws back. Then it comes forward.

As it turns out, setting herself up for defense is a good thing. Ghostfist's eyes widen in horror as Paragon leaps at her, the monster hunter whirling her knife around in one hand. She pivots back on one foot, sweeping her knife arm up and around to hook Paragon's forearm and drag it to one side. Promptly, Ghostfist steps into the space left by turning Paragon's fist to the side and ducks under the strike entirely, whirling around once she's clear of the marauding heroine.

Chen is not going to turn on her big sis on one unsupported comment. But she can check, and should at least do so. "Sis, the cake you left in the oven is burning." she calls out. That will either bring a response from Paragon, or Paragon is under control. There's no other alternatives. So having spoken she waits for a response.

Paragon doesn't seem to respond or care about the cake as she tries, and fails, to punch Ghostfist's head clean off.

Chen sighs, "Okay, under control. What's going on, guys?" she calls out to any others with free will. Then she decides that is nothing else, since she would be hard put to hit Paragon despite the circumstances, she can distract her. Running over she offers herself as a target, sending feet tendrils into the ground to anchor herself and bulking up her defenses as much as possible. A grab attempt is made just to draw Paragon's attention.

Here's to hoping that the dome is made of energy of some sort. Abigail shakes her head and drifts even closer to it. She stops about 2 meters from it and rolls her neck. She starts building a charge on her fists... and just keeps building as she clasps her hands together.

Lightray grits his teeth so hard the grinding can be heard from a distance then he shouts out in ringing tones, "NO! I AM THE SEAL BEARER!" The golden glowing figure flies forward so as to be in Paragon's field of view. He then levels his gaze on the armored figure and unleashes a blinding burst of sunlight at her.

The blinding light sears into Paragon's eyes. The glowing lights in her helm shrink down to pinpoints in reaction and she claps a plated hand over her eyes too late. They make a ringing clang as gauntlet hits faceplate.

Porter now, finally, stands up. Oh, neat. A circle of people doing magic stuff. He doesn't know alot, but he knows enough to know it's bad. People really shouldn't mess with magic. It's unstable. He should know. So he focuses on the central one leading the ritual to bring POrter knows what here. All it takes is a case of the hiccups, dyslexia, mental flatulence. Klaatu barada ...what?

The ritual caster hiccups on one of the words, causing a blast of deathly magic to surge from the papyrus scroll he reads from. He is shakened, but remains standing and turns his angry gaze towards Porter. "Keep chanting! I shall deal with this Unbeliever."

"The summoning is happening inside of the dome," shouts Ghostfist to Chen. She helpfully gestures, with her giant dagger, toward the opaque black dome in the midst of the cemetery to illustrate her point. Ghostfist looks around at the enemies around her - which may still include Lightray - and frowns. "BREAK THROUGH. STOP THE RITUAL. KEEP THE QUEEN OUT."

Around Ghostfist's feet, while she's shouting at Chen, there is a flash of blue-white energy. Her whole body momentarily glows with a nimbus of that energy, but it starts to fade away as her energy levels normalize. The huntress twists away from Paragon, feeling the heat of Lightray's explosion of light on her back, and abruptly explodes into motion. She sprints toward the nearer of the wraiths - presumably the one she previously beat in the face - as that faint inferno of spectral/mystical power coalesces around her fist again.

Planting her lead foot, Ghostfist pivots into the punch, aiming to plow her fist clean through the wraith's skull this time.

Blinded, Paragon just tries to strike out blindly. She draws back her fist and slams it into the ground like a jackhammer. This unfortunately affects the wraiths, but what does one care about the Dead? Chen and Ghostfist are still close enough to be affected.

The wraiths drift slowly away from Paragon, but don't seem to be affected too much by the actual wave of force much. One raises a hand to Ghostfist. The other starts to fly back towards the dome as it shudders from the impact of Abigail's punch. There was some affect. It flickers for a moment, but remains.

An icy blast of life draining cold energy streaks past Ghostfist.

There's a lot of crazy stuff going on down at the cemetary. It's hard to miss, with all the crazy flashing lights and weird noises. Either it's a rave or a fight. Either way, having been close enough to teleport to the cemetary without landing inside of something, Alistair pops into existance on top of one of the gravestones and smack dab in the middle of everything that is going down, "What in the blue hell did I stumble into this time?" He wonders aloud, as he looks around at all the craziness. He's trying to figure out who or what needs to get punched so he can put a stop to this.

Narrowing her eyes when the dome didn't give way to her blast, Abigail shakes her head. "Damnable magic crap." she mutters as she causes her aura to flare up... pushing all of her power into it as she tries landing -on- the dome and melting through.

For a moment, Abigail isn't visible. Her aura of glowing bright golden, bright enough to obscure her entirely. But finally... the barrier begins to dissolve about her feet... she's biting her lip to -not- yell due to the effort this is taking... but she drops through the wall finally and her aura fades out as it captures her and holds her aloft inside once more... and.. she's just.. a bit pooped now.

Porter is still on his butt. But... at least his butt is inside the dome. The head magicky guy noticed and is coming his way. But he's not Porter's concern. It's more the ritual, itself. He's going to make her renege on her promise. If the portal thingy ritual can be stopped, maybe her influence here will be, too. So he aims to interrupt the chanting again. By chanting himself. In Latin! Like when you're trying to count something and someone else starts spouting off random numbers? Annoying and can screw things up. And Porter's good at screwing things up. "E pluribus unum! Equus! amscray eenquay!"

Something went terribly wrong for a moment there. One of the newer cultists gets thrown off by Porter's latin and can't focus on his part in the ceremony. Another blast wave of magical energy explodes from somewhere within the circle. Given the spread of the blast, the lead mage is buffeted the most and hardly affected despite the powerful explosion. The magic cascades mostly around him as a glowing aura protects him. The outer circle of cultists are caught as well and rattled, but remain standing and hold fast to their chanting. Up above, Abigail is hit as well. And of course, Porter is caught in his own blast...

Porter was going for big and he got big. Too bad he didn't get big exactly where he wanted it. He's already ducking and covering as the blast washes over him.

There's a saying about when you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Pelana's hammer is being huge, strong, and unstoppable, but a dark evil force barrier seems to be JUST the sort of problem being huge and strong is idea for solving! Having taken a moment to shift to her natural size, she runs up, more or less ignoring the cemetary wall and slamming her fists into the dome with a double-handed, overhead blow.

Pelana 's fists slam into the dome, but it holds up under her assault. Clearly, this needs a bigger hammer, or maybe a screwdriver.

Mamud Al Hazrad

A lean looking man of angular mixed heritage, Middle Eastern with blue eyes (perhaps some european descent?) and salt and pepper hair and a van dyke beard. Dressed in dark robs with a dark gray scarf draped over his shoulders.

The head cultist finishes some words on a scroll in a language even Porter doesn't understand. The sigils on the scroll begin to glow a sickly green. He begins to laugh. "You pathetic wretches cannot stop her now. Soon, you will know her power! Her mercy! I shall raise an army, in Her name!" Mamud points a finger at Porter. "You. Unbeliever! How dare you violate sacred ground. You should KNEEL before the coming of your true Queen. Worship her. Join her." His words carry a compelling force with them.

The grass around Mamud's feet withers and dies, turning into dried cracked earth. It in an expanding wave, it spreads like a sickness out from where he stands, and the landscape starts to change and warp. It's not that the cemetery itself is being warped, as much as it's being replaced by a different landscape. As the wave expands, the crypt is replaced by a twisted black throne of metal, in front of which stands the Carrion Queen in her regal glory. The wave continues to expand until all within the dome is replaced by a small slice of her dimension of decay. The Dead appear, ambling hordes of skeletons and zombies in varying states of decay with medieval weaponry. The air becomes much colder and windier than it was before. The air becomes hazy with swirling maelstroms of gnats and flies that create an incessant buzzing sound. She has come. As she promised.

Abigail can see it, but she can also feel it...another expanding energy field. Ghostfist can sense it, too. Magical decay and death. The ring of cultists fall to their knees in praise and cease their chanting.

The Wraiths float in the air and seem to sense their Queen. Even blinded, Paragon shivers and twists her head in the direction of the Queen, feeling her call. Seeing Pelana trying to strike down the dome, they glide across the ground towards her and stretch out their boney hands. Cold, icy, life draining energy shoots towards Pelana.

Porter is already on the ground. Maybe the guy has a point. He is the head.. whatever of Her Majesty. He turns onto his stomach and prostrates himself for Her coming.

Paragon still can't tell who's around her, but she smashes her foot into the ground heavily, causing another shockwave striking anyone nearby.

It takes Alistair a couple of moments of looking around to try to figure out what's happening. He still doesn't have it all figured out. It looks like Paragon is crazy and there are weird ghost looking things attacking people and a huge dome...He at first considers going after the dome itself, because clearly they need to get in there, but then the creatures go after Pelana, and he decides to jump into action.

And by jump, of course, that means teleport. He vanishes from view only to appear right behind one of the wraiths. He doesn't know if these things are even sentient, so he decides to hold off on the witty one liner and instead cocks back to launch a massive haymaker blow to the back of it's head.

Well he doesn't get the element of surprise that he wanted, but it doesn't seem like he needs it, as the half-demon cleanly strikes his target square in the side of the head, instead of the back like he had originally planned. Maybe it won't do as much damage this way, but it's still a clean hit.

The wraith Alistair strikes hisses and fades out of existence with an agonizing shriek that pierces the ears.

"Yeah yeah, durka durka durka... all you would be conquerers sound the same. Blah blah, I am the greatest, blah blah, I will rule all, blah." says Abigail. She shakes her head, "You all forget that people just won't put up with your crap and you'll eventually just get beaten. Better that you just stop trying this. Let me illustrate for starters." she remarks as she suddenly drops out of the sky, streaking towards the ground below. She lands and strikes the ground with her fist... a glowing fist that sends an eruption of energy outward from her in every direction.

And as the energy explodes outward, Abigail stands up... glowing as she absorbs the impact of all that... she looks at the Queen, "Your move." she says.

Several skeletons and zombies are knocked to the ground from the blast, but are already shambling to their feet. The Carrion Queen stands impassively, unimpressed as her minions just rise again. "My poor Children. You are all so lost. Conflicted. -Divided-. I have come to save you all from this chaotic life." She extends a hand graciously to Abigail. "I give my gifts freely."

"Then we refuse them. Please feel free to go home with them in your possession still." replies Abby flippantly.

Porter seems roused by the flash of light and power at Abigail's landing. He lifts his head and stands up. "Leave her alone! My Queen brings peace!" Peace. Oh, how wonderful it'd be to be able to take a vacation without something trying to kill him or somebody he cares for. He's not about to let people stop that. Even Abigail. With all the explosions lately, all kinds of dirt and debris are still coming down out of the air. So it's not too surprising that a large mass of wet grave dirt and whatever was buried in it comes down for Abigail's head.

For a second, Ghostfist feels everything come to a screeching halt. Her stomach twists as her magical senses inform her of the expanding fields of mystical death and decay. The huntress staggers a step, the spectral "flames" around her fist snuffing themselves out an instant before Paragon's foot smashes into the ground to send waves of earth and pavement rolling outward.

Ghostfist weathers the onslaught, though not without taking a few bruising blows to her body. Mystical energy flickers around her feet, though it fades away once the shockwave finally passes. Straightening up, Ghostfist looks from Paragon toward the cemetary and the field of darkness in particular. Oh look, Alistair showed up - that's useful.

"ALISTAIR! I NEED TO GET INSIDE OF THAT DAMNED THING!"

Promptly, Ghostfist takes off sprinting toward what she seems to believe is a half-way point between the Black Dome and Paragon. When she skids to a halt on the cracking, dusty earth within the graveyard, Ghostfist immediately goes into a defensive posture.

The Carrion Queen

A black-haired woman whose skin is tinted blue, wrapped in black linen bindings that have torn loose in places and fallen away, leaving exposed flesh. She is gaunt, barefoot, and her eyes pools of pure blackness.

The new Queen steps down from her throne and walks regally towards Abigail. The surrounding circle of cultists all swoon at her passing. Or more accurately, they collapse to the ground and faint. The ground seems to sicken and gray within a radius of the Queen and moves with her. "What I do is for the best of all." Her black eyes seem to smoke with dark energy and a blackened cloud extends from her hand towards Abigail.

Unable to see it really, Abigail cringes as she feels the power wash over her. She grits her teeth and is working to try to rub the grit out of her eyes, "Of all the..." and then the death magic hits her and her body absorbs power that she's flooded with an eerie sensation. It doesn't.. decay her like the queen expects. She literally glows a bit and then the glow turns inward as she sucks in the energy. It doesn't even damage her clothing. But... as she absorbs it, there's a bit of the death power that echoes within her... the skin about her eyes darkening just a bit. "Seriously, is that the best you've got?" she asks.

This is crazy as hell. Oh great now Frankie is yelling at him again. Why is she always yelling at him? "Fine!" He yells back at her, vanishing again from the place he'd been standing in only to appear behind her, "You want inside? Lets do this!"

And then he vanishes again, this time dragging Frankie along with him as they teleport to just on the other side of the barrier. He'll let her go as soon as they're inside, so she can do whatever crazy mystical stuff she needs to.

Well that seems to have worked. Alistair isn't quite sure how he managed to actually pull off a completely blind teleport without teleporting into a tombstone or something crazy, but he appears safely with Ghostfist right inside of the shield, "Go do your thing."

Mamud backpedals as his Queen marches forth as he rolls up the papyrus scroll. "Yes. She's here. At last. All my plans have come to fruition." His gaze turns to the recalcitrant Abigail. "How dare you defy her Glory?" he spits out the words. He speaks words of the Arcane and draws a sigil in the air.

The remaining wraith outside the dome slowly glides towards the outer shell, fading and becoming transparent as it passes through the weakened barrier.

"Blah blah, as I said, you're just a wannabe." says Abigail as she leaps into the air, spins about once, twice, three times before coming down with one foot lashing out and angling to strike from above on a mildly downward angle at the Queen.

The blast strikes, and explodes out from the Queen's body. The golden energy sucks into Abigail's pores and she is flung into the air where she spins backwards, landing on her feet once more and looking all graceful. That is of course, until Mamud assaults her mind and her hands come up to her head. "Oh fu** you!" she calls out... a true marine at heart, as she goes to one knee... not both knees, not bowing and scraping.. she's still resisting.. a little.

Porter turns at the sound of more arrivals. He eyes Ghostfist and Alistair. He's somewhat familiar with one, might sort of know the other. Alistair is the more frightening-looking one. Who also looks like he should be kneeling. But he isn't. "Show your joy for our Queen and kneel!" A nearby crypt, one of the fancy ones with spires made of granite and marble, finally succumbs to all the buffeting in a delayed reaction. The large stone cross atop it tips and falls from above for Alistair. Perhaps it's divine intervention?

...and falls with a crash right between Ghostfist and Alistair.

"I had faith in you, Alistair," remarks Ghostfist. Maybe she can smell his surprise at not being fused to a zombie. The huntress pulls away from Alistair for a moment, though she freezes in place as something seems to strike her attention. Perking, Ghostfist's gaze sweeps across the interior of the dome toward Mamud as a predatory smile spreads across her lips.

"If I keep them distracted, you think you can get me that Judas Priest over there," inquires Frankie, gesturing toward Mamud. She takes a deep breath, turning away from Alistair and Mamud both, bringing her hands up to begin making hand signs. Murmuring under her breath, Ghostfist seems to be trying to do something sneaky. Her sneakiness, however, is disrupted by Porter dropping a stone cross into the limited space between her and Alistair. The monster hunter jumps, her preparations broken and the magical energies she was summoning sputtering out almost immediately.

Paragon can't hear anything close enough for her to hit. Her head pans about as she tries to locate someone to attack, but there's too much noise to focus.

Pelana is frustrated by the inability to pierce the dome, so she tries hitting it again. It's got to batter down eventually, after all!

The barrier starts to sag inward from Pelana's blow, like someone pressing down on a balloon. Pelana manages to drive her fist so far past the barrier that it it pops out of existence, revealing the slice of the Carrion Queen's dimensional realm of Decay that has replaced the inner part of the cemetery. Hordes of zombies and skeletons amble about and are slowly marching their way outwards from the center of the barrier and towards the cemetery gate. Some heroes are scattered amidst the horde, outnumbered by the score. Near the top of a gently sloping hill is a black twisted iron throne, and several meters before it, stands the Carrion Queen. A circle of cultists lie on the ground about the throne, and one cultist in fine robes stands beside the throne and backs away slowly.

Well this certainly isn't what you expect when you are walking home! The marred man comes moving in no faster than a normal human, He doesn't seem too happy about the whole, getting there late when stuff is going down. He may be MEta Human but he's not that much more powerful than say, an athlete. Still civic duty and what have you, as wall as the whole animal spirits not liking somehting going on then. Shaman Bust his hump to even get on the scene to see what is going on. A tad out of breath. "Oh... zombies... okay, what is going on here?"

The undead horde slowly lurches out to make their way to the cemetery gates and the city at large. They are slow to react to the heroes that just appeared in their midst, but they are Legion.

The Carrion Queen glides barefoot past the blinded Abigail and rests a hand on her shoulder in passing as her deathly aura saps the life from her. She caresses loyal Porter's cheek lovingly in passing as she continues her march towards Ghostfist and Alistair, who are in her path towards the city gates. She moves swiftly and silently as her eyes settle on the demon. "There is no place for your kind in my Domain, filthy creature." The Queen of Decay, calling Alistair filthy? That is truly an insult. Her eyes smoke with energy and she extends her hand in a blast towards Alistair, even as her deathly aura touches all.

Well this is not at all what Alistair expected to find once they got inside. Almost as soon as they're in, he finds himself face to face with the Queen and Porter. The falling stone forces him to shove Frankie out of the way and then dive out of the way, not even having time to teleport. Laying on the ground leaves him open.

As soon as he moves towards getting to his feet, the blast from the Queen strikes him dead on in the chest and knocks him backwards. He rolls several feet before he skids to a stop face down in the dirt. Okay now he's kinda pissed. He has no idea if Ghostfist wants to continue with her original plan or not, but that's besides the point, because she's going to. He vanishes from on the ground as soon as he locks eyes on his target, appearing behind Mamud and trying to throw him into a vicious rear naked choke.

Lowering her hands from her head, Abigail mutters, "You can't even put -me- down. How do you think you're doing to rule one block, let alone one city, or a country of us?" She grits her teeth and shakes her head like a punch drunk boxer trying to wake up an addled brain, but is still on -one- knee, not accepting these 'gifts' "Take your gifts and shove'em right up your ass bitch." she mutters.

As soon as Alistair appears behind Mamud, he reaches out to wrap his right arm around the man's throat. He pulls him backwards towards the ground, making sure to throw a couple of kidney punches in there for good measure, before he moves to lock the choke in on the man, "You could end this now! Give up while you still can!"

The Carrion Queen turns her head slightly to speak over her shoulder. "How? The Dead vastly outnumber the Living," is her answer.

Mamud grunts and winces at the punches, magically shielded form the worst, but it clearly hurt. He strikes to get free. And he laughs raggedly. "End this? It has only just begun. Why would I end all I have worked towards?" he spits at the demon.

The remaining wraith drifts towards Ghostfist and extends an icy hand. Another life leeching blast streaks towards her. Porter is used to a cool hand upon his cheek. It reminds him of Third. That memory seems to kick him in the brain and in blinks as the Queen turns to Alistair. Para! Right. She's been taken over by her. Again! He eyes Abigail as his fist clenches. "How dare you talk to her like that! She's not a bitch! She's a ROYAL BITCH!" He whirls to giver her exactly what she needs. A slap.

Just about everyone can hear the resounding slap Porter gives the Carrion Queen, which dislocates her rotten jaw and snaps her head to the side. Those inky black pools turn back to Porter in stunned shock. Her hand comes up and pushes her jaw back into place. "You are not loyal," she announces in disappointment.

A sense of dread washes over Ghostfist a moment before the Carrion Queen's presence follows suit. The huntress' lustrous black hair dries out, turning brittle and splitting at the ends in a small rain of grey-black bits. She staggers a half-step away from the Queen as she feels a wrenching inside of her, something in her blood and organs turning vile and deadly under the influence of the Queen's mere proximity.

Frankie grits her teeth, clenching her hands into fists as she straightens up, her hair now noticeably close to two inches shorter than it was when she first appeared in the Rotten Domain. Hocking up a particularly disdainful loogie, Ghostfist spits a viscous, bloody blob of phlegm and spittle at the dried, cracked ground beside the Queen. Moving when the Queen's head turns toward Alistair and Mamud, Ghostfist does as she was taught to do so long ago.

Dipping down low, Ghostfist minimizes her profile as she weaves through the handful of shambling undead between her and the Carrion Queen. Timing is everything and Porter may have just provided an even greater mask to Ghostfist's approach. At the last moment, Ghostfist straightens up and drops Monsterbane into her hand again, the silver-edged Bowie knife gleaming in the sickly light of the realm in the instant before Ghostfist attempts to drive its blade through the Carrion Queen's chest.

The knife slides into the Carrion Queen's body down to the hilt, but her dead flesh doesn't bleed, nor does she seem critically injured despite the severe look to the wound. "You seek to kill what is already dead."

Shaman charges forward, throwing a punch as he enters that field of rot about the queen. the scarred man throwing a punch as he intends to barrel through the undead queen. "The Dead are not toys. Did your parents not treat you proper respect for your ancestors?" As he moves glowing yellow lights swarm around his fist and the distinctive humming of bees can be heard. Long hair cascading behind him as the native attempts to make his presence clear.

The Carrion Queen his knocked back and reels, but twists about and remains on her feet. Insects spill from the open wound left by Ghostfist. "The Dead are mine to command. They are not toys. They are my beloved subjects. Beautiful. Peaceful. Perfect. They do not war on each other. They do not fear or hate."

Shaman doesn't waste time in his assault on the Queen, as soon as she is knocked away he follows up, moving forward and attempting to strike again. Again the hum of bees and the yellow spirits follow him as he presses the attack. He has a plan, crude as it may be, but surely beating the corpse until it yeilds will eventually work. Regardless he strikes forward. Fear can be felt in his heart, but he knows what must be done.

Beetles and cockroaches spray out of the Carrion Queen's wound as she sails backwards and lands on her feet. She hunches over, her arms and shoulders sagging downwards, her neck bent at an odd angle. "You...cannot stop thissss..." her eloquent pronunciation is marred. It may be pure disbelief that keeps her standing.

Shaman quips back. "But you can bet we'll try until it kills us."

Pelana may be a little slow, but she brings a lot of power to bear. Way she figures it, even freaky undead whatever-they-ares are going to find it hard to raise armies when splattered, so, she makes with the splatting. Her recent increase in size may cause her to understimate clearances, though...

In walking over, Pelana manages to crush swaths of undead beneath her feet. Her foot comes up, and then crashes down on the Carrion Queen, driving her into the cracked earth. When she moves her foot away, insects crawl away from the Carrion Queen's impromptu grave.

The hordes of Undead slow their march into the city and stand around in confusion for a moment, before they all start wandering in random directions and groaning.

"The dead have earned their rest. Taking that away is an insult to them all." mutters Abigail even as Pelana's foot comes down. She's still scrubbing her eyes, trying to get the grit out of them.. everything has improved. Instead of a big dark blur, she sees a big bright blur.

Pelana peers down, and calls down, quietly, "Hey did I get her?"

Porter startles at the giant red foot that comes crashing down onto the Queen B. Yes, between the opaque dome and having his mind muddled, he didn't notice the 70+ foot tall dragoness. When the startle passes, he laughs and calls up boisterously. "Love ya, Pel!" Then he rubs the hand that smacked the Queen. Ow. That kind of hurt. He also catches his breath and looks around to figure out what to do next to help. Since the undead are still undeading around...

A crooked, predatory smile creeps slyly across Ghostfist's face at the Carrion Queen's response to being stabbed. The huntress dances backward and away from the point of impact for Shaman and Pelana upon Her Royal Corpseness, bringing Monsterbane up so as to inspect its silver-lined blade.

"Think what you want, bitch, I've got what I need."

Promptly Ghostfist blitzes across the intervening space to meet with Alistair and Mamud. Faint traces of afterimages are left in the huntress' wake as she sprints around and between the shambling hordes to reach her goal. Skidding to a stop in front of Alistair and Mamud, Frankie offers that crooked, predatory grin again. Her unarmed hand reaches out to collect that papyrus scroll from Mamud, wagging it around like a teacher wagging a ruler at a bawdy child.

"You won't need this. Reading with a concussion is a bad idea."

"No! What have you done! My Queen!" laments Mamud. "She...will rise again. You cannot stop her for long!"

Shaman looks at the aimlessly wandering undead and back at the heroes gathered. "Perhaps, instead of talking about our devotions to others, or asking who is to blame for... well killing something a second time, we should get the dead back to their resting place." Shaman seems very uncomfortable wtih the moral quandry of if the zombies are alive, or dead.

These guys just never know when to quit. Thankfully the other heroes took care of business with the queen. Alistair grins a little bit as Ghostfist comes up and takes the scroll. Now it's up to Alistair to take care of Mamud. He leans in to where he's holding Mamud, "We could have done this the easy way." He says, releasing the hold he has around the man's neck, only to grab him around the waist.

Alistair bends backwards with all the force he can muster, hauling Mamud through the air to slam the back of his head down onto the ground with all of Alistar's enhanced demonic strength. He'll make sure not to /kill/ the guy...But that'll be about it. It probably makes a pretty sickening crunch.

The crazed fanatic flops and goes limp from Alistair's slam, putting an end to his mad ravings for now.

When her eyes do clear up, it's evident that Abigail has had a rough day here. She has a few seeping marks in the blood vessels in her face around the eyes from where the decay began to settle in. Though, it might be irritation from the grit she had. "Seriously." she mutters as she looks to Porter with a glare. "Yeah, okay." she remarks, getting to her feet. She's still in fatigues.. her hat (lid) is still on her head even. She eyes the field and a grin seeps over her face, "Well done everyone. Very well done." She remarks.

"Now, how can I help?" adds Abby towards Ghostfist as she heads towards the monster hunter's way.

As Alistair takes care of business with Mamud, Ghostfist unfurls the papyrus scroll. The huntress scans over the glyphs and text on the sheet, brows knitting together as she discerns the proper words of power for the rite of summoning. Or is it unsummoning?

Clearing her throat with a very unfeminine hocking of a second loogie, Ghostfist makes her way over toward Abigail. Pausing beside the other woman, Frankie replies, "You mind lighting up a minute? I need to burn something for this to work right."

Burny light it is. Abigail lifts a hand and offers a glow to ignite whatever it is that Ghostfist needs burned. "As, and ye shall receive."

Ghostfist takes a deep breath. Speaking calmly, clearly, and in the appropriately ominous, deep tones one needs to recite ancient mystical incantations, Ghostfist begins the Rite of Unsummoning. It takes her well over a minute to get to the part where she plunges Monsterbane's blade into the plasma flame Abby has been asked to supply, setting ablaze skin and tissue samples from the Carrion Queen to seal the binding and banishing with a flash of light, a blast of noxious green-black smoke, and the funk of 40,000 years.

Porter doesn't know much about undead. Well, not the icky mindless or fleshless ones milling about. The only one he knows much about is-CRAP!... is still out on the street somewhere. He gives Abigail a sheepish, and quick, look along with a "Sorry!" Then he turns to run back for the street-side of the cemetery. Where there's still a Para somewhere, hopefully.

Shaman sighs, and begins chanting a Prayer in cherokee over the impromptu grave. He can't offer much, he is no chief shaman, let alone a real shaman. he merely is a Metahuman honoring what he has been taught. He does seem remorseful that her re-entombment is what it took for this fight to end.

At the end of the ritual, there's a whooshing sound of the air picking up. The buzzling sound of the bugs flying in the air fades away, and like a collapsing globe, the landscape of the Carrion Queen's domain shrinks away, taking the undead and the Queen with it. In a few moments, the dimension rift closes completely, leaving the cemetery as it was, with green grass and only normal cloudy skies. The unconscious cultists remain, as well as Mamud. But everything that came from that Decaying Realm has returned to it.