13549/Justice League Dark: Yuletide

Justice League Dark: Yuletide
Date of Scene:	01 January 2023
Location:	Old Growth Forest in the North of France
Synopsis:	= The Justice League Dark is alerted to a large dark energy growing in the North of France during Yuletide. Gabby Kinney, Talia al Ghul, Cain Marko, Robbie Reyes and Patience Alperen respond to Nettie's request -- and then fight a Grave Titan
Cast of Characters:	Nettie Crowe, Talia al Ghul, Robbie Reyes, Gabby Kinney, Cain Marko, Patience Alperen

---

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Whose wood is this, I think I know
    His house is in the village though,
    He will not see me stopping here
    To watch the wood fill up with snow.

    And snowing it is on this cold Yuletide, in a lonely stretch of old growth woods in Northern France. There are divets snaking through the land, passing between trees and under old stone walls, causing some to buckle and crack in the cold. The wind whips about, with gusts bringing the temperature to fingertip-numbing chill, lancing through jackets and gloves, seeking out bare skin to pull the warmth from.

    And this is where the Justice League would find themselves; portaged from the Candle, Booke and Belle to this copse in France in shin-deep snow.

    Nettie immediately is on her broom, hovering a good six feet above the snow, her legs curling under her as she takes to the air.

    "Beasts in barrows and winds that chill, this is the weather that's fit to kill ? tread warily duckies ? these woods seem to have blood on their MII?" she begins, until her besom is grasped by an ash tree and the witch is launched into the snowy air!

    THe woods around the group begin to growl.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul is here as she's doing a favor and seeing just what she's getting herself into with her new associates. SHe's dressed for the weather with a set of blades on her and a few small firearms. A hood has been pulled up over her face. She's going to be on guard duty for the group this eve it seems. A fighter, but not adept in magic, she'll hopefully be of some use in helping to screen the others. One hand is over on the sheathe of a katana, ready to pull it out as she can and ready to go and fight as soon as they encounter something hostile.
    Then while she's near Nettie and the witch is yoinked up and HARD into the air, all she can do is silently swear while going to then charge after the far-flung witch through the snow!

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Robbie's already been roped into more yuletide gatherings than his limited social skills are capable of handling, but the truth of the matter is? He's yet to even meet most of his old new Justice League Dark associates; and the promise of food and drinks is enough to seal the deal.

He is not, however, going to suffer a suit this time around. So when he's dumped unceremoniously into the snow, it's in a snug black sweater, leather pants and a wool coat that are at least somewhat weather appropriate.

Grumbling in annoyance at the cold as he climbs to his feet and dusts snow off himself with gloved hands, he looks up in time to spot Nettie on her broomstick hurtling away to.. where the hell *is* she going?

"Anyone else hear that?" he asks, frowning a little at the sound he swears he heard the trees make.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Thankfully forewarned against the weather, Gabby had garbed herself suitably for the situation. The heaviest coat she had was that holiday-special blue and white number which was mostly sheerling faux fur. While it looked adorable, and dress-like, it was very, very warm she'd found. Perfect in this case. With this, and the set of magical knit mittens Nettie had gifted her worn, along with Winter leggings, boots, and a scarf that could double as a face mask she was as prepared for this as she was going to get.

As soon as they arrive she reaches up to tug out a necklace from inside her coat so that the simple wire-wrapped stone hangs free for her to see--An alert for the use of magic. A small tool to aid her where she herself couldn't tell though it wasn't always good. Sometimes it just glowed constantly to her gaze.

Then Nettie gets YEETed by the tree itself causing her head to jerk up squinting into the sky. "Okay so TREES are sus," she calls out perhaps unnecessarily while she starts to try trudging through the snow which comes up to her knees making it a slow slog for her in spite of her energy. Already she's flicked her wrists to let her claws pop out adding a newly refreshed glow of moonlight to the snowy area.

Cain Marko has posed:
And then Cain Marko is here. He went to where Gabby told him to go, did the thing she told him to do, now he's somewhere that's not the place where he was. He starts to trudge in the direction he was told to go, and soon spots a familiar pintsized figure ahead of him moving somewhat slower. The snow isn't really slowing him down any. It would be weirder if it did. He speeds up some to catch her, in time to hear Gabby's comment, and look up into the sky to see presumably a falling witch. "Huh." He's wearing... a winter jacket. That's about the only concession to the cold he's made, to avoid the stares he gets when he walks around in a tee in this sort of weather. He scratches his chin thoughtfully. Unlike some of the JLD members, his first thought isn't 'Go help that person'. Not that he's officially a member yet... or however that works. He asks the petite girl in front of him, "Somebody you know?"

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen looks around as the portage is completed. Her usual armor has been upgraded for cold weather. Under the hooded cloak, she wears a full body suit in black and crimson with golden segments of armor. Drawing the cloak tightly about herself, she looks around the area curiously. It is impossible to hide the fog of breathing. It is decidedly cold here after all.

Around her neck hangs the Glacier Stone, the pale blue gem seeming to faintly glow. In her left hand is held an 18" length of shattered spear shaft.

When Nettie is knocked from her broom.

"Always found brooms to be untrustworthy.." she muses - but! with a tone onf concern for the ornery witch. The last thing she wants is to see Nettie get hurt. It's a really long walk back to Manhattan.

Turning slowly to regard the trees more cautiously, she falls in with the group as they, hopefully, go help Nettie!

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nevermind Nettie, the group is under attack!

    Roots begin to unroot from beneath the snow, drawing up to try and take out ankles and especially shins and drag Talia down into the cold snow, a thorn tree's lower trunk rising from the ground like a dark, gaping mouth as it yawns, intent to take Talia into the darkness!

    Robbie's hearing is good, although when the tree branches lash out for him, they're going for his arms, seeking to grab hi and raise him into the understory of the bare trees in the Old Growth.

    Gabby would find that her claws attract attention. From beneath the snow, a pair of icy hands draw up, each with two fingers an a thumb, trying to cold-snap to Gabby's wrists and point the claws out to either side as the wind whips up the coarse snow around her!

    Now, The Juggernaut was not stopped by the snow. No, eight measly inches of powder wasn't going to do more than annoy him at best.

    That's why the ground shifts suddenly and a section of wall breaks off with a stoney grumble from behind him and shoots forward like a curling stone trying to knock him backwards off his feet.

    Patience, meanwhile, may catch the scent of moss and petrichor (odd since it's not raining), but a section of ground has opened up behind her, seeking to drop her into a shallow and unamarked grave, jagged rocks forming 'teeth' with one dark quartz 'eye' opening beneath her!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The thing swallows up Talia in the shadows. But it's in the shaodws with her. Her blades go out as she goes to slash through whatever's in her way if she can. Then she's moving to throw down a smoke bomb down to conceal herself in the melee and the chaos. The smoke bomb is accompanied by a pair of flashbangs that she closes her eyes for and then she's going to dart away from!
    She has roughly the direction in which Nettie went, so hopefully in the midst of what she's throwing down with she can get away some and go evasive! Whatever these things are the weapons she has on her won't do much. So the best she can do for now is try and not get separated from the group or let them be picked off!

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Something causes Robbie to pause and turn his sharp gaze toward the hooded girl. The one with the-- there it is. Whatever she's holding, he can feel it from *here*. Slightly less than a dull ache, but somewhat headache-inducing nonetheless. "Watch where you point that thi--"

Aaaaand up he goes like a shot, with a scuffle of snow and an accompanying grunt of surprise that sounds an awful lot like, "fuck."

Immediately he tries to wrench himself free, maybe break off some of the smaller branches or use the weight of his body to snap the larger ones.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney gives a quick nod of greeting to Cain when he easily makes his way over to her. "That's Nettie Crowe, our witch and our ticket back home. One way or another we'll need her safely back--" Though she was finding as branches and roots start to shift up that wasn't going to be easy. Normally she would prattle out quick introductions. With the way things were she just yells out, "Everyone here is part of the group!" loud enough for all to hear. Better than letting someone mistake a face they don't know as part of the potential problem causing these trees to rise up.

"I wasn't told there'd be Ents here!" If it weren't for some friends she wouldn't even konw what those are. The branches that come for her, curious or not, find themselves getting slashed at. One wrist is sacrificed temporarily so she can slice at the other keeping at least one hand freed from their grasp.

"I don't suppose anyone speaks tree!? Shit." Nettie probably did. "Would you guys believe I'm a Hobbit? No? Worth a shot."

Cain Marko has posed:
When he sees his little friend being attacked, Cain frowns. "Alright, I guess we should something ab-" And then he's attacked by a Canadian wall. He grunts in surprise when the chunk of stone slams into his back, stumbling forward. It wasn't enough to hurt him, but it did catch him off guard. He turns around, glaring n the direction it seems to have come from. "Alright, who's the dead man that threw that?" There's a flash of crimson light around the already tall man, and then a behemoth in red armor is towering in the woods, absently clenching his hands. Anybody that didn't recognize him before, which is very likely, might recognize him now with that distinctive domed helmet. There's only so many people that go around with big red helmets, and he can't float and isn't Jewish.

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen casts a glance toward Robbie, "You should know better than that. We're on the same side. Just remind your... friend.. of tha.."

Now it is her turn to get waylaid. The scent makes her frown. Somehow the aroma reminds her more of... death.. than sweet summer rains.

Unprepared for the attack from behind, she is toppled into the unmarked grave with only a brief chirp of alarm. Felled on her back, she doesn't let go of the length of wood in her hand but she is equally unable to bounce back up before the grave collapses in atop her, the snowy ground returning to 'normal' for this evil enchanted wood. Only faint rumblings to be heard from where the Magdalena disappeared.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Talia manages to cut open, smokebomb and flashbang a tree that has tried to eat her. It's not a particuarly bright minion, its branches grasping at air for a few moments before deciding that Talia no longer exists as the Assassin makes it her mission to find where Nettie Crowe had flown off to.

    The witch herself can be heard cursing colorfully in French and Lhasa as she comes back down through the trees, managing to get a hand on her broomstick before she calls out: "The woods are possessed! Someone track down what's causing this!" she barks, and she takes out her wand from her sleeve. The night lights up with a very large fireball and an apology to the thorn tree she just set aflame for better light, looking on in horror as Patience is taken into the yawning earth!

    "PATIENCE!"

    Robbie's close encounter with the spear Patience holds is cut short by a sudden elevation. And though these trees could take him higher, the scuffle and the weight of his body helps wrench him free of the grasping branches, which turn to try and simply throw him against the ground with a snarl!

    "Oooooooohm barrrrrrhrooooooom--" the tree replies to Gabby at her question of if the trees beleive she's a hobbit. No, they don't believe in hobbits. The icy tendrils clinkle like breaking glass before they shatter at the claws's slice, screeching.

    Cain Marko has become The Juggernaut. Nothing stops him.

    Which is why the land shifts beneath his feet, worked stone rising up and trying to open up a laughably small grave for him, but more than enough to try and trip him up with six feet down to a dessecated coffin.

    PAtience is underground, it's cold and dark and there's the stench of death around her as one of those quartz eyes roll to take a closer look at her, an incensed giggling making its way to her ears, unhinged and pleased with itself.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Nettie's managed to at least partially recover herself, and goes to yell out that the woods are possessed. Really? So this is the sort of life that she's gotten into? At least it's not like there's some sort o fmusical number to it. Talia goes to hold her weapon out and ready while she's disengaged. Tracking one member of the team falling into the earth, the others being attacked on all sides.. She doesn't have the firepower to deal with trees. Her blades might hack off branches but she doesn't have the firepower to do lasting damage.
    So that leaves her with 'find out what's possessing them'. Which in the midst of a spear-fight in the possessed woods could be a bit of trouble. But the others have their own fight well in hand.
    Nettie is helping Patience, nothing can stop the Juggernaut, and Gabby can handle herself. Robby can set the whole wood aflame, not that she knows the extent of his powers>
    So Talia is going to head to ground. Metaphorically. As she's running around and hopefully getting the cover of darkness to avoid attacks a she tries tos weep for what, if anything might be useful in ifguring out what's altered this forest to a freakzone!

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Robbie does indeed go hurtling back down to the ground, colliding with it to the tune of a sickening crunch as his shoulder and femur shatter on impact. Hey, it could've been worse; at least the snow broke his fall.

Hissing out a pained groan, he slowly pushes up with his uninjured arm. Covered in broken bits of leaves and branches and a layer of melting snow; by the time he makes it back to his feet, his broken bones are already starting to knit themselves back together. Still hurts like a motherfucker, though.

"Wait," he calls out to Talia. "C'mon, this way. Help me get this open? I think there's somethin' in here." He limps toward the grave into which Patience disappeared, alert to anything else trying to get handsy with him again.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Cool," Gabby responds to the ominous creaking noise from the trees. The earth. The everything around them. The hand which still has clutched at her wrist is swiped at with her free claw to send that one shattering away as the first had been. A little grin crosses her face as she adds quieter, "Because I'm a badger."

Even as she hears Robbie call Talia back to help dig, she thrusts her own fist and claw down into the snow beneath her reaching down, searching, for whatever might be beneath that snow. There might be nothing but the arms had come from there so it seemed a point to start from, digging down using her claws to slice through what she might touch. Everything seemed to be coming from underground after all.

Cain Marko has posed:
Cain glances around, trying to spot something he could smash that might stop all of this from happening. Nothing immediately springs into view. He turns to check on Gabby again, and then the ground opens beneath him. He grunts as he drops down into the... grave? Around four feet of him are still above ground when his huge boots land on the coffin, probably crushing it if it really is just just a coffin. He growls deep in his throat, and raises a feet to smash down on the ground in irritation. Frozen earth and whatever else is there errupts out like a meteor hit, then he steps up onto the new divot to then move onto surface level again. He yells loudly, "Do you got something better to go on than just 'something', Nattie?" He might have misheard what Gabby said her name was before. He starts to stomp towards whatever the nearest manifestation of magic is, intent on crushing or tearing it.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Mr. Marko if there is one thing I have EVER carried with me in my many *long* years of life it is that if you ask for something--" Nettie begins, swinging herself back onto her broomstick. She's got a long, dark line on her cheek; probably blood.

    Probably hers.

    Meanwhile the ground beneath Juggernaught opens again, and there's a yawning sound, creaking with deep bass as the ground rises to meet Cain uncomfortably close, hands wrought of stone and mud grasping at the Juggernaut in order to lift him from the hole and try to sling him off to the side and into Gabby!

    "-- you probably get it." Nettie finishes her statement, with a wince.

    Gabby digs, finding a couple of morrels beneath the snow as she slices, and dices, and digs through the snow, the mustilidine teenager kicking up frozen chunks of dirt.

    There's also some arm bones that suspiciously aren't connected to the hand bones...

    Robbie and Talia remain momentarily unharrassed by the trees, that sense of Evil gets stronger the closer RObbie gets to the quartz 'eyes'

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Well, those glowing things are definitely to take note of. Taking note of where her teammate is, Talia Al Ghul goes for a quick attack at it. Given the distance away she is from them, she's a bit out of charging range. So she goes to load up a trio of kunai which she would launch through the air. Daggers flung hard, intent on all striking on one of them the exact same spot if she could! Blades several meters apart, so where one would strike and then bounce off.. Hopefully if it hit, it would elave a crack. That the next one would then impact and slash into the same area.. Then hopefully followed by a third if they had made a small chink through the armor!

Robbie Reyes has posed:
As Talia focuses on the other crystal eye, Robbie sinks into a crouch in the snow and grips either side of the gravestone that collapsed and trapped Patience underground. A quick glance over his shoulder to Gabby and her.. friend. When did *that* guy show up, anyway?

Whatever. The heavy slab is hoisted up and tossed aside, and he pauses a moment like he's focusing on something. Then the FWOOOMP of his fingertips, then the entirety of his right hand igniting in hellfire. That should do it.

He swings down into the pit, using the light to guide him-- and burn away any minor impediments in his path.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
It's once Gabby hits bones that things start to click together for her. It was hard to tell from the snow, but with the openings in the ground, that sickly sweet smell of death hovering just beneath the surface, and now this...

"We're in a fuckin' graveyard!" A million pop culture references flit through her head, and she's tempted to blurt them out. She's also aware however that she's likely stood in one spot too long and become a sitting target. Her weight shifts back to stumble from the hole she'd been digging, falling back onto the snow as she scrambles to move further, quicker. Good timing it would seem given the evil awareness that has posessed the place was trying to throw the Juggernaut at her.

Cain Marko has posed:
When the earth troll, or whatever the hell the thing is, rises from the ground beneath him, Cain takes a step back. Not out of ear or anything. Just to get a better look. "Well, this is more promising." He starts to move towards the beast when he's snatched from the ground. He tries to launch a quick punch at the thing, before he's thrown towards a digging badger-dwarf. He grunts as he potentially slams into her, if so pinning her to the ground beneath his massive bulk. "Fucking piece of....!" He quickly raises up, checking that Gabby is okay. Or hit at all. Well, it's not like anything can hurt her permanently. But her nice coat might have been ruined! He glares at the rock and mud creature. "You are asking for it." Then he launches himself towards it again, faster this time. Feet stomping the ground hard he tries to tackle the behemoth.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The eyes are definitely something of note. Talia's kunai strike it and appear to catch attention, the crackling bass of voices rising up, and a great hand, skeletal and bone, laced with vine and sprigs of dead, browned holly rises up to try and sweep Talia away from the onlsaught of its eye with a snarl and a curse word, the eye scratched, bleeding -- quartz shouldn't bleed -- and the liquid that errupts from it is a sickly green and glows dully.

    Robbie lifts the stone, throwing it to the side, which enables Patience to escape -- Nettie swings by on her broomstick for a pickup so the Magdalena can take a few breaths and recover.

TRobbie's hand, wreathed in Hellfire, comes down and strikes the eye, causing a furious winter howl that makes the wind pick up, dropping the temperature further, icicles starting to form on the trees around them -- surely that can't be dangerous.

    The Earth shifts beneath them again, and even larger than the dirt troll, a titan appears to be awakening.

    <Long have I slumbered.> it rumbles, its voice whispering in all unshielded minds, <And now I hunger. Your bodies will make a fine first course for my return!> it snarls, and lumbers to its full thirty-foot height, the gaping hole in its chest where Patience was buried alive. ONe broken eye on a mishapen, stumpy head, the other broken, hanging by vines and tangled nerves.

    Nettie stands where her broomstick had deposited her. She tilts her head a moment, watching in the firelight.

    "Well. *THA'S new."

    ACain's tackle, sliding backwards along the ground before it opens its mouth wide, and tries to take a bite out of the Juggernaugt's armor!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
And then that -thing- is rising up. Talia goes to fall back, even as she pulls her hood on once more. She glances in the direction that she -hears- Juggernaut from, and then goes to point over against the rising, slumbering beast rising up from the ground. Then she goes to speak in a flawless British accent, "I believe that's your dance, old chap."
    Talia goes to disengage, rapidly flipping another series of kunai over towards the eye she'd already made bleed a bit. Likely to no remote effect- the thing's already seeming to have woken and gone aggressive, and covnentional things likely won't effect it at this stage.
    But still, they would be a distraction. Even if they were immaterial to it, even things this old still -felt- pain.. or so she hoped. And striking at a vulnerable place, an already hit one hopefully would remind it of that. And hopefully give it some minor distraction to make it a bit easier for the heavy hitters to have an opportunity to strike.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
As the Titan awakens and begins to rise, Robbie's nearly toppled off the monstrous *thing* and dumped for a second time into the snow.

This time however, he's somewhat prepared for shit to go south. He summons one of his chains mid-tumble, lights it on fire quick as a matchstick to spilled gasoline, and whips the bladed end at the back of the Titan's shoulder right as he hits the ground. Again.

"Hey. Big guy, over here. Let's see your ugly fuckin' mug."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
If not for trying to scramble out of her little self-dug hole, when the Juggernaut is flung at her she might have gotten more than slightly squished. As it is she sees him coming, and tucks into a ball. Just enough that he only ends up landing on part of her and the softness of the snow helps to cushion--Okay helps to bury her down into the snow a bit. "M'fine," she assures with a little flap of her hand to swat against him before he goes off again.

She was of course, but she's slower now as some dislodged joint needs to pull itself back in place. Rolling over onto hands and knees she watches the behemoth rise up as the others attack. For now she just looks it over for signs of weakness.

Patience Alperen has posed:
when Patience is freed from her grave, she is pale. It couldn't have been long before she would have suffocated.

As the others are faced with this new Earth Titan, the Magdalena suddenly takes a deep breath and then coughs. Complete with a little cloud of decaying dust as only befits a grave or tomb.

Weakly she mutters, "... thanks for that. I certainly wouldn't have lasted Three Days." The religious reference is made with grateful irony. Looking at the Titan, she closes her eyes and resigns herself.

Damn it. She had not wanted it to come to this.

"Nettie.. please keep this safe." The length of Spear shaft is offered to the witch, Patience's eyes showing just how much trust is in this request and gesture.

Those near the broomstick will feel the temperature suddenly DROP by some twenty degrees. Snow on the ground, on the trees around Patience begins to turn to ice, little rivers of frozen water move, snake toward Patience as the Glacier Stone flares to a bright pale blue, her brown eyes turning icy blue as well. In moments her form has shifted from human to an ice giant that resembles her features were she a living ice sculpture. One who is now very displeased and nearly thirty feet tall. As if she'd stepped right out of Jotunheim.

<<You've already tried once. You'll not get a second chance.>>

Forming a massive ice club, Ice Giant Patience steps forward and delivers a two handed swing toward the titan's torso and head, as if going for a home run.

Cain Marko has posed:
Cain grunts out as he pushes the magical giant that's three times his height back, "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that, dirtnap!" He draws back one of his fists, and slams it up into a knee... like area on one leg. It might or might not actually work like one, he's not sure. He might be magical but that doesn't mean he knows magic shit well. The thing bites him on the shoulder, and he just ignores it like he does pretty much every attack ever launched at him. Only... this one actually shears through his armor. Even worse, it shears through the normally indestructible flesh beneath as well, albeit not as easily. He curses as a large chunk of muscle and metal is lost, blood spraying form the wound. "YOU GIANT PIECE OF SHIT!!!!" Wow it's been a while since he felt pain like that! His arm is still moving, but it hurts. He clenches the other fist up, crouching down and putting everything he has into it as he suddenly leaps up, launching a devastating rising uppercut towards the creature. He can't jump like the Hulk, but he's strong enough to get air anyway. The missing meat is already visibly growing back on his wound. The armor less so.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie had been trying to get a better sense of the situation and at the sudden change in the battle ground becoming a higher ground via getting legs. IT's a really unusual situation for her to be in where she's taken by utter surprise, but with Cain, Robbie, Patience, Gabby and Talia here -- the combat is well in hand.

and -- is given a length of spear to hold?

    " -- with my life, Duckie." she whispers back, and she moves off the field of battle because, creature of Death she is, probably doesn't want to be close to what The Magdalena is planning.

    RObbie's chains and Talia's work have worked to keep the Titan from wandering too far, though the Titan gives a howl at the flaming chains forged in Hell wrap around its shoulder, one boney hand reaching up to grab at the chain and try to pull Robbie off the ground by it and sling HIM into a thick ash tree! <INSIGNIFICANT BURNING FOOL!> it snarls -- and then the Ice Giant hits the field.

    ".. tha's terrifying." Nettie mutters, and she reaches for her cigarette pouch, grasping Gabby's shoulder and pulling her back and away from the fight "Hang back a mo', Miss Kinney. We may be outgunned." she states with a serious note to her voice.

    The ice giant is nearly as tall as the titan, and the club comes up, swing batta battah and STRIKES the head of the titan, its quartz eye hanging by roots and damaged by Robbie's earlier punches swings around and is unleashed, going sailing out into the snow.

    The Juggernaut was injured, but apparently that just serves tomake him even more angry. The huge troll was about to come back in for another bite of him when Vain tenses, clenches, and delivers an uppercut that -- quite literally -- detatches the head from the troll's shoulder, causing both to rumble in the wake of such an attack!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Whatever is going on is well, well above Talia's comprehension. Ancient God and Titan facing Avatar of a God and Elemental of the Ancients. This is well, well beyond her sort of capability to interact with. So she goes to do what is entirely the most logical thing here.
    Namely fall back. Quickly. And not even bothering to try and shoot anything at the beast, throw a weapon, or anything of the sort that might be a potentially hostile move. It's less self preservation and more total awareness that she doesn't have anything on her that will be of the slightest use.. And so to leave the melee to those that -can-.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie looks over to Talia as she falls back and gives a nod of approval.

    "Wasn't expecting this." she admits quietly, and reaches into her pocket, and brings out a brightly wrapped candy. "Toffee?"

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Well, Talia was looking for the big guns, and here they are. Two solid hits apiece from Patience and Juggernaut; the latter severs the poor giant's head entirely. And then Robbie gets flung to one side like a child throwing a tantrum over a toy.

There's a CRASH of his body hitting one, two trees-- and then the sound of exploding hellfire like a gouge in the sepulchral air as pain and rage complete the transformation to the Ghost Rider. This time, the force of the hit doesn't even seem to deter him. The demon's up again without a scratch, and stalks toward the headless giant, opening his mouth wider, wider than the hinge of his jaw should be able to manage.

And unleashes a great, screaming gout of smoke and scorching flames from his fanged mouth, intending to cook the massive Titan like a mound of clay meeting the kiln.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney allows herself to be tugged back at least for the moment. She wasn't rushing in. No, she was using the others attacks as a means to look for any potential weakness or other area she might be able to attack, so she nods at Nettie with a tight lipped frown.

"A bit, but that's not what I'm concerned with," she remarks while glancing around the creature, then around the cemetary. "It said it hadn't woken up for awhile. Was something put here to put it to sleep in the first place?" It's a guess but she's trying to think and quickly. "If someone could yeet me up to the head I could pry one of those eyes out easy," she assures. Just needed to get UP there. Right now there were three rather heavy hitters attacking it though.

"Thoughts?"

Cain Marko has posed:
It seems like the Juggernauts bones might be sturdier than the rest of him. while all the meat and the like was torn off of his shoulder, the skelesupport for the limb was still there, with bits of gory meat clinging to it that quickly is lost from sight as new muscle crows over it. It'll take a few minutes for it to heal completely. But it doesn't look like it's affecting him. Other than continuing to piss him off. He moves forward, launching more punches at one of its legs. Trying to shatter it and send the thing toppling to the ground. "Take a bit out of me will you! I've smashed better architecture than you!" Then he'll begin smashing through the thing like a relatively tiny woodchipper paradoxically chewing up a redwood.

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen steps back, the ground shuddering under her. Seeing that hellfire, the ice giant is suddenly less interested in being close to the earth titan while it is being cooked.

As Juggernaut removes the titan's head from its body, Patience pauses, looking down at the head as it lands with a thud. There is no hesitation. The massive ice club turns into a spike at the end. Raising it high over her head, she drives the spike down into the titan's head, pinning it to the ground. Then any moisture in the dirt that comprises that head is exposed to an instant flash freeze before she drives her foot down, intent in trying to shatter the head completely.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Sometimes, my sweet badger, they did they best they could. Buried wee babes and hounds and rabbits and lambs and hoped for the best. That the guardians would satisfy its hunger. And for a time, it might. Or it might not. The surest thing about trying to understand magic is that everything changes over time. And no one's ever going to have the full of it." Nettie states quietly, "... we do the best we can to eliminate what they could not."

    The Titan gives a bass bellow, the ground and woods shaking, the icicles in the trees rattling as he's cooked from behind by Robbie's Hellitosis, and then his head is removed cleanly by the Juggernaut.

    His body crumbles, the heavy stones falling in a deadly rain in the middle of the snowy woods before that ice is turned to a spike, and Patience deals a killing blow. The bass voice rumbles out:

    <I... hungerrrrrrrr....> adn then fades to only the snowy woods, and the crackling of the tree that Nettie set on fire.

    

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would glance over at the broom that Nettie had come down on, then the inspiration of Gabby to get up there, and be about to voice a suggestion.. then look over at the crumbling ancient, warped Titan falling to stones in the graveyard. "Yes, thank you." She would accept the toffee over and move to bit einto it. "Delightful."

Robbie Reyes has posed:
The Ghost Rider continues to pour more and more hellfire into the Titan's hardening and cracking flesh, even as the acrid flames start to seep out of fissures spiderwebbing the length and breadth of it. It's accompanied by an inhuman roar like sheet metal being torn apart atom by molecule--

And then the sudden, deafening silence before the Titan starts to crumble into pieces and hit the snow like small meteorites, still trailing flames until the blast of ice from Patience extinguishes them.

The demon having had his fun, Robbie's body is returned to his control, and he drops to his knees, coughing and wheezing like he's just smoked twenty packs of cigarettes.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"I see," Gabby mumbles while watching as the others take out the beheamoth. She tugs her coat around herself a bit tighter perhaps unnecessarily so while glancing over the other allies that had fought with a sympathetic wince at it all. "I feel awful standing on the sidelines, but I would have gotten in the way." And she knew for at least one, perhaps two, of the fighters out there that would have become a distraction that was unnecessary.

"Take us home, Nettie?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Aye, Duckies, we'll head home, cakes and ale, and take a nap." Nettie states, then pulls out her flask and drinks deep from it.

    "Buckle up. Headin' home!"

Patience Alperen has posed:
As the titan guarding is defeated and crumbles, Patience-as-Ice-Giant steps back. The heavy club turns to water and trickles into the ground, returning to whence it came.

Her form begins to shift, the excess mass also returning to the land. As if stepping out of an icey husk, Patience gives a stumbling shiver, her breath a fog from her lungs the way Robbie's seems to have been smoke.

She looks to the team, then Nettie, nodding as she walks over, seeking that length of spear again. "Thanks. I.. guess it was worth it.." but her eyes show she isn't entirely certain of the cost. To herself.