14566/Black Sheep's Tongue

Black Sheep's Tongue
Date of Scene:	15 April 2023
Location:	Abandoned Chemical Factory, Gotham City, New Jersey
Synopsis:	When asked to retrieve the previous holder of the Book of the Black Lamb's Tongue, Gabby Kinney, Robbie Reyes and Daniel Ketch have their work cut out for them, at an abandoned chemical factory -- where else? In Gotham City.
Cast of Characters:	Nettie Crowe, Daniel Ketch, Gabby Kinney, Robbie Reyes

---

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    THE NIGHT THE BOOK CAME TO THE JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK:

    Nettie Crowe had been alone in the Crowe's Nest, and checking over her cards. She had wrinkled her nose, a hand-wrapped cigarette between her fingers, the smoke swirling around her head s she looked to the spread of ancient cards. Judgement. Knight of Swords, reversed. Knight of Cups, reversed. All under the Tower, under Ten of Swords. Her too-blue-to-be-true eyes flick over to the book, in remedial treatment due to the OBSCENE Amount of glitter and stickers over it.

    That poor book almost had her pity as much as its past handler.

    TONIGHT: The mission that was given over texts from the venerable witch was clear. Track down the previous holder of the book. Remove any influence the book had on its owner by any means required. She'd asked Gabby to be the 'face' of the operation, since she was 'the friendliest one of the bunch' -- and a skilled tracker.

    And after the reading, she had kindly requested some Heavy Hitting Backup for the Face. It wasn't often the old crow had particular insight, but she'd come across this book before, and it's appearance in Gotham City where it was found by Talia wasn't good news.

    The abandoned factory seemed all the worse for wear in the dying light of the late afternoon, crossing that threshhold into evening. Rust and dull metal, crumbling siding and abandoned heavy equipment lay under a layers of graffiti and vandalism. Broken glass bottles, discarded vapes and weeds growing up between cracks in the pavement, along with chalked-in warnings of 'BATMAN SUX' and spraypainted odes to the Joker, with HA HA HA HAA scribbled in green paint.

    Gabby would immediately pick up on the 'scent' that was on the book, sweet like nectarines and Tinkerbell chapstick -- and the scent of blood and raw mutton.

    Anyone else with magical senses can pick up on the heavy, forboding nature of this place; it might not be haunted by a rogue's gallery, but it is haunted by something dark and sinister.

    Everyone had been provided with an earpiece. They're moving up in the world, our JLD. Nettie's voice can be heard crackling:

    "Keep an eye out. I'm overhead watching to make sure not a civillian nor one of the local fauna-flavored tots decide to make a guest appearance tonight. Wouldn't want to upset Batman, yeah?"

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Although his 'magical senses' aren't really good, Daniel always have this haunting foreboding feeling when he visits Gotham. Which means he rarely visits Gotham. It might also be the foreboding has nothing to do with magical senses.

"Nice place to hang out in the evening," he mutters grumpily. "This book owner must be crazy, or maybe a super-criminal. Or both. No one else would hang out here." Well... maybe this person is a graffiti 'artist'. But expecting that would be very optimistic, and Danny is never optimistic.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
The smell was unmistakeable. Even if it wasn't mixed with that odd chemically sugary scent that spoke of nothing natural in it, it was still distinct. It wasn't often that you came across old, weathered dried human skin and that... Hint of... Otherness. She'd smelled it before when hunting down the Old Ones. Not as strong here, but it was a scent of deviant magic muddled with flesh and blood that would never be completely driven from her mind.

It makes the Tinkerbelle Glitter Gloss an almost unnerving sickly sweet presence next to it.

She's dressed rather casually for Gotham. Instead of her usual Honey Badger garb while out patrolling she's opted instead for just the body armored bodysuit, boots, and of all things a tunic similar to what one of the Robin's might wear. Except it was pink. And floral. If whoever had that grimoir was into cute she was going to play it up to try and lure them in.

Her head tilts side to side with a deeply drawn breath, nose scrunching again, and she lets out a sigh. "Honestly they could just be some kid that didn't know better. I mean, there's a lot of homeless in Gotham."

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Face of the Operation, indeed. Why does Robbie never get to be the Face of the goddamn operation? Okay, so he has a bad habit of running his mouth at the wrong times. And a small predilection for turning into a burning metal skull demon with a chain fetish. But some problems just need to be solved with fire.

This is what he's chewing on as he pulls up outside the abandoned factory of do-- no, wait. Better not jinx it.

He climbs out and fiddles with the earpiece until he can make out Gabby's voice coming over it, then slams his door and starts heading over with a crunch of boots in the gravel.

Body armour's of debateable use when your other form is essentially invulnerable, though he's opted for it anyway: head to toe leather suit strategically reinforced with bullet-proof panels.

"Well, whatever it is hidin' in there, ain't good news." He may not have Gabby's sense of smell, but he knows evil when he feels it.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    It's not good news. In fact it's very very bad news, because just like some on the outside can sense it, what's in the inside can too. There's the creak of metal on metal echoing around them as the sun dips down over the Gotham City skyline, Wayne building catching the edge of the red orb of lifegiving on the Earth. Funny little planet.

    The main gate was chained shut, but it's easy enough to break the lock or vault over the gate and into the main avenue where all the graffiti and some abandoned items were.

    That's about the time when some of the shadows began to shift, lumbering, indistinct forms ten feet taul, beset with what look like curved ram's horns.

    Matte, black eyes of abyssal black set on Daniel and Robbie as the creatures stay semi-formed, not corpreal, not real.

    And then one goes into building A, the other ducking into building B, hiding in the darkness. There's a stirring in the wind, carrying the smell of heated metal, hot iron and blood, and the twist of dark magics.

    <Be careful down there, duckies. The Book might not have been with them long, but some have the better sense to build up defenses. I've not seen it since the 1910's. Could be bad.> Nettie speaks up.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Daniel tenses as Nettie talks. "Yeah," he offers, "the Rider wants to get out. Whatever 'defenses' there are, they are also rather offensive." But he is not letting his unwanted partner out. The task might not require violence, after all, and the Ghost Rider always wants a fight.

Daniel has not brought any armor or fancy outfit. Not that he has one. He is just wearing sturdy clothes and a coat. And the coat is mostly to hide the shotgun. "What happened in 1910?" He asks, since it is going to happen to them soon.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Wasn't that when the molasses flood happened?" Gabby quips back about 1910. Of course she has no idea, really, her attention has shifted to the two shadowy figures that loomed far above her height as they shuffle off into darkness once more. Growing far more serious she clears her throat. "We got two horny boys--Okay, seriously, large guys with horns probably not human." Obviously.

"Looks like they're trying to split us, but..." She looks to Daniel, then Robbie with a shake of her head. "That or they're planning go rush from all sides in a moment. Either way," her hands clench allowing her claws to pop out the back of her hands just over the top of those very small gloves she wears. "Get ready."

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Daniel's forgone armour in favour of conventional weapons; and Robbie's done the opposite. Growing up in the *barrio* he surely knows his way around a handgun, but curiously never arms himself with one. Not on missions, at any rate.

He too is curious about what happened in 1910, but the question's already been asked-- and he's busy trying to figure out whether those eyes he glimpsed were a figment of his imagination. But likely not, if Gabby's spotted them too.

He cracks his neck briefly, nods toward building A. "Figure we go find 'em before they got time to, uh." What's the word. "Fortify?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    <Miss Badger, what did I tell you about canoodling on the job? And that was 1919, and I told the nice officer I had nothing to do with it.> Nettie rattles off.

    <1910, I was visiting an associate of mine in Turin. Italy, you know. Black Lamb's Tongue was an herb that grew in one of the craigs of the -- well that's not important. The important part is it took two mages to fix the book the first time, and I have no idea how it got to the New World. It was supposed to be in a bound library.>

    Robbie nods to building A. Building A appears to give a shudder, and the sound of metal grinding against metal errupts from both buildings again.

    That's when a little face peers out of a cloudy window in Building B, and then ducks back down, trying to stay hidden.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"I think I saw those... so much for just a homeless person," comments Daniel. If Robbie is watching building A, then he will watch building B. "We might have a book thief here?" He suggests. "Do I want to know what the book is about?" He glances to the cover again and shakes his head in mild annoyance.

"Well, they know we are here for sure," maybe they should have made an effort to sneak in, but the one good at sneaking is wearing hot pink. "Do we try to talk or what?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"I'm not... Look they're goat people or demons or something," Gabby mutters back though she's taking it in stride. Okay the last time maybe she was canoodling. That didn't matter much at the current moment. The fact that they were on both sides, with noises coming from both, was putting her on edge. It screamed 'bad time' all around to her.

Gabby draws another quick breath, her gaze darting around taking in the buildings while grinding her teeth. "Look my suggestion is we go up through the roof but I don't think we have *time* for that at this point unless Nettie's got a travel trick--We need to move, NOW, before they get more chance to do anything."

They were forcing their hand. She really, really didn't like this. With a sigh of exasperation she nods to the pair. "Okay, quick in and out, I'd prefer we stay together but we have to guard the rear when we enter because the other one is probably going to join in." With that she makes an executive decision to head for building B where that face had peeked out.

Robbie Reyes has posed:
Well, Robbie's not here to fix anything today, thankfully. He's just the hired muscle, and far better at ruining things than repairing them.

The sound of grinding metal seems to stir the demon in him, though; his eyes narrow a fraction. The right briefly flares orange, like a flame trying to sputter to life. He nearly starts to argue with Gabby's call on building B, what with the Rider practically *pushing* him toward that sound like something he can't resist. But with a shake of his head to try to clear it, he acknowledges her decision with a grunt. And starts striding in the indicated direction.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    <Oh typical grimore bound in human skin items -- dark catchesms, summoning powerful demons to serve you, exchanging the souls of others in order to attain greater power, there's a positively *fascinating* chapter with the descriptions of flaying the flesh off sinners in order to collect their bile to feed fell and foul familiars.>

    There is a CAW as Nettie's own familiar comes in and was going to land on Robbie's ride, then decides that might be a bad idea and flaps over to Gabby's shoulder. Never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes, after all, as the trio approach the buildings.

    From Building A there is a dull roar, mixed with the sound of a huge ram giving a bellow as one of the creatures bursts through the wall, attempting to reach out and grab Robbie to pull him inside!

    Building B echoes the bellow as the demon inside of it reaches out to try and grab Daniel! They don't seem to recognize Gabby as a threat yet!
%

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"Sound positively great, Nettie, a nice bedside book," Daniel is feeling sarcastic today, as opposed to any other Tuesday. The roar drowns further unnecessary comments, as a demon bursts through the wall, and the Ghost Rider bursts through Daniel's skin as the young man was trying to duck.

It results on the demon grabbing a flaming skeleton by the right arm, but the said flaming skeleton digs his booted feet on the factory floor concrete and pulls back, responding the roar with hellfire.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
At the sudden break of demons from either side Gabby's only thoughts are a simple 'called it' about them trying to pincher manuever the group. Even if she'd sought to dispell that as much as she could it was already set into motion before they were. It was bound to happen. Her hand snaps up toward Corvax on her shoulder seeking to use the palm of her open hand over his chest to offer some cover as she moves away from Daniel lighting up and sending out a plume of hellfire. "Want to avoid that, Corvax, that'll probably kill you. I'd survive, but..." But it would hurt. In ways she didn't want to consider. Best to avoid.

Once that gout of flame is gone though she risks darting forward to swing her fist out seeking to slice the leg muscles of the THING as she passes. Her ultimate goal was goign further into the building, though, as well as aiding the Ghost Rider just a bit.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    <I assure you it wasn't good bedtime reading.> Nettie sounds amused at Daniel's curmudgeonly response, but then the demons make their appearance.

    Robbie is grabbed by one and quickly dragged through the door, following by the sound of metallic laughter momentarily afterwards.

    That's probably also a bad sign.

    The skeletal demon of the Ghost Rider's form grasps the ram demon, and breathes fire at the beast -- which then grunts, and belches sickly green hellfire back at the remaining Rider, though it's cut short with a bellow of pain from being lamb-stringed! Like Hamstringed but definitely more sheep-inclined.

    Gabby rushes into Building B. She would find that there is a ladder set up that leads up to a cat-walk, over a bunch of thankfully empty vats from the 80's. Nothing really here that's too dangerous; it's not the ACE factory after all -- but there are more than one little demons lurking about, looking like Kermit the Frog muppets made of inky blackness with tentacles that they walk on, or rather LEAP as one tries to latch onto Gabby's shoulder!

Daniel Ketch has posed:
The Ghost Rider attempts to recoil when the green flames strike his body, but his arm is still caught, so he had to endure a dose of his own favorite medicine, then pulling harder at the larger creature to attempt a punch to his lower ribs with his free hand.

But he is much more keenly aware of supernatural presences than Daniel, and knows Gabby is jumping into a building full of demons. "No. Beware!" He roars, too late.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
The words reach Gabby just as she vanishes into the darkness of the hole created by the demon that had exited. It's only then that she gets past the scent of hellfire enough to smell other things. Just in time for one to throw it's inky tentacled self at her.

Heeding the warning wasn't something she could do now. Instead she instinctively ducks low, arms swinging out to her sides with her claws popping out once again. In the darkness here they glow obviously, illuminating the area around her as if the moon shone full.

A quick twist on her heel swings her body around bringing the shoulder-mounted demon with her to slam back into the wall behind her bodily. Even as she does so, intending to pin it, one hand punches back over her shoulder seeking to sink her enchanted claws right into face full of Kermit the Goop.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Kermit goes out the door and flails on the way.

    It was subsequently quashed by part of building A falling down as fire rages within.

    Building B's faring better, but there is a little danger of fire here as the Ghost Rider and the Ram Demon tussle. The Ram takes a super-strength whack to the ribs before the fire extinguishes, and the ram snorts, growls, and bares unusually sharp teeth for a creature based on a herbavore, and tries to lift the Ghost Rider up by the arm and SLAM him into the concrete between them with a snarl!

    PUNY VENGEANCE SPIRIT! I will dine on your burning bones and extinguish your flame! it cries out, raising a hoof to try and slam its foot down on the Ghost Rider's arm and take it off!

    Another Kermity demon attempts to grab a bite out of Gabby's foot.

    Above her, a thin voice calls out:

    "Do you have the book?!"

Daniel Ketch has posed:
The Ghost Rider can't stop the larger demon from slamming him against the floor, but he manages to grab the hoofed foot with his hand, easily supporting the weight of the ram demon. "Fool. No one can extinguish the flames of Vengeance!" He replies with his characteristic hollow bass voice.

Then the chain around his torso slide over his free arm, and he whips it aiming for the demon's face, pulling down with an arm as he pulls up the hoof with the other.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Oh no. A question. Gabby doesn't pause as she shifts her weight to her other foot to free her to kick the kermitty demon in the face. Her attention swings up, scanning over the area with the ladder.

"Nettie. Ghostbuster protocol?" She inquires quietly over the ear peice trying, very hard, to buy a little bit of time before answering.

Maybe she shouldn't let them know that? Then again... "Yes I have the book." Just not ON her because let's face it she's not totally stupid. She hopes.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    <-- oh bother, what happened Poppet?> Nettie's voice sounds a little nervous.

    The thin voice belongs to the girl up on the catwalk, who is creeping around a place where the walk's worn thin.

    "Get it out! They wanna use it to summon more!" she hisses, and gives a squeak as she almost falls through a rusted-out panel, holding tight! "I threw it out of the window so they couldn't get it!"

    Building A appears to be in distress. A Ghost Rider shaped hole appears in the roof, before chains -- unknown if belonging to Robbie's hitchhiker or the demon he's fighting -- drag him back down before there's a burst of flame, and an angry yell that gets cut off rather quickly.

    < -- THEY CAN PORTAL?> Nettie sounds surprised.

    The demon Daniel's Rider is facing gives a grunt and a yell as he's tipped over, chained, and tries to scramble out of the way of the next blow, but doesn't quite make it, slammed to the floor with its FACE.

    That's about when the other one bursts through the exterior wall, scarred up with additional Hellfire and one of its horns broken off, and immediately it scatters the Kermit Goops and attempts to tackle Gabby!

Daniel Ketch has posed:
The Ghost Rider takes advantage of the demon's face-planting to stand up and jumping on him, aiming a barrage of blows to his face, the spiked gloves making the punches extra painful.

Outside the building, a large armored motorcycle lits up, the wheels turning into fire as the machine charges into building B, crashing through a wall aiming to slam into the second demon before he can reach Gabby.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Ah! Well you know that part where Gozer asks if..." Nevermind. Gabby isn't getting far with the explosions going on around her. Instead she focuses on the girl with a quick grin. "I lied, it's elsewhere," she assures while lifting an arm to gesture toward the girl in a 'come here' manner. "Let's beat it before--"

Then the dehorned goat comes crashing through coming for her. The instinct to get the girl to come to her changes to her going to the girl as she lunges for the ladder. "We're getting out of here!"

"Found our girl!" She queues up over the ear peice.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    <What state is she in? Possessed? Endangered? Ohio?> Nettie questions from above.

    The girl grimaces a moment, greasy blonde hair drifting into her face a little before she gives a yelp, seeing the goat come through the wall and head for Gabby, when a motorcycle, having lit up with Hellfire all its own roars through the building and takes out the goat with a pathetic BLEAT as it goes sailing against a tank, and with a mighty BO-O-O-NG! smashes into it, denting and tearing at the rusted metal.

    The ramm demon that the Ghost Rider is pounding on attempts to breathe fire on him again, but can't - get - the - right - angle due to BEING PUNCHED WITH SPIKES.

    He attempts to dislodge the Rider and throw him at Gabby and the girl in rage, one horn hanging off and swinging, andobviously not on the side of 'winning this round of fighting'.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
The Rider goes flying, but catches himself with a chain to a beam before hitting any of the girls. Instead he jumps into his motorcycle and charges the ram demon, trying to catch him before he can stand up.

Some Kermit demons might get run over too. Accidentally on purpose, so to say. He is a mean rider.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney grabs hold of the ladder steadying it a bit. One claw had already retracted lowering the amount of light in here, but the other was still out to swing and slice away any Kermit demons that snuck too close.

"Come on, get on my back let's get out of here!" Declares the short woman to the albeit much shorter, smaller girl. She'd manage and still be able to flee with her safely. Either way the poor girl gets grabbed and pulled away once it's clear that the demon is about to lob the rider at her.

"Newt from Aliens!" Comes her response to Nettie. Hopefully she's seen that movie to get the reference. If not? "Smart and alive, and we're getting out of here!"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
     ... there are nice Riders?

    The kermits are run over, squished, burned, poofing out of existence like pufferball mushrooms in the wake of fire from the Vengeance Spirit, the chains from the Ghost Rider wrapping around the ram as it bellows in rage, trying to break the chains as it turns to seeits oncoming dimise -- both demons bursting into gouts of Hellfire as Ketch's Rider charges, and destroys the duo of demons and a plethora of Kermits, the building around them finally engulfing in flame.

    The girl does indeed get on Gabby's back, her eyes wide as she regards the Rider below them with fear, clinging to Gabby. She's not heavy.

    "Ohmigod is he one of them?!" she squeaks out.

    The window at the end of the catwalk is pulled outwards, and with it new oxygen to feed the flames, creating additional roar at Gabby's back.

    But Nettie's face can be seen through the hole.

    "Hello Duckies!" she greets them with a toothy smile, and pulls up, holding onto her besom.

    Yes. She's on a broom.

    "I suppose Mr. Ketch and Mr. Reyes are finding their own ways out? Broom gets crowded with four!"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney makes sure that the girl is holding tight. It leaves her hands free to defend if need be, and she does it to the best of her abilities. Thankfully she is pretty good in that area.

The girl's question about the rider earns a little shake of her head. "He's like the police for those guys. Scary, but wants to put them back where they belong. He's on our side," she assures right before the sudden loss of wall has her whirl around toward the new exit. Nettie's arrival earns a grin and she assures, "And here's our Good Witch to get us out of here," she assures with a grin toward the girl over her shoulder. "You did good, now we'll take care of the rest."

Towards Nettie she nods solemnly. "They'll get their ways out, you know how driven they can be." Plus they had their own rides that were far better than anything she could provide them.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    There may or may not be throaty roars of challenge from below.

    Nettie makes a face and gives a nod. "Right you are, Miss Badger. Hello, Poppet. Hold tight to our friend, yeah? We'll get you out." Nettie states, and then she pulls down a pair of flight goggles with aged, softened leather pads about the eyes.

    "I would imagine they've got their own methods, yes, no need to discuss -- everyone secure, there's no seatbelts on this." she states.

    The buildings give shudders. Fire spreads, and there's the ripping sound of hot metal rending in parts as it's probably used to definitely barbeque the two ungulate demons the Riders were facing off against.

    "Next stop -- NOT HERE."

    The back end of Building B collapses. There's a minor explosion as a propane-powered fork truck gives up the last of its dregs and is flipped into the sky, where chains grab it and pull it back in to the death throaes of one of the demons.

    Building A is completely consumed by fire now, with several holes in it.