Log:Princess Guard: MIssing Son

2016/01/07 	 Titan Harlequin Kihzra Nexus Cecila Ghost

1

Undermoon Embassy
Atop the rocky cliff near the end of the bridge stands the tiny "fairy tale" castle that serves as the Undermoon embassy. It's no larger than a large house, and its great front gate (with drawbridge to cross a decorative moat) is only the size of a normal door. Its slender towers are topped with graceful spires from which fly pennants of many colours and designs, but chiefly of purple and silver. Over the main gate hangs a rectangular flag of the same colour.

That's the outside. As soon as one passes through the gate it's another story - the castle is vast, the walls tall, the spires tower above the courtyard! Various buildings of the same graceful architectural style are found among the gardens of exotic flora, and the place is busy with staff, both human and fae.

Start
Ghost has contracted as many of the current roster of the Princess Guard as she can and asked them to come to the Embassy for a potential mission briefing.

Kihzra is here already, because she's taken up the residence at the embassy.

Cecila is also in the area mostly because she called in a bomb threat to school... ok not really she just doesn't have late classes on Thursday.

Caleb appears with a -pop- from wherever he was, a half-empty cup of coffee in one hand and a half-eaten crueller in the other. He has, apparently, forgotten to wrap himself in his appearance-distorting aura before his arrival.

Caleb tilts his head to one side, shrugs, reaches into a small hole in space and pulls out a second cup of coffee, which he offers to Kihzra.

An instant after Caleb arrives the sound of a great bell tolling is heard throughout the Embassy grounds. Diplomatic staff hurry to assigned safe points and the royal guard goes on full alert. The shy Alwen may surprise those who have only known her in peaceful times by grabbing a knife from the snacks table and standing ready to attack. Ghost looks over at Caleb and shakes her head. Then says to the room in general, "I'll go calm things down. Help yourselves to drinks and snacks until I get back."

Kihzra accepts the coffee - one thing Earth does better than the fae. Not that she know if Caleb got it from Earth.

Cecila hears the bell and tilts her head "What happened?" she asks as she goes to check out the snacks since Ghost doesn't seem to concerned she doesn't think it's a real threat, probably a false alarm... you know like when someone pulls the fire alarm to get out of exams.

Nexus projects his shunt-field around him, just in case "calming things down" turns out not to work so well.

Kihzra keeps her sword hand free, drinking with the other.

Anyone with good hearing can hear Ghost speaking to someone in an extremely deferential manner, "One of the Princess Guard teleported into the common room, your Highness. I'm curious as to how he managed it. The room is shielded and there's the dimensional barrier around the Embassy. But there's no threat, Highness."

Kihzra grins on overhearing this.

Cecila almost certainly heard it since you know she's probably got the best ears on the team "Ah... looks like you triggered a false alarm with your arrival" she comments to the room, assuming some of the others cant hear as well as her.

A mature female voice replies to Ghost in a voice that becomes impossible to comprehend after a short distance. Then the bell stops tolling and the Embassy starts a slow return to normal routine. Ghost returns a few minutes later looking somewhat embarrassed.

Nexus sighs. "That keeps happening. Sorry all."

Kihzra says, "This is why you knock before coming in, no?"

"Caleb, I'd like a chance to discuss /how/ you did it. But there is a mission on the table so I'll defer that conversation. But if I /could/ ask you to arrive at the gate in future..?"

Nexus nods to Kihzra. "Yeah, I suppose. Hard to remember, sometimes. I mean, if you could walk through an open passage to get here, would you think to go the slow way and knock on the door?" He nods again to Ghost as she returns. "Yup... sorry. Got it."

Kihzra says, "Is good to see they have good alarms!"

Ghost smiles, "However as a test of the Embassy security it will prove beneficial. This once. But... that's not why I asked you to attend this meeting. Does everyone have a drink and snacks if they want them?"

Nexus gestures with his coffee cup.

Kihzra grabs something on a stick to eat as she drinks her coffee.

Kihzra relaxes in a crouch to listen to Ghost.

Cecila nods some as she has a glass or mug of something and probably something like fries or chicken strips or some other finger food "Yeah, wonder how the alarm detected stuff but anyways we got some meeting or mission you said?"

Ghost waits until you've all settled and then starts, "Thank you all for attending this briefing. The Embassy has received a request by Adept Trader Lyfinni of Winterthorn, a merchant who deals in Earth products, asking if a situation involving one of the human suppliers he deals with could be looked into. The human supplier is a Damon Holbet of Griffin, in the State of Georgia. Damon is a coffee grower, and supplies some of the finest coffee beans procured from Earth. However he has missed the last two shipment dates, apparently because his son has gone missing and he has stopped farming to look for his son."

Kihzra says, "Is no coffee? Is grave tragedy!"

Cecila listens and ponders "Well I guess if someone from Undermoon is importing the coffee it's probably even better than the crap they sell at Donut shops... or you know Starbucks"

Nexus chuckles. "So you want us to find the kid?" Not exactly what he'd anticipated from an interdimensional tiger-team, but on the other hand, it wasn't like he had anything better to do this afternoon.

Ghost concludes, "Since it's a Fae merchant making the request this mission is considered pertinent to Fae interests and thus if you accept the mission you'll have the support of Undermoon, a nation state, behind you. Just don't embarrass Undermoon or the Princess."

Kihzra says, "Cha, embarrass? How?"

Nexus chuckles again. That last part might be asking a bit much, given his history, but he's willing to

Cecila hmms and thinks "So... do we have any leads or whatever for finding the guy's son or we just going to go knock on his door and ask him what he knows?"

Kihzra says, "Cha, he is not there because he is looking for his son, no?"

Ghost tells Kihzra, "Not knowing what the situation is you'll be dealing with I cannot answer that in any specifics." Now, Caleb, Kihzra, as new members of the team you haven't received your communicatoras yet. Here they are." She hands over small flip open boxes. Inside is a disc the size and thickness of a dime. "Just put them in skin contact. They will adhere. On Earth the range is 30 miles. 60 miles on Undermoon. They are open channel Anything thought will be mentally heard by everyone else. You do have to intentionally think to them. Private thoughts won't be overheard."

Ghost says, "Try his home first. After that, improvise. This should be an easy mission. In fact a near perfect first mission for the new team."

Kihzra nods. "Is good."

Nexus nods, having had some experience working with telepaths. He takes the disc from Ghost and affixes it to the back of his neck.

Kihzra puts the communicator on the back of her shoulder, under her hair.

Cecila nods some "Well yeah his home would be the first stop... even if he's not there the odds are there is someone there who can get in touch with him you know in case his son found his way home right"

"All right... I'm game," Caleb agrees. "You've got this guy's address, I assume. Will anyone get shirty if I just port us there?"

Ghost sighs sadly, "Unfortunately, my duties here at the Embassy preclude me from accompanying you. And Johnathan, Titan, is unlikely to be able to join you for a while. Cecila, as the senior member in duration, will you take on the duty of team field commander?"

Kihzra shakes her head. "Don't have a shirt."

Nexus grins but says nothing.

Cecila smiles some "Ah sure why not... and yeah teleporting is fine, just dont teleport us into the sky or something"

Ghost hands Cecila a printout with all the known details. The address of Damon Holbet is included on the printout.

Nexus looks over Cecila's shoulder and nods. It takes a little shuffling and relaying, but he gets everyone there once they're ready to go...

Cecila certainly isn't reading it herself "Thanks a piece of paper gee what can I do with this oh wait I know..." she hands it to Nexus since he's the teleporter "Tell me what the address is and lets get ready to go there"

Kihzra doesn't do pieces of paper either.

Cecila adds "Oh right, and anything else important, wouldn't want to end up with some dude trying to kill us because we did something wrong"

The address belongs to a medium large mansion in neo-colonial style, in the middle of a plantation of coffee trees. There's a couple of cars parked on the drive leading to the mansion.

Kihzra inhales, to get the smell of the coffee.

Cecila also makes sure Nexus keeps them inconspicuous, no need to pop into the middle of the dining room or whatever. They got time. She'll knock on the door and wait for a response.

The aroma of the coffee beans on the trees is particularly rich and smooth. These are specially fine beans.

Kihzra says, "Qhah! Is good smell!!"

Nexus ports everyone to the driveway.

The door is answered by a country pastor after Cecila knocks on it. The pastor's eyes widen as he takes in the group. "Are you here about Jordon?" he asks.

_Nah, we're just late trick-or-treaters_, Cale thinks "out loud", but doesn't say.

Kihzra thinks, -(Is good, we get candy, no?)-

Cecila ponders for a moment "If that's Damon Holbet's son then yes. We've actually been sent here to help him find Jordon. You wouldn't happen to know where his father is at the moment would you or have any information on where his son was last spotted?"

Nexus thinks _Dad's probably tried the obvious stuff he knows about. We may get further talking to the folks who know things Dad doesn't... which might include the pastor. Maybe chat with this guy a bit, see if he'll drop some hints about what Jordon does that he doesn't want his dad to know about?_

The pastor calls back into the mansion, Damon, there are some visitors here to see you." and then says in a quieter voice, "Damon is here. I've been keeping him company. You were sent here. Damon said a fairy merchant had asked about his son. Is that why you are here. The fairy actually sent help?"

Kihzra nods. "Is so!

A voice from in the mansion calls out, "Joseph, I'm not really feeling like seeing visitors right now. Can you send them away."

The pastor calls back in reply, "You'll wanrt to see these. That fairy you've been dealing with actually keep his promise and sent help."

Cecila didn't really know if Damon was Fae himself or not so didn't want to broach the subject until it became necessary "Yeah, seems like it's his lucky day since they sent the Princess Guard to help. So I take it Damon and his son are both normal humans then? Might make things a good bit easier than some of the stuff I've had to deal with in the past"

Nexus adds, sotto voce, to the pastor "Is it that surprising? That the Fae keep their promises, I mean."

The pastor nods and says softly, "Yes, Damon and his son are human. So was Jordon's mother until a drunken driver returned her soul to God."

Nexus looks over the information Ghost gave them, to see whether it includes anything about the mother or her death.

The pastor adds, "You hear tales about the fairies. And they don't have any souls of course."

Kihzra says, "They don't?"

-(Ah, he's one of _those_)-, Cale thinks as he glances over the background info. -(He probably doesn't think you have a soul either, Kihzra... or wouldn't, if he knew you weren't from Earth.)-

Kihzra thinks. -(Must have soul to have ghost, no?)-

Nexus puts the printout away again and awaits Damon's reply to the pastor. -(Beats me. Souls aren't part of my beat.)-

The pastor steps back to let you enter the mansion and starts leading the way to a large room where Damon is seated in a lounging chair with a bottle of whiskey and a glass on a table at his side.

Cecila hmms and listens "Well I'm not sure if that's entirely true or not, the whole not having souls thing has been said about different groups for ages... but anyways we're here to help" she notes before she follows "Greetings Mr. Holbet, we've been sent to help you find your son. I'm Bulldozer. This is Sword Dancer and that's Nexus. Now with introductions complete what information do you have about your son's disappearance that might help put us on the right trail?"

Nexus looks around the mansion as they're led through it, his gaze not particularly restricted to the room they're in. If anything seems to obviously be a young boy's room, he pays particular attention to it while Cecila handles the social end of things. He's not really looking for anything in particular, just getting a sense of what's where, and seeing if anything jumps out at him as anomalous.

Kihzra is looking around too, but mostly for trouble. It's a habit.

Damon looks up and his face shows hope as he takes in the nature of the group in his home. "I know where he is. I just can't get to him." he says. And the local sheriff sounds sincere enough but can't help me either."

Kihzra says, "Cha, where is he then?"

Cecila nods a bit and thinks "Well if you know where he is then you can tell us and we perhaps we can get to him. After all Nexus here can get us just about anywhere we need. It's how we got here so fast" although she is suspecting that perhaps his son went and ran off to Undermoon or something from the sounds of things.

Nexus gives a one-shouldered shrug. Somehow he doubts the problem is that straightforward, but that's OK... whatever it is, he's confident they can cope with it.

Damon explains, "Jordon went off to Hazebough for a party being hosted by a friend of his from school. He never came back. I went to Hazebough with a photo of Jordon, and the sheriff there told me Jordon had been seen with others from a cult that's located there."

Kihzra says, "Qhah, evil cult?"

Kihzra has met those before. But how she handled them last time probably wouldn't go down well here.

Cecila nods a bit "So the friend might have been part of the cult then?" she asks him as she uses the communicator -(Get GPS coordinates for Hazebough, see how far it is from here, if it's a nearby town it cant be more than what 20 or 30 miles)-

Kihzra idly wonders if it's yet another serpent cult.

Damon says heatedly, "I don't care if it's evil or not. Jordon is my son and he's still a minor." The fire in him goes out as he continues, "Jordon wasn't doing well at school. He might have joined them willingly but I want to hear him say that to my face if that's true."

Nexus isn't sure whom Cecila was directing that at, but he figures coordinates are in his job description. -(On it.)- He stops scanning the house, pulls out his PDA and does some fiddling with a map application to find Hazebough, then sets up a remote-viewing portal to check it out more directly as well. -(You may want to ask him where the cult hangs out, if he knows.)-

Hazebough is a small town about 40 miles away, and roughly 20 miles south of the city of Macon.

Cecila hmms and thinks for a moment "Do you know the location of the cult's operations in Hazebough or their website?" she asks Damon -(Yeah might as well see if they got an internet presence. Cult's tend to recruit through the internet when possible too right?)-

Damon nods, "They're got land south of Hazebough. You can't miss it. Middle of the range where nobody bothers about boundaries and there's a double fence all round it."

Kihzra nods. "Sounds easy."

Nexus nods. -(Good thought.)- He tries to split his attention between his remote-viewing portal and a web search on his PDA, mostly giving himself a headache. -(Gimme a sec, though, I'm taking a look at this cult's land.)- he adds, and does them one at a time instead, shifting his point of perception south of Hazebough in accordance with Damon's comments.

Cecila hmms "Alright then... you got a fix on the location Nexus? Lets go knock on the front door or gate or whatever. We'll try diplomacy first" she smiles -(What are the odds this is some sort of fae worshipping cult?)-

Kihzra thinks, -(Could knock with sword!)-

Nexus 's eyes widen. -(Yeah, I've got something. Let's roll... time's an issue.)-

Cecila smirks some -(We'll call that Plan B)-

Cecila gives a bit of a bow to Damon "Alright then we'll be back when we got some news" she heads closer to Nexus and Kihzra -(Might as well teleport us out from here since he already knows us now... so what's up that time is an issue?)-

Kihzra thinks -(Why is time issue?)-

Nexus ports the group to a rooftop not very far away from where the fight he saw was breaking out. It's possible he clumsily loses track of Kihzra along the way. "That's why," he says, gesturing.

Cecila hmmms at Nexus "Are they beating up Jordon? If so well we might as well put a stop to it."

Nexus says, "I think Jordon is part of the group doing the beating up."

There's a group of four late teen metas running riot in the twon. A couple of cars including a sheriff's deputy's car are turned onto their roofs. The teens are smashing windows, throwing (in some cases without touching) trashcans and uprooted trees, etc..

Jordon is a member of the group and eagerly sharing in the 'fun'.

Nexus decides to nod to tradition and give the gang a chance to come quietly. Or attack him, as the case may be. He appears about 10m away from the gang and announces "OK, party's over. Hormones back in your pockets, or wherever you're keeping 'em, before someone gets hurt. All right?"

It occurs to Cale just a moment too late that going back for Kihzra might have been a cleverer move.

Nexus's pendant glows as he talks, somehow making him seem more imposing.

The teens laugh, buoyed up by numbers and a belief of personal invincibility. "Get a load of him. Com' on. Let's have some real fun." It's Jordon who says that.

Nexus rolls his eyes. Karma's a bitch, sometimes.

Kihzra grins. "Fun is good!"

Cecila sighs some at the whole situation -(Looks like we're gonna have to help out. I doubt the local sheriff in a small town like this is equipped to deal with a bunch of rampaging meta kids. Not so much a cult as a gang it seems right? and with that she slides down the wall to the ground and gathers a layer of dirt from the ground. She'll cover the gang from the back "I'm really liking these odds though... 4 of them and what 3 of us? it might almost be a fair fight"

Kihzra says, "If you want fun, come here!" as she whirls her sword about impressively.

Despite a almost total belief in their powers and abilities the display of sword handling by Kihzra is sufficient to give them a slight pause.

Nexus sighs. "I'd ask if I was ever this stupid when I was their age, but I kind of know the answer," he mutters to nobody in particular, reaching through a hole in space to grab Jordon from behind, pulling him away from his friends if possible.

Nexus wraps two arms, augmented by a dimensional displacement field, around the kid's body and yanks him backward through a hole in space, which promptly closes. "Just stay down, kid."

Cecila smirks at the kids, sure they're probably tougher but she's had plenty of experience in Colonial Bay dealing with some real threats as she listens to Nexus "So... the answer is yes? I'm kinda glad I never did anything as stupid as take on 3 experienced heroes even with even numbers" and with that she moves to encase one of them in a shell of earth to make them incapable of moving. On one of the targets that wasn't Jordon which Nexus got a hold of.

The teens fight back. Strangely each decides that the scary sword wielder is someone else's responsibility. Jordon tries to exacpe Nexus' grab. The kid entangled by Cecila tries to break out. The other two go for the more normal looking Cecila rather than the freaky Nexus.

Despite wiggling and squirming Jordon simply isn't strong enough to break free.

Doesn't quite get a solid stance and thus his efforts are wasted. The teen in Ceclia's entangle make no headway in freeing himself.

It seems hitting a hero is harder than hitting a stationary car or trashbin. If Cecila wasn't staying still they would have missed.

Cecila stands there with absolute certainty that her layer of dirt is going to protect her from the kid's assault and without fail both strikes do pretty much between jack and shit to her. The 'normal' looking girl smiles at the two of them and asks "Now are you two ready to stop rampaging or am I going to have to give you a lesson in the school of hard knocks?" and with that she cracks her knuckles and gets ready to incapacitate the next teen.

The teens enormous confidence is crumbling. It's not gone yet but it's taken some serious knocks.

Kihzra charges in to the two remaining teens and tries to knock them both to the ground by sweeping at their legs with the flat of her sword.

At least the teens seem to have decent defences to make upo for their pitiful attacks. They are knocked to the ground but only one is affected other than that and the other hardly fares worse.

Jordon struggles with the same result. He's still held firm by Nexus. The teen in Cecila's entangle doslodges a few grains of dirt. The other two teens spring back to their feet and speed away fast enough to vanish from sight unless a watcher has rapid vision.

A grizzled old sheriff with a rifle cradled in his arms has been watching, "By criky, that was a sight for my poor old eyes. I don't know who you folks are but welcome to Hazebough. I'm sheriff Joe Crabton."

Kihzra shakes her head. "Should have hit them harder."

Nexus watches the two teens standing blur away and decides that Cecila and Kihzra have the fight under control, and concentrates his attention on his squirmy payload. He ports a few kilometers straight up, with his unwilling passenger in tow, not actually bothering to anchor his position in space when he arrives.

"So here's the deal, Jordon," he says into the boy's ear as they plummet toward the ground. "You can keep struggling, in which case if you're very very lucky you break free, and a few seconds later you splatter your friends with your no-doubt-very-decorative guts. Or you can calm the hell down, admit you're out of your league, and tell me just what y'all think you're doing here, how you got so damned strong and fast, and what's going on at that armed compound you've got set up south of town."

He waits a beat as they continue to fall before adding "Your call."

It doesn't take long for Jordon's nerve to crumble completely, "Okay.. Okay! Don't let go!" he shouts frantically.

Nexus doesn't actually slow down, just ports to the ground, leaving their velocity behind. "Excellent choice," he replies, releasing his passenger. "So: talk."

Cecila was about ready to disable the last of the kids when they disappear and shrugs a bit "Yeah we could have hit them harder but then they'd be in the hospital instead of going to juvie" she points out to Kihzra then smiles some at the Sheriff "Oh good the local authorities... I'm Bulldozer, this is Sword Dancer and well that was Nexus wherever he went. Oh there he is again"

Nexus looks up to greet the new arrivals with a tilt of his head. "Hey boss. We found the kid," he reports, "and a few of his friends, all of whom seem to be superstrong and superfast now. Probably not a good thing, that. Jordon was about to explain what's going on..." he prompts.

Kihzra says, "Is cult, yes? Probably evil god gave them powers. Is usually the way."

Nexus chuckles. "For sufficiently broad definitions of 'evil god.'"

The sheriff walks over, "Those brats were from that cult out south of here. Not the first ones who's paid us a visit. By giminy it was a real pleasure to see you hand them their makings."

Titan raises a brow as he walks up to the group. He looks to Kihzra, "Uh...I'm not sure that's the 'usual way' here. It could be a pharma thing, though."

Nexus nods to the sheriff. "Were the other kids local? Like, do you know their names?" To Titan and the others he adds "There's a compound just outside of town they're probably based out of."

Jordon is looking pretty shocked. His previous confidence in being the toughest and best is completely gone. "What... what do you want to know?" he asks Nexus sullenly.

Nexus considers. "Let's start with how you and your friends got your powers."

Harlequin nods politely to everyone, his immobile porcelain face bestowing a smile on all. In a european accent RP accent (BBC announcer voice basically), he inquires, "So, how long has this been going on, Sherrif Crabton?" This is sais while he is gazing at Jordon.

The sheriff shakes his head. "Nope. Most of them are from out of town. One of our kids started getting interested but his folks mightly quick sorted him out. Same as the dead ones. All starngers to me."

Titan looks surprised at the mention of someone being dead. "Who died? I missed something."

The sheriff turns his head away to spit to the side, "Regular stream of dead'uns coming out of that cult place. Mind you those don't cause me any trouble. I had Dr Freeman look over some of the deaders. Just in case you know. He says they all died of old age."

Harlequin cocks his head to one side as he looks at Jordon. "They are, hmm, overflowing with life energies. Their natural, call it chi, has been added to in such a way that it puts them into overdrive. Burns them out like a motor run at full for too long. Jordon has a year of life left at most." His tone is calm and clinical with a touch a pity.

Cecila listens and hmms "What dead like zombies and ghosts or something?"

Titan takes a deep breath. "Hmm. Was it done with magic, then?" He looks over to Harlequin.

Jordon turns his head to Harlequin, "Wha.. What!?" he asks in a shocked worried voice.

Cecila ponders for a moment "So if it was added to then can't we just subract it and make them normal kids again?"

The sheriff tells Cecila, "Nah. Just dead. Old age the Doctor says. I figured the cult doubled as a old folks home. I heard there's good money to be made in that line."

Harlequin shrugs slightly. "Without knowing what was done to the children, we could do more harm than good." He glances over at the sherrif. "The cult makes their own old folks out of young folks." HIs gaze turns back to Jordon. "Was it a spirit, a demon, or something divine that infuses you, child?"

Jordon tells Harlequin, "It's the Blessing of Seth." You can almost 'hear' the capitals in his speech.

Harlequin cocks his head to one side. "Seth? Seth, the third child of Adam and Eve or Seth, the god of the wastes of Egypt?"

Jordon blinks, "You know of the great Seth? Lord and God. The everliving. Master of the ancient secrets of the Pharaohs." he says in a almost ritual tone, as if those words are a familair chant he's said a hundred times.

Kihzra says, "See? Evil god. Said so!"

The sheriff frowns, "The cult is killing those kids? You goin' to put a stop to it?" he asks hopefully.

Nexus nods. "When she's right, she's right."

Harlequin bows slightly to Kizhra. "As you say, Kizhra." He then muses, "So Seth. Well, that is bad. Fortunately, its unlikely he has manifested himself given the lack of storms, scorpions, and general hellishness." He pauses. "That is not a word in English, is it?"

Cecila hmms "Sounds like the later... and damn we really gonna have to go pummel a god into submission at this rate? I've never smacked down a god before"

Kihzra shrugs. "Is meaningful word, anyway."

"Well, we've come all this way," Nexus observes casually in response to the sherrif. "I suppose it's worth taking a look, at least." He opens up a remote viewing portal to the compound he was glancing at earlier, where he's guessing the speeding delinquents ended up.

Harlequin looks at Jordon. "How were you 'gifted' with Seth's power, Jordon. Think of me not as a meta, but a mage who hopes to save your life."

Titan idly cracks his knuckles. "Let's go pay them a visit and get to the bottom of this."

Nexus nods agreement. "With you, boss. Gimme a sec to scout around and lock in on a landing site, and I'll drop us in their lap."

Kihzra says, "Is good."

Nexus reports: "About twenty kids, luxury setup, bunch of buildings laid out around an Egyptian temple. Pyramid in the middle, twelve feet high, passageway leading through it."

Jordon answers Harlequin, "I went through the rite of Blessing. First drink the blessed waters of life and then pass through the pyramid of life. It's.. It's an incredible expereince. Better than any high I've ever known."

Nexus says, "'Blessed waters of life...' Where'd you get those?"

Harlequin nods gently as Jordon explains what happened. "So, a ritual process. Thank you, Jordon. And who led this ritual?"

Kihzra observes, "All water is water of life. Unless poisoned.

Jordon tells Caleb, "The God Seth gives us the waters of life as part of the blessing ritual."

Nexus reports: "There's a centrally placed house that's shielded from remote viewing. And nobody else around except the teens." To Titan he adds "I'm thinking I drop us in right outside the shielded house and we pay a little surprise visit?" To Harlequin he adds "You seem to know a bunch about this stuff... any idea what this Seth clown might have up his sleeve?"

Titan looks to Cecila, "You're still in charge, since I arrived late. How do you want to approach this?"

Harlequin shrugs. "If it is indeed Seth or an avatar of his, great powers over many aspects of the natural world, especially storms, wild animals, chaos, darkness, and evil. If it is a sorceror or priest of Seth, lesser versions of the same. And if it is something else, I would hazard psychic vampirism or even possibly simple vampirism." He looks at Jordon. "Describe the water os life, Jordon, please. What did it look and taste like?"

Cecila hmms and ponders "Well unless Harlequin comes up with a reason not to... Sounds like the best course of action is to kick the door down and see what's up"

Kihzra nods. "that plan usually works."

Nexus nods. "Works for me. You got any psychic shielding in that bag of tricks, 'quin?"

Harlequin srhugs. "Without more information, no I cannot come up with a better suggestion." As he finishes speaking, silver then blue disks start to swirl into existence around him. They orbit him at varying distanes and speeds. "I fear not, Nexus. Well, not for others in any case. I will work on developing such a spell though. Thank you."

Jordon recalls and tries to give a description, "It was water. Only it glowed a kind of blue like there was a light in bottom of the chalice. And it tasted like fizzy water, tingled on the tongue and fizzed in the stomach."

Nexus nods. "Unless anyone's got more questions, I suppose I should return Jordon to his dad... that _was_ the gig, after all... and then we go in after this Seth creep?"

Harlequin murmurs. "We might want to wait to return Jordon until we can determine if the process can be reversed."

Nexus shrugs. "OK with me. You want he comes with?" Cale is skeptical about that idea. "Or we could leave him with the friendly sheriff here..."

Cecila ponders some "Well we can bring him with us, though depending on how long it may take to reverse the process we might have to leave him with his dad after this is all dealt with"

Cecila adds "You know it might be something stupid like walking backwards through whatever to fix it"

Nexus frowns. "Well, you're field leader... your call." To Jordon he adds "You keep your head down and your mouth shut and we might just find a way to save your stupid life. Got it?" He memorizes a location right by the shielded buildings front door. "I'm gonna be a bit dazed when we arrive, just so you know," he warns, and gets ready to port the crew.

Kihzra says, "Ok. I will be bodyguard."

Cecila nods some "He can come now lets go knocking" she smiles at the others

Harlequin murmurs, "Come stand by me, Jordon. Do not stray far."

Nexus meets everyone's eye to make sure they're ready, crosses his fingers, and ports them into the lion's den.

The team arrives just where Nexus aimed for. Next to the front door of the shielded house. They are immediately spotted by a couple of teens playing high speed basketball nearby. The door has the likeness of the god Seth carved into it.

Harlequin glances around slowly, waves in an offhand way to the high speed b-ball players, and then says to Cecilia. "I do not feel the presence of any deity, malign or benign. Which is a good thing. I feel no magicks or spiritual presences at all here right now. Well, other than the children. They glow."

Kihzra says, "Is not real god then?"

Cecila listens and ponders "Is the building shielded from your senses or something?" she asks Harlequin to confirm as she walks up to the door and tries to open it because hey why not.

Harlequin murmurs with thread of humor in his voice. "I am sorry Kizhra, but no."

Kihzra says, "Is ok. False gods count. Are many of those also."

The front door opens at Cecila's touch. It wasn't locked. Inside the door is a entrance lobby, decorated in old Egyptian style. The only furniture is a table and two comfortable looking easy chairs. A door on the opposite side of the lobby presumably leads further into the house.

Harlequin murmurs, "No, it is not. Well, not that I can tell in any case."

Kihzra says, "We go in?"

The basketball players have abandoned their game and are rushing towards the team while calling for the other teens to supoport them.

Cecila sighs some since you know super hearing "Well we got some company coming, if they're anything like the others we've faced they'll be strong and fast but highly inexperienced. No match for experienced heroes. Might even run into the two that ran away"

Kihzra turns to face the oncoming youths and angles her sword to reflect the sun into the eyes of each in turn.

Kihzra grins as the approaching youths are all blinded by the bright rays of the sun. "Are all yours!" she says to her companions.

The teens stop in confusion, "I can't see!" one says, "I can't either." says another.

Titan strides confidently forward into the open area before shouting, "Kids! Don't be stupid! Stand down now before you all get hurt."

The teens hesitate. After hearing from their friends what happened in the town the thought of taking on even more expereinced heroes is a bit daunting.

Nexus figures Titan seems to have the teenagers under control, at least for now, and it's better to take out their boss fast than to keep fiddling with the pawns... especially if they're too freaked out to enter the shielded building. Which, they can hope. He shifts to full defense and goes through the door Bulldozer opened, crossing to the door on the opposite side and opening it.

The door on the other side opens into a large chamber that would seem to be most of the house's area. It's like a throne room, lavishly decorated in Egyptian style and almost bare of furnishings. There's a throne, flanked on each side by eight feet high statues of dog-faced humanoids in heavy metal armor carrying large Khopeshs and burished shields. Sat in the throne is a hansome young man of regal demeanour. The effect of the room is rather spoiled by the old and very dead woman laid on the floor in front of the throne. A woman who is old but dressed like a teen.

The man looks at Nexus and after a moment his outline becomes hazy.

It occurs to Cale, in retrospect, that a coordinated charge on the door might have been cleverer. Clearly he's been operating on his own for too long.

Cecila takes a moment to relay her information to the others -(Yeah we got about 20 kids coming this way and there's one person in the house moving)- she notes as she heads further into the house with Nexus "Alright, I take it you're the one responsible for all the trouble here?" she asks the guy

The man answers Cecila. His voice is oddly hollow sounding. "This is my domain. Who are you to tresspass here?"

Harlequin raises his hands and brings a half globe composed of perfectly interlocking and transparent sapphire octagons into existence tightly around Jordon and himself. "Stay right beside me, Jordon," the masked figure murmurs as he takes the youth by the elbow. He then follows Nexus and Cecilia into the pyramid.

Jordon tries half-heartedly to pull back, "No.. no... We aren't allowed to enter Lord Seth's place without being asked." he tells Harlequin.

Harlequin murmurs in a gentle but iron voice, "But I think you should, Jordon. Now come along."

Nexus thinks. o O (Well, that's convenient... at least we don't have to worry about the basketball team.)

The man on the throne sees Jordon, "Are you here about the sacrifices? But you have so many of their type. They are the failures, the weak, the gullible. Of little use. A drain on your people. Why worry if you lose a few. You should thank me for improving your human breeding stock."

"We will," Nexus assures the man sarcastically. "We just have our own quirky customs for giving thanks."

Kihzra charges at the man on the throne, hollering a battlecry in her own language, and invoking her ancestor Brun, moving at preternatural rate. She strikes at the ghostly figure.

The statues on each side of the throne animate and move to intercept Kihzra but she simply moves too fast and is past before they can do so.

The supercillious expression on the man's face as the barbarian woman charges him turns to shock as Kihzra's blade strikes him and he feels the pain of the impact.. and is knocked out of the throne through the back of it. "How..!?" he exclaims in shock. Followed by ordering the statues, "Kill them all."

Kihzra grins. "Am Kihzra daughter of Pfarok, descendant of Brun who slew both gods and spirits!"

Nexus isn't at all sure this will do much good, but figures it's at least worth a shot... he reaches through a small portal and his hand semi-appears in front of Seth's chest, as he attempts to find a dimensional fracture plane that can successfully target the not-entirely-there self-proclaimed god.

Seth's face shows pain as Nexus finds a way to hurt him. "No.. no... how can you primitives be doing this?" he asks rhetorically.

Titan's feet leave the ground as he floats into the temple area. He figures the teens won't follow them in. He hasn't seen the statues move yet, so he just lands and waits to see if they do. "So...I wonder if this is like Dr. Who? Someone who claims they're a god using high tech stuff? Perhaps from the future?"

The statues move. Too late to prevent the attacks on Seth but possibly in time to avenge the insult to him. Their Khopesh swords swing in deadly arcs.

Kihzra sidesteps the blow of the more clumsy statue easily.

Nexus's constantly shifting body luckily melts away right ahead of the swinging blade.

The swords may be deadly but first they have to hit the fast moving targets, and in that the statues fail.

Harlequin cocks his head to one side as he murmurs, "We primitives? Really, who uses lines like that? Do you have delusions you are in a Republic serial, you fraud?" He looks over at Jordon for a moment then adds, "He is you, Jordon. Just a fraud, not a god." Seeing that Seth seems to be being fully taken care of at present, Harleuin points a gloved finger at one of the statues and a blot of sapphire hued energy lashes out at the statue nearest Jordon and he.

The 'god' Seth comes back to his feet, ignoring the fact he's ankle deep in the floor. His face is twisted by fury mixed with a definite hint of fear. "If you defeat the warriors of Horth you will have won this battle. But the war you have started this day is only just beginning." he says angrily. And then he is gone, a twisting of space and time. To Nexus' vision Seth has somehow slipped between dimensions, into the cracks so to speak, the space /between/ dimensions.

Kihzra says, "COWARD! Come back and fight!"

Nexus can't resist adding a classic line: "Puny god." That said, his disappearance was a neat trick.

It turns out that this particular warrior of Horth has an inherent weakness in it. Or so forensic examiniation would show, but what is seen is the sapphire bolt of pure mystical energy striking the statue right between its eyes. There is a cracking sound and then the entire head of the statue splits into multiple pieces. It teeters for a moment then falls back, headless, to hit the floor with a resounding thud.

Nexus nods, impressed. "Puny warrior of Horth," he adds.

Titan sees the statue move to attack Nexus, and he winds up to take a swing at it while it's ignoring him.

Titan whiffs, despite the statue not looking in his direction. "I'm out of practice, I think."