Log:A Darker Pied Piper, Scene 5

A Darker Pied Piper 2009/03/09 	 Dark Horse Lorelei Eldritch Howl Wasp 5

Hospital - Yellow Wing Walking down this long hallway you are directed along with various signs pointing out the path towards the particular area you may seek. With the wide yellow stripe marked along the walls of the hallway, you find yourself wandering down a quiet hallway, signs direct you further down towards the psychology ward. The floors are composed of white vinyl, and the walls are the painted white with the thick pale yellow stripe down its length. The hallway is illuminated with recessed florescent lighting within the ceiling which reflects off the floors and walls with a flood of light.

Police bands and relays to various meta teams ask for aid. Apparently a group is trying to break into the secure psych ward at the hospital.

By purest chance, you all arrive at almost the same time at the hospital. You see a group of six figures in cowled robes with a ram’s skull blaze over their hearts. Each of them is armed with a brass scepter it seems. In the midst of them stands a child dressed in a black and grey kimono holding a short blade. They seem to have blown a hole the wall where a security door once stood.

Howl strides into the hospital at an even clip, his boots heavy on the linoleum floor. He glances towards the figures. "Ah, late for my check-up. Now I'll have to wait in line."

Lorelei was just leaving the university after a visit to her father. Seeing the strange figures as she crossed with roads, she decides that the best thing to do, whatever they're up to, is probably to distract them. "Hey, what are you doing there?" she calls out loudly

Dark Horse turns the corner, and slides to a stop...his boots sliding a few inches as he gets his balance. He furrows his brow as he sees the attackers, trying to place them in his mind.

Delayed by issues other than travel time, Eldritch responds to the 10-33. The darkly clad figure simply materializes in the hall, accompanied by the dull thump of displaced air and the aromatic hint of sulfur.

Eldritch supernatural senses reveal that 'Dark Horse radiates hard to perceive but strong luck magic’s. The cowled men are armed and armored with black magic items. And one of them knows other magic’s. And the Oriental child is possessed of the darkest of demonic magic’s. His soul is missing. And the blade he wields is deadly.

Dark Horse glances at Eldritch as the man arrives, and raises a brow...unsure what side the newcomer is likely to be on.

All of the figures turn at Lorelei's shout and several of them drop their jaws at the sight of her. Even the child turns and looks at the beautiful heroine. He smiles widely and giggles.

"Go ahead and answer the nice lady." Howl comments towards the cowled figures as he takes a step towards them.

Lorelei notices that one of the figures is disguised by an illusion, but cannot pierce it.

Lorelei singles out a certain one of the cowled figures, and, now that they are look at her, strikes her trademark stunning pose for that one's benefit.

The Oriental child just laughs. "Time to get my playmates." He turns and darts behind the adult figure into the room beyond the hole.

The adult figures seem to shake their heads and almost as a unit raise their scepters and point them at you all. The cowled figure that Lorelei focuses her attention on seems unimpressed by her. He stands there though as if waiting for orders.

Howl watches the child disappear into the ward. "Screw this." He flicks his wrists, letting his blades slide into view. He then starts to march towards the gaping hole.

Lorelei points to the cowled figure in question. "My bet is he's the one in charge here."

A surgical sponge that has been crudely carved into a bunny rabbit causes Howl to slip slightly. He ends up in front of the cowled figures and did not quite make it through them.

Dark Horse breaks into a run, toward the men, and then dives toward the opening head first. He attempts to make it clear past them and into the far area.

Dark Horse dives through the opening and rolls to his feet, looking around for the weirdo kid.

"Show off." Howl remarks to Dark Horse as he whizzes by.

There is nurse pinned by some rubble near where the door was. She seems unconscious. A couple of orderlies are trying to free her. At the end of the short hallway (5") is another door which the kimono clad child is about to open.

Eldritch's hooded, unblinking countenance swivels to the center of the cowled figures, lowering to the child. His posture immediately shifts to a tense stance, one hand brought back as if readied to throw something, the other pointing an adamant finger at the one appearing the youngest. "Leave the shell, and this world, fiend, or be sundered from both! Your servants have no chance, here!" Long syllables of elder tongues follow, and viscous flame appears in his opened palm, to be hurled at one of the cowled figures. Damn the damned and their damned pawns.

The cowled figure is hit squarely by the demonic looking man's balefire. It rocks slightly, but even as potent as the fires are, the figure does not seem staggered by it. His robes are partially burned away, however, revealing dead white pale flesh.

Lorelei stays outside with the hooded figures - without getting too close. "So, anyone going to tell me what's going on?" she says cheerfully. While subtly distracting them.... To Eldritch she adds, "Careful - his scepter is really an axe."

Howl sniffs at the air, just now cutting through the antiseptic smell of the hospital. Ugh. He blinks at the balefire attack and turns to Lorelei. "Don't bother! They're zombies!"

Several of the figure grimace as Lorelei strikes at them.

"Correction." Howl comments once the burning smell fades. "Only one is a zombie. The rest are alive, so have at 'em."

Lorelei thinks. o O (Well, it seems to be doing something.....)

Lorelei says, "Yes, I spotted the zombie. Even so, I don't know if he's mindless or just... constitutionally challenged."

Four of the figures raise their brazen wands and fire off bolts to balefire right back at the heroes. Two of them are focusing on the demonic figure.

The last living figure seems to be chanting something and a doorway of fire briefly appears that he steps through. He appears down at the end of the hallway next to the Oriental child.

The last figure seems to clumsily swing his scepter at Howl.

A bolt of hellfire streaks from the wand and just misses the heroine.

A streak of hellfire barely strikes Howl doing minimal, if any damage. It does stink of Hell though.

The scepter swinging figure misses by a mile.

Another weak gout of hellfire shoots at Eldritch. It’s doubtful much of it got through his demonic skin though.

The Oriental child tries the knob on the door. It seems to be locked. He frowns sweetly, and then raises his short blade and beings to cut a hole in the door. It parts like butter beneath its edge. Howl isn't so concerned with Lorelei's distinctions. A zombie is a zombie, a dead guy a dead guy. He tries to run one of his pâtés through the zombie's heart, perhaps as a warning to others.

The pale skinned figure's skin is cut open by the pâté. The blade does not sink deep, however, as the man's body seems tougher than normal. Thick blood oozes from the wound.

Dark Horse bolts, launching into a full run toward the child and his apparent bodyguard. . Dark Horse. o O (The kid's in charge, I bet. But I have to deal with the guy guarding him first.) He slides in close, and throws a palm strike at the boy's guardian.

As you strike the man, it feels as if he is wearing close fitting body armor, but you do not seem any. The blow is slightly mitigated, but most of it gets through. The man seems stunned by the attack.

Dark Horse grimaces, barely noticeable under his mask, "Kid...back away from that door. I don't want to have to hurt you, but I will if I need to."

Lorelei keeps her distance and keeps up her "distraction" of the figures outside.

Four of the figures seem to be effected by Lorelei's distraction. The fifth shakes his head and changes his wand's focus from Eldritch to Lorelei.

Eldritch indeed brushes off the fire, and responds to Lorelei's warning with a shouted one of his own. "The axe man is also more potent, and the child is anything but. It must be stopped!" His emphasis carries into more profane(?) articulation before a shimmering cloud falls upon the figures. They can't be left to wreak havoc, but neither can they be allowed to cause much delay.

Lorelei says, "Concentrate on stopping the child - or whatever it is - then!"

Whatever Eldritch was trying to do seems to have no effect.

The man in the hallway who Dark Horse attacked seems to be shaking off the hit and takes no action.

Two of other the figures target Lorelei and two fires at Eldritch. The zombie swings his scepter at Howl again.

And the Oriental child just giggles and says in his accented English. "Let's play Tag then." He finishes cutting out a howl and kicks the cutout out into the room beyond.

Both bolts go quite wide, splattering hellfire down the hallway instead of on Lorelei.

The same happens with the two targeting Eldritch. Apparently DEMON trains at the Imperial Stormtrooper firing range.

And the zombie strikes as accurately as you would expect. Swing and a miss.

Howl goes to take out the hardy zombie with another punishing strike. "Sorry, buddy. You're already dead." he goes for the decapitation.

The patas barely cuts into the skin on the zombie's chest. It just gets ready to swing at Howl again.

Dark Horse shifts a little to his right so that he's next to both antagonists, and brings his leg around in a leg sweep, attempting to drop the 'kid' to the floor.

Dark Horse brings his leg around, his boot sweeping the kid's legs out from under him, and sending him tumbling. "There you go. Tag."

The Oriental's child head hits hard against the floor as he feels are swept out from under him. He turns his head after a moment, and then giggles. "That tickles. Do it again!"

Eldritch mutters something unintelligible, although it could just be the intro to yet another chant. His form vanishes and reappears past the cowled detours as he now focuses his attention upon the one that wants to play

Howl growls given his lackluster performance. He looks down the hallway towards Dark Horse. "Just hold him!" He shouts before taking another swing at the zombie.

Dark Horse narrows his eyes, looking at the kid, who is clearly more resilient than previously thought. He looks for an opening...a weak spot to strike at, and then follows through with a punch.

Dark Horse doesn't wait for the kid to get back up, driving his fist into the boy, "I'm sure it'll just keep 'tickling'. I'd suggest staying down anyway."

The blow hits squarely and you know you have found a weak spot in the child's defenses. You even feel your fist breaking a bone and tearing some muscle. And how the bone re-knits itself under your hand.

The child smiles innocently and giggles. "I have to get my friends so we can go play at the old folk's home."

Lorelei keeps trying to reduce the hooded figures to drooling zombies. Well, not that it seems to help with the one who already is a drooling zombie, but anyway.

Lorelei thinks. o O (I hope these guys start acting silly soon so the others can concentrate on the kid....)

All of the living figure seem affected by Lorelei's posing. Four of them are beginning to seem unsure of their actions.

The ones who have already targeted opponents stay on target.

The man in the hallway seems to have shaken off his stun. He chants something and jabs a finger at Dark Horse.

The Oriental boy tries to kippup from his place on the floor, but fails. So he just rolls over and then jumps through the hole in the door.

All but one of the bolts of hellfire coming from the brazen wands miss their targets. The last bolt hits Eldritch straight on.

The zombie stays true to form and apparently strikes at something standing to the side of Howl.

Perhaps not expecting the blast, Eldritch is not only caught solidly, but knocked clean across the room and thoroughly off his feet.

From Dark Horse's point of view, a stab of agonizing pain lances into his brain as the cowled figure points his finger at him.

Dark Horse is a bit surprised as the blast strikes his mind, not his body, and he screams...clutching his head. He then slumps to the floor unconscious.

Jackie has been asked to attend the hospital's Xenobiology department to hear the results of some tests carried out when she returned. The noise of conflict draws her attention to the Yellow Wing and, albeit a little unsure of herself, she changes into Wasp form and flies towards the sounds she can hear. "What's happening?" she asks on arrival, hovering in the air uncertain what to do next.//going to be a full action.

Lorelei says, "Wasp! I think things are more or less in hand out here - but there's a kid inside who needs to be stopped from doing, um, whatever it is he's trying to do!"

Lorelei says, "Trying to break some people out of a secure area, I think." Wasp nods bobbing up and down in flight as she hears Lorelei's comment, "Okay, I'll go see if I can help."

Howl sees Dark Horse goes down and sighs. "C'mon. I told you to /grab/ the kid." Concerned for the prone hero he darts forward towards the cowled man who dropped and tries to introduce him an iron bracer to the side of the head. Howl upends the cultist with the blow, sending him crashing to the floor. "Wasp is faster." He muses, looking back towards the five fighters. "But they do love to tear wings off of insects."

Eldritch, only slightly worse for the wear, proceeds to peel himself off of the floor and step for the door, in pursuit of the child.

Eldritch can easily reach the door. It is locked, but there is a small hole cut into it.

Through the barred window in the door, Eldritch can see two other children, one Caucasian boy with brown hair and a blonde haired girl. They seem to be awake but strapped down to the beds.

Lorelei chooses a human hooded figure - going for the one most obviously male - and says to him, "Watch out, that guy -" she indicates the zombie - "is going to attack you! Strike him down before he can!"

The cowled figure nods to Lorelei and brings his wand around to bear on the zombie. He shouts and lets loose a bolt of hellfire.

Sadly though, while the rest of the clothing is burned off the zombie, not much else seems to happen.

The remaining three open fire on Wasp and Lorelei. One on Wasp and two on Lorelei. The zombie turns and begins to walk down the hallway towards Howl.

And the Imperial School of Marksmanship strikes again. While the heroes are untouched, the hospital is getting beaten up badly.

Wasp darts to the side as a wand is aimed at her and hellfire streams past through where she had been hovering a moment earlier. "He shot at me!" She exclaims in shock.

Lorelei says, "Just go, and he'll probably shoot at me instead. Don't worry. It's all part of my plan. I think."

Howl hears that zombie a'shamblin. "Wasp! You're small enough to get through the hole! Get going and stop the kid from releasing the others. We'll hold 'em off." He leaps at the zombie, going in for another killing strike.

Howl gets some air on the zombie, and as he comes down he marries gravity to his strike and pushed the blade into the junction between the zombie's neck and his shoulder, a clear killing strike. Predictably, the undead monster goes down.

As it goes down, the illusion cloaking it fails. Its battered body is revealed to all in all its gory glory.

The room wasp finds herself in is a large one (3" by 4"). The one window is high on the wall and barred. Two children are strapped to the bed, but wide awake now. The Oriental boy is moving towards the girl, his blade in hand, but down by his side. A doctor with kindly eyes stands by the boy who is strapped down.

Wasp turns a little green at the true revealed sight of the zombie. It changes her action. She was intending to try and talk to the supposed kid but seeing what is having to be dealt with she decides that this is no time for half measures and with dexterous turns and twists to fly through the holes she aims a shoulder barge at the kid when he comes into her sight.

Wasp winces as she impacts with a painful jarring thud to her shoulder. "Ouch."

The Oriental boy is thrown across the room by the impact with Wasp. He hits the wall with the sound of breaking bones and a little bit of blood sprays from his mouth. He crumples to the base of the wall, but, shockingly he is still awake and seems only stunned.

Wasp says, "He's not a zombie! And I hit him really hard."

Eldritch looks at the doctor (How did you miss him before?). The doctor is a strikingly handsome man with gentle, caring dark eyes. Except to those, like yourself, who can see beyond mortal perceptions. When you look upon him you see his true appearance. His face is a writhing mass of maggot riddled dead grey flesh. Where his eyes should be are only deep sockets, a void the black of a moonless night. His voice is the harsh whispering rasp of a dying man and his breath blows forth in a cold puff of putrid air from a sealed crypt. His yellow and stained teeth are jagged and unevenly spaced in his gruesome gaping maw and the long blood encrusted nails that tip his bony figures appear quite ready to rend flesh. Child sized slave chains are wrapped around his legs and arms and torso, knotted around him like a winding sheet holding the remnants of once rich robes tightly to his emaciated form.

This is powerful damned soul released to walk the Earth at Hell's orders. This once man is the children's master.

Eldritch may not be able to readily fit through the cut opening, but he can still reach and see through it. A sudden sight provokes a startled yelp. "By the..." There is more chanting from the ebon-ensconced being and the few shadows within the children’s' room coalesce and thicken, forming tendril to reach after the handsome doctor in the room that and who was not apparent before.

The dark tentacles coil themselves around the 'good doctor,' binding and and obscuring him, and the world from him.

Wasp darts on buzzing wings over to the fallen injured boy. Reaching out she instinctively tries to take him into a comforting protective cuddle. Distraught at the damage she's caused him she wishes she could put right her terrible error, quite unaware of the reason for a sudden feeling of tiredness as unconsciously she activates the symbiotic virus she is carrying.

Wasp can feel the bones and torn muscles heal themselves in the child. It’s surprisingly easy, almost as if the child’s body is helping.

Howl pauses to clean off his blade with his cloak. "So you've all gotten a good look at me now." He tells the remaining four cowled figures. "Who wants some? Or would you rather surrender to the lovely lady there?" He can't see what Wasp is doing, so he offers no comment.

The four figures seem extremely hesitant to take any action. They seem a bit awed at the moment. After all, how often do you get to see Howl decapitate a zombie from hell in their opinion?

Eldritch, confident that the doctor is restrained, if momentarily, turns his attention to enlarging the hole in the door. More fire is brought to his hand and he steps aside to deal with the locked edge at an oblique angle to minimize side-effects such as incinerating the children inside.

The door is decimated by Eldritch’s balefire: the lock is destroyed and one tenth of the door falls to pieces.

The doctor with the kindly eyes steps out of the shadows with a neat little sidestep. He glares across the room at the now opened door. In a pleasant baritone, he says, "How dare you interfere? You should serve my Master!" (To Eldritch’s ears the voice is one from the grave, cruel and mocking.)

Lorelei says to Howl, "I suggest you look away," before trying one of her relatively new tricks. She adopts an eye-catching attitude designed to draw eyes to her and keep them there, as she walks toward the others.

Eldritch realizes that the good doctor is an intangible spirit now. To those without his senses the doctor probably appears solid.

Howl lifts up his cloak and turns away to hide his eyes.

The little Oriental boy seems to snap out of being stunned and gazes up at Jackie.

The children on the bed look adoringly at the good doctor, and then stick their tongues out at Eldritch.

Wasp tells the boy sorrowfully, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I thought you were all zombies." while attempting to hold him in a combined cuddle and secure grip. "I'll just hold you until I can find out what is happening."

Wasp holds the boy securely without squeezing or hurting him, "Just relax. I'm sure we can sort all this out if everyone will just talk to each other."

The Oriental boy sighs as he tries to get free. "Can't we just play Murder instead?" Howl drops his cloak as Lorelei is no longer in his peripheral vision. He blinks as he sees Wasp hugging the child. "Wasp!" He shouts, picking up his pace to run into the room. "That's not a child! Let him go!" He's worried the boy will try to shiv her, but he glances towards the doctor, and, in a moment of suspicion, tries to get a whiff.

The doctor smells of...Well, he smells like...He has no scent.

Wasp glances over to Howl, "That's a silly thing to say. He's just a little boy. Not a zombie at all. I didn't mean to but I hurt him when I bumped into him. Zombies don't bleed."

"I didn't say he was a zombie." Howl remarks to Wasp before tipping his hat at that doctor. "Good to see you again."

Lorelei breaks into a run toward the others, while still being eye catching.

The doctor smiles widely, his soft baritone voice warm with good cheer. "Hello cur. Just let my children go and I will not send my other children to a nursery."

Eldritch says, "Why shouldn't I just send you back to whatever hell you slithered out of?" Again his words shift to something that few would understand, the doctor among them. His fists clench while he otherwise simply glares at the 'man.'"

Whatever Eldritch tried to do seems to have no effect on the doctor.

The good doctor just shakes his head at Eldritch. "I have survived punishments you cannot imagine, demonling. But why waste my time." He strides over to the outside wall of the room as he speaks, "Free my children by the next full moon. Or I will break the mist witch's heart."

Howl pats Eldritch on the shoulder while watching the doctor. "Not sure what you were trying to do but I can tell you he's not really here, Cupcake. We'll be waiting, if you are Rapentap."

The doctor is a strikingly handsome man with gentle, caring dark eyes. Then it is as if a haze lifts from your eyes: when you look upon him you see his true appearance. His face is a writhing mass of maggot riddled dead grey flesh. Where his eyes should be are only deep sockets, a void the black of a moonless night. His voice is the harsh whispering rasp of a dying man and his breath blows forth in a cold puff of putrid air from a sealed crypt. His yellow and stained teeth are jagged and unevenly spaced in his gruesome gaping maw and the long blood encrusted nails that tip his bony figures appear quite ready to rend flesh. Child sized slave chains are wrapped around his legs and arms and torso, knotted around him like a winding sheet holding the remnants of once rich robes tightly to his emaciated form.

The hideous figure snarls, "It is a good enough name, cur." He then strides through the wall.

The cowled figures watch Lorelei as she runs down the hallway, but seem undecided as to what to do.

Eldritch shrugs off the pat, though Howl is likely not the source of his annoyance. "He's immaterial, not invulnerable..." Once more, the cloaked one vanishes, perhaps in pursuit of the fiend. Tenacity is an apparent trait.

Howl watches the monster go and makes sure not to look at the approaching Lorelei. "Better keep an eye on those guys. We're going to need some interviews. Cops should be here soon." He turns to Wasp. "Mind if I take him off your hands? Imagine that. Calling me a cur. My breeding is impeccable."

Wasp nods, "Just don't hurt him." she says to Howl

One of the figures on the cowl, starts to chant something, and then stops as if they have forgotten what to chant.

Lorelei says, "I should be able to keep them under control.... Any idea who these guys are? I wish I knew what's going on."

The Oriental boy looks at Howl and says, "She's nice. Can I play Vivisection with her?"

Howl reaches out for the child. "No, we're going to get him restrained like the others." He still doesn't look at Lorelei. "Not as such. Run into them before. Guy looked like a lich but there's no way to be certain. Definitely necromantic."

Lorelei says, "The guy who looks like a walking corpse? I saw him in the park, sort of looking like a painter...."

The little blonde girl on the bed rolls her eyes and says in a precise British tone, "He's not a lich. He's Mr. Rapentap, sillies. Now let me up." Lorelei has a look at the children, to see if any of them match missing children she's researched.

Wasp says, "I thought he was a doctor. What's going on here?"

Howl holds the child tight. "He was not a doctor. And that's very interesting, Lorelei. I'd like to hear about it. He's a necromancer of some kind, by the looks of it. These children are his thralls."

Lorelei says, "I don't know. But it involves missing children, animal sacrifices, walking corpses and goodness knows what else. And this boy hasn't aged since he went missing 5 years ago. I'm well out of my depth."

The little boy on the bed looks over at the girl. "Alice, what's a thrall?"

Alice shrugs, "I dunno. I think it’s like doll?"

The Oriental boy looks back over his shoulder at Howl. "Excuse me, but could you put me down. Its hard to hurt you held like this."

The longer you all are in the room with the children, the more the hairs on your necks tend to quiver at their piping little voices.

Wasp shakes her head. "It all sounds too much for me. Maybe the old Wasp might have known what to do but I'm really not liking any of this."

Lorelei says, "Friendly, aren't they?"

Howl looks around. "Where the hell are the police? I don't want to hold this kid forever and those cultists or whatever need a cold cell." He pats the oriental boy on the head. "Oh, you can't hurt me any more than I can hurt you." He nods to Lorelei. "Interesting. Not surprising, though. I was holding out some hope they could be restored by that looks distant."

[To Wasp] Lorelei says, "You're not the only one. We need some magicians or something on this one."

One of the cowled figures manages to get a chant off. A door of fire appears and he steps through it. An instant later you hear a loud thump as something hits the roof above the room.

Lorelei says, "Damn - I should have made sure they were completely under control...."

The police arrive to take the cowled figures into custody. They will also take little Akira off your hands.