14058/The Palest Kale

The Palest Kale
Date of Scene:	07 February 2023
Location:	Warehouses - Chinatown
Synopsis:	Jennifer Kale has to deal with a golem with a case of explosive gore.
Cast of Characters:	Emma Frost, Jennifer Kale

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Emma Frost has posed:
Chinatown in Gotham. There were always stories of things. Nightmares. Horrors. Sometimes even real ones. There were always so many things going on that sometimes the real ones might slip through the cracks. This particular one had been making children disappear late at night. Well.. It could be a night terror.
    It could be a gang. It could be dirty cops. It could be anything. But there were still missing children, all vanished at late night, and a sense of magica bout it.

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale isn't like a lot of native Gothamites, in that she isn't afraid of the dark. Or of the city. Or of darkness in the city. Maybe she just doesn't know any better, being a country girl from Florida, or maybe there is something more.

The semester was going so well, and Jen was actually doing well in her classes. So of -course- something 'smelled funny' on the air while walking back from one of her favorite places in Chinatown. It always started this way.

Wearing a jacket against the cold, Jen pulls the lapels up around her face and sniffs the wind. A simple hand gesture amplifies her sensitivity to the magic aura, and she heads out into the night.

Emma Frost has posed:
There's something over within the aura of the area. It feels queasy over to the swamp girl. Unsettling. Something is bubbling around. Everyone in the area has gone inside and locked their doors. Over these few blocks, not a soul is peeping. No criminals. No late night traffic. No kids playing. No lights on in the buildings.

Doors closed. Windows barricaded. Shops shut down. Convenience stores dark. Like everyone was aware -something- was wrong in the area and was blockading themselves away from it.

The area would be pervaded with more of a sense of mystical queasiness, oppression..

Jennifer Kale has posed:
It's a good thing Jen just ate, right? Her senses are prickly with the sense of -wrong- that seeps into the area like an oil stain. It's so quiet that even the soft scrape of her boot heels on the pavement seem loud. Deep breath, and Jen organizes her thoughts.

Another gesture, and the blonde seeks to divine either the nature or the source of the aura. Preferrably both. She isn't revealing her power, at least not yet, but rather observing the way an art critic would regard a painting. She continues moving towards the source, as best she can.

Emma Frost has posed:
It's innate to the area. Something dark, twisted. Powerful, perhpas. Oppressive. The blonde can sense things moving. Maneuver. Towards..?

There's a series of sounds like a grasshopper's wings rubbing against one another. KEKEKEKE

Then a machete slashing right past her from seemingly out of nowhere with enough strength to bisect the front end of an armored car!

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale tilts her head when the sounds of grasshoppers chirping suddenly picks up, but she jumps at the flash of the machete. Taking half a step back, her left hand raises out of reflex and a crackling, pink sphere of shielding energy surrounds her.

She is only briefly surprised, before taking another step forward.

"Real cute. Are you gonna start throwing clowns next? Because I think I've already seen this one."

Emma Frost has posed:
The.. Whatever it is that attacks is very, very large and very bulky. Humanoid. Wearing shredded clothes. A ruined sports mask of some sort on it's face. A large machete held in one hand. It towers over her as she forms it's shield.

Then it flickers. Vanishes.

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale's stance relaxes a little, but she keeps the shield up all the same. Seen this one before? Yeah, there's a reason why she got to be so good at shielding spells.

Discretion be damned at this point, right? With her right hand she casts an active magical probe where the horror-movie figure just was a second ago. Real or imaginary? Jen is pretty good at illusions, and if it was -sent- from somewhere she'll follow the trace.

Emma Frost has posed:
The -thing- goes to rush towards her again. From the direction where her back was turned. There's no real sense so far of -where- it's from. Some things were just oozed up from collective nightmares. Or worse. Things given form.

Presuming it hits her head on, it -would- be enough to badly mess up her shield. But her magic would give her some heads up it was on the attack.

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Of -course- it attacks from behind, right? That's where nightmares come at you. Jen isn't unprepared, either. She feels the surge in nightmare energy and turns at the last moment.

The shield flares as brightly as a Hollywood spotlight, and when the thing hits she also lashes out with a mystic blast towards what she -feels- is the source.

The light energy remains on high, and when Jen speaks the timbre of her voice shifts as well to become louder, more authoritative.

"Begone! I do NOT fear you! Begone and trouble this place no more!"

Emma Frost has posed:
The -thing- is struck by the challenge and the ward. Even as she goes to command it. But it's a powerful one. Or at least is formed of enough terror that while it bends it doesn't buckle. It goes to take the machete up.. And goes to hurl it over at her. Where the slash of it could have carved through the front end of an armored car.. When it's thrown like a bolt it could smash through one end of the Batmobile and out the other!

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale only amps up the light, filling the entire alleyway with brightness now. She is prepared to dodge, but doesn't pump more energy into her shield. The machete is hurled, and in that split second Jen disappears. The short teleport takes but a blink of an eye, and puts her directly behind the nightmare.

Using both hands, mystical energy rises and she blasts at the center of its body.

Emma Frost has posed:
The short teleport has her blasting the thing point blank over and sending it flying! It smashes through the front of one building, going out the other side of it. It's definitely got a solid form. Then.. Nothing. No magical aura. No noise. A hole in the building where it had been blasted through. Total silence.

And while she might have busted it down hard.. Since when was she ever that lucky?

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale doesn't believe it, of course, and she steps over to check the damage. "It's definitely real." she declares, then she badly quotes a line from a movie. "If it bleeds, we can kill it."

This is the part where the intrepid group of teenagers breathes easier, thinking that the monster has been defeated/outwitted/destroyed, and lets their guard down. But Jen has seen -that- movie as well.

Deep breath, exhale slowly. She turns her magical senses up to 'high', extending her awareness. If she wasn't expecting to be sucker-punched with a machete, she might even peek into adjacent planes of existence.

Emma Frost has posed:
Depending on how far her awareness extends, in what direction it goes, and how far it flies.. She might be aware of it. Or not. Instead of to the side or to above, the thing comes from underneath. If she's not fast enough, it would burst out of the sewers like a rocket, rocks blasting everywhere as it would try to smash a fist to her, two huge hands going to try and grab at each of her arms with itnent to snap her in two like a wishbone!

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale's senses were extending in a slowly-growing sphere, so she realizes what's about to happen even before she feels the street rumbling beneath her boots. Dancing keeps her in good shape as well, so when the two hands reach up in an explosion of rubble the sorceress is already tumbling away.

Rather than trying to blast it this time, Jen tries a different tactic. A binding spell is hurled at the being, throwing coils around it like a mystical boa constrictor. "Nice try."

Emma Frost has posed:
She manages to avoid being gutted by exploding rubble and concrete to dance out of the way as the rubble doesn't crush and skewer her. It's when she goes for something that's a little less indirect that she finds an effective counter.

The.. Monster is immobilized. Hard. It's struggling within the grasp.. But it can't escaPe the binding.

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale keeps a hold of the binding coil, and throws another around it for good measure. Relaxing, but not letting her guard down, Jen slowly approaches. Holding the coils with one hand, she illuminates the creature with her other. "Okay, then. Now let's see just what the hell you really are, starting with your true form."

Another spell follows, attempting to strip away any illusion or falsehood or other trappings of power.

Emma Frost has posed:
Spells go up to strip away surface bits. Of flesh rended. Of bits welded. It smells horrible. It's moreso a golem than a corpse. Someone's taken something dead, infused it with the essence of nightmares, and made it animated. But it's -still- ag olem. And an incredibly strong one.

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale methodically strips away the scary parts, and wrinkles her nose at what is left. "Well that explains the smell." she murmurs. The coils look like they're holding, so she focuses more attention on the creature itself. "There has to be a key somewhere. A stone where your heart should be, a magic symbol written somewhere."

A thought occurs to her, then. "It's probably something nasty." And so she begins the more methodical search of the struggling, mindless animation. The coils squeeze the throat just so, causing the mouth to open just a little.

Emma Frost has posed:
The thing gurgles. Broken sports mask still there, despite everything being rended off of it. Her finding a source of power entombed within it. A charge. Fueled of terror and hate. An impetus given to simply kill.. But with menance and mystery rather than to simply rampage about and maraud.

Soemone that knew what they were doing, even with something so lowly powered.

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale wrinkles her nose again, letting out a sigh of resignation. "Yep. It's gonna be nasty." she declares. Magical coils held in her left, Jen carefully shapes magical energy with her right to wrap around her fingers and hand. It's both for protection as well as for cutting.

Finding the closest place she can to that hidden power source, Jen holds her breath and just plunges her hand right into the creature to start feeling around.

Emma Frost has posed:
What happens is like she's just taken down a Deadite. Gore /everywhere/. Like someone had fired off a rocket with it. She's covered in it perhaps even despite the magic shields she has on her. As she goes to shove her hand in to the core of the thing..

Then something -snaps- onto her hand as she shoves it deep. Whatever the power thing of it.. Infused, wretched, damned.. Is trying to snap her in!

Jennifer Kale has posed:
"Gah! Are you kidding me?" Jen gasps, sputtering as she is splattered. "I -liked- this jacket, too." Then something snaps at her hand. "Oh HELL no..."

It's snapped onto her hand, so Jen just jerks her hand free of the corpse. Or what's left of it. With her left hand she throws another coil around the core she just pulled out, trying to keep it under control. Or at least to keep it from getting away.

Emma Frost has posed:
Fortunately it's not going anyhwere. Unfortunately for her, it's not going anywhere. Even as it's trying to crush down on her hand that's locked in with it with enough force that would grind the bones down to a fine powder and likely permanently sever it off at the wrist.

Even as the rest of the corpse collapses around it and she's just left with the key, a rotting heart, covering her palm!

Jennifer Kale has posed:
"Yuck." Jen declares, trying to shake her hand free of the thing that's latched onto her hand. Her hand is protected by magic, at least, so she's in no danger of losing anything. But she can't very well go to class with a dead, rotting heart clamped down on her hand, either.

Before doing anything rash, however, Jen illuminates the heart to look for symbols or sigils, anything that might be ensorcelling the thing.

Emma Frost has posed:
The thing goes to snap hard over at her fist with enough force that it might actually be able to break her shields and her reinforced blockages if she doesn't remove it soon. It's definitely an eager beater.

It goes to cry, echoing through the emptied streets <<I'LL SWALLOW YOUR SOUL!>>

Well, she knows what it is at least.

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale chuckles softly at that, wincing a little as the pressure grows around her hand. "Okay, so I've seen that movie, too. But I left my chainsaw at home, and where's a Kandarian Dagger when you really could use one?"

"But you won't be swallowing any souls tonight." Amping up the protection around her trapped hand, Jen hits the heart with a steady blast of magical fire, heating it up to the flash point.

Emma Frost has posed:
She might not be able to effectively destroy it, buts he can at least put a beat-down on it. And leave nothing left of it for it to regenerate from for awhile. Energy builds up over as she moevs to fist it.. And it lets out a scream over as it disintegrates!

... With more gore, dammit. She looks like someone that just went through a Nickelodeon slime trap.

Jennifer Kale has posed:
Jennifer Kale gasps and splutters some more, shaking her sore hand and wiggling all the fingers to make sure they work. "Well... shit." she mutters, making sure to spit and clear her mouth. Just in case. "Why doesn't it ever rain when it would be really useful?"

Jen takes a few, sticky steps, and tries to find something to wipe her hands on. "I'm sure Strange would've managed to keep looking dignified and stern after all this." Rather than try to walk home, however, Jen teleports, right to the bathroom.

She'll burn her clothes later.