17221/The Open Door: The Demon Ank'galah

The Open Door: The Demon Ank'galah
Date of Scene:	25 February 2024
Location:	Flatiron District
Synopsis:	A demon presence is found at an Apartment in the Flatiron District, NYC -- and is far worse than any of the previous locations. A demoness is confronted!
Cast of Characters:	Lucifer, Talia al Ghul, Corben Kelly, Atrice Duckstein, Tom McCarthy, Clara Jennings, Richard Stadler
Tinyplot:	The Open Door

---

Lucifer has posed:
"Please... can anyone help me? I can't..." asks the young lady in a dark blue cloak, superhero-esque boots and tights that are definitely home-made, in a small diamond mask of a slightly different shade of teal, that doesn't really go with the rest. Nobody's sure what her hero name is -- not yet, anyway. A young, newer 'hero' hopeful, maybe. The police found her at the precinct parking area in the Flatiron district, next to four large apartment buildings, as she collapsed in front of the station. They are unsure what to do... until a foot long, horrifying black slug emerged from her backpack and started to run all over the place in the police parking lot. They didn't immediately shoot it - it is now chaos there as they try to capture it.

Word is out about the slug things, and SHIELD has been alerted, as well as other groups that have had contact with the slug creatures - or worse, the houses where the slugs were summoned into existence, during strange and horrifying rituals. The bat-clan of gotham is pinged, as are others.

Where did the young hero in blue get the slug? Is there another site active? This would be the third location where the demonic slugs ran rampant, and death followed them out of the ritual in the center. Each had had a black statue, bloated with slugs and demonic power... and also contained a hellmouth, though that last piece of information is certainly hush-hush. The police might be reacting different, if they knew that part...

Talia al Ghul has posed:
This sort of thing is not something she's particularly excited over. But it's turned into more of an 'she's in the area' event. Magical things aren't her provenance. But it's possible she might get smoething useful to pass along to Nettie, which might get her some more favors. Talia Al Ghul is a creature of trade. Nothing comes free. She expects that a favor done here will get one down the line in return.

So with these slug things she's rather ambivalent, bt is int he area when she hears the call for.. Help.

Corben Kelly has posed:
Corben was in his shop, catching up a bit with Clara, or trying to. They hadn't gotten far in their discussion when the little slug-bat demonling sitting on his shoulder woke with a start. "Ank-galah comes! Go, go Corbs, we go!"

...and so they went - Corben following his, now beloved, little pet. But not without a quick warning to Kibs, "Stay on my shoulder, stay still and stay invisible." Then a quick, "You can stay here, Clara is offered to the paper doll. As if.

As is his typical M.O., Corben slows down and stays back a bit, just watching to see what happens next. It's not so much that he's a coward, he just likes living if at all possible, so he limits his interactions until he can't anymore.

With all the demon-y stuff he's been dealing with, Corben's gone broke keeping up with making all sorts of 'get rid of the demons, portals, hellfire, brimstone and anything else that would make a good B horror movie on Chiller Channel - potions and powders. His pockets jingle-jangle from bottles clicking together with every step.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
When you work for SHIELD and have mortician duties you invest in having a police scanner for situation such as this. So it's no surprise that when Ducky hears about big black slugs over the radio that she is up and getting her stuff together. She'd arrived to the slowly building chaos. She tries to figure out where exactly things are before she shows one of the officers her badge, "Can someone ask her where she found that? I don't want to step into your stuff." she tells the cops.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
Slugs. Slugs. Always slugs. Damn demons and their lack of imagination! At least it makes the situation a bit easier to recognize, one might suppose. Tom wondered how many more of these incidents were going to occur. it might do some good to start researching these things, or perhaps tag a smarter WAND agent to look into. Tom was more about the action, than the book learning. It's not like he connected with Digitabulum because he read about her in a book!

Still dressed in his work suit as he stands nearby, he grumbles. He's got his service pistol drawn, ready to terminate the slug if needed.

Let's be honest, when needed - not if.

"Why was she carrying it around? Did she accept one of the gifts?"

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara has turned over a new leaf. She's more intense in the moment, and staying behind? That is considered, but she replies finaly with, "I do not think so. I just need to make a stop." For supplies. You ever wonder what it is like to need a ton of paper to fight at full power? It is terribly inconvenient. And expensive. She can really fly through reams of paper. Which is why the paper is kept on her back in the form of wings. Granted this leaves a LOT left over to simply follow her around.

    "Corben, who is Ahk-galah?" She figures that's a smart question to ask, since they are staying back. Never mind her. Just a normal super hero type with a mask, light armor, and paper wings. She barely even stands out in the big city.

Lucifer has posed:
There aren't a lot of answers from the police, mostly since they are all looking towards the slug. Which actually makes it very easy to approach the blue hero specifically. She has one officer with her, that is helping her sit up.

"I'm... sorry," she is saying. "Something hurt my mental powers, and it made me really sick, I fell out of the air, and there were slugs..." the hero says, disoriented.

"She said she picked the slug up down the street, it was trying to eat a stray dog," is the answer that Atrice gets, but also a gesture of 'talk to her yourself if you like' towards the hero in blue.

The young hero is pointing to the west, towards the tall apartment buildings there. They seem serene from just a general look. Slugless, from here.

The slug in the parking lot is now cornered under a car. Some random objects come skittering out from under it. A long gold chain. Two chicken nuggets. A green stapler.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The bits of 'slugs' get Talia Al Ghul's attention. "Just get out a giant salt shaker and some flamers." That's more of a quip over as she goes to passively listent o the tohers. She's perhpas not identifiable to most of them - though htose with SHIELD would probably have quite a good idea from the numerous, numerous files on the League.

A hand goes to rest over on the hilt of her katana, and she goes to focus over on the sense of.. She would narrow her eyes. And shen she's calmly heading in the direction of one of those apartments as if drawn to it.

Corben Kelly has posed:
"Don't get close yet, Clara," Corben murmurs from a nice little hiding spot, probably behind a dumpster, that he's found. He pulls her down along side him. "A demon, I'm pretty sure. "And I'm not entirely sure that our little faux super heroin isn't said demon." Makes sense, hid as a damsel in distress.

He sticks one hand in a pocket, fingers trailing over the bottles inside, each one different. He's trying to memorize what's where. At least he does have them sorted into categories by pocket this time.

There's 'close all the bad doors' of different varieties in one pocket, 'kick out the demon' in another pocket. 'kill the demon' in another - not that he actually expects those to work, but he tried. And, of course, his typical array of stuff to help him 'GTFO' should things go too sideways.

But when Kibs, invisible though he is for the moment, gives a slimy nudge to Corben's cheek, attention shifts to the apartment building. "Or maybe not."

"You sure little buddy?" he asks. Before he stands, he removes a vial from one pocket. He downs half and turns to Clara, "Drink the rest." It tastes like raw sewage and feet, but if she takes her turn, both of them are just a little less noticeable now.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky gives a bit of a frown, "Might want to get medical, just in case she really hurt herself." she states. "You don't have to apologize. Things happen." she tells the woman. "We can go take a look around the apartments." she offers as she catches Tom out of the corner of her eye.

"Your timing is impeccable. Want to go look for demons?" she asks him.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
There wasn't a need to question the slug, nope. A quick two shots pops the little nasty quickly, with Tom holstering his pistol after. "What ever it cast out, don't touch. It's tainted." He even flashes his badge to show he means business! Or has authority! Or at least thinks he does...

He nods to Ducky, moving over to the fallen hero - doing a quick once over. Can't take the pararescue out of the man - even when there are demons to fight. "I think she'll be all right - definitely need to get her admitted for observance, though. Just in case." He nods to any EMT nearby.

"Demons. Right. Let's go, Ducky." He grins over, before starting off towards the high-rise.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    "Oh, um, I will do that, then, Corben."

    Her attitude of growing unease moves through the paper behind her. The amorphous lump of it shivers slightly. This sound draws her attention, but there's little to be done about it. It's a lot of paper.

    Her curious gaze watches him go through his inventory of sorts. Oh, she knows what he's doing. It's still fascinating, though.

    Without question, she downs the potion. Her face manages to only look half as disgusted as he feels. Thankfully she's recently been granted perspective by living on the streets for a few days. "This reminds me of the night I slept behind an Italian restaurant." Right near its dumpster. She may never eat pizza again.

    Turning to consider the paper once more, she realizes she must make some choice. "I think it is time for Dickens to join us. Also, maybe you should consider tweaking the flavors of the potions," she says softly to Corben. With a brief effort, Clara creates 'Dickens', with whom Corben is familiar. Only this time around, Dickens is not the more compact size he was previously. Dickens, in this scenario, is a hybrid boar/canine built entirely of paper... and as large as a fully grown rhinoceras.

Lucifer has posed:
"Be careful," The heroine in blue will say, only. "Something got funny with my abilities. Like a curse," she sighs. She accepts help, then, clearly suffering some awful headache. The police continue to ask her questions... at least, until the car the slug is under rocks.

The slug suddenly comes out, rushing right at Dickens! The slug charges directly, right at Dickens, wiggling and jumping excitedly all over the place, as if it were super happy with Dickens. Unfortunately, two policemen shoot, and the slug falls. The items it dropped are bagged and tagged.

--

Setting off towards the apartments at first seems almost... unnecessary. There's nothing over there, at a glance. It's just big, boring, quiet apartments. The main structure consists of maybe 18 floors, with elevators that move between the different areas, and plenty of stairs. Signs outside proclaim this 'Flatiron Paradise', which could be a stretch, but it does show that there's an inside gym, pool, and laundry. No tennis courts are listed, and CATS ONLY, so 'paradise'? Well.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
She goes to ignore the rest over as she mvoes to take her blade in front of her. Then Talia Al Ghul goes to move topress her way inwards through the residence. She's going with a feeling, letting it guide her..

Or rather a lack of feeling. Like a divining rod, she goes where there is nothingness. She's not bothering to converse over with the others..

Just going forwards, where things feel a litlte bit duller, a little bit dimmer, and where there's not so much of anything. She's run into this before.

Corben Kelly has posed:
"Remember, you don't ever have to go back there, Kibs. You can live with me always and have all the quarters and all the food and garbage and everything you need. No more Hell for you." Every time Corben brings his little buddy out and about when this shit is going down, he's so afraid of losing him.

"Do you know if she has any weaknesses?" It's a long shot, his slug-bat is not the sharpest tool in the shed. If he was, he'd be more a slug-sword or something.

These aren't the droids you're looking for, pay no mind, look awwwwaaaaay. Still under the cover of the 'look away' potion, Corben moves forward, taking Clara's hand in his ... hold that thought. "Wow, but can it eat demons?" After the question, he takes her hand in his and moves toward the apartments. Anything connected to her magically, should 'maybe' be covered under the potion's magic as well. So, LOOOK AWAAAY from ... whatever that monstrosity is.

"We have about five minutes on that potion, so let's get inside quick."

Well there goes the theory that paper monsters are hidden by his potion. Or... maybe, what if... shitshit. Demons can see through his magic? Regardless, he's on a path and now he's staying on it.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky gives a look to Tom after he shoots the slug and there is a bit of a look to what it dropped. She doesn't touch it though. Instead, she heads off with the man and there is a moment taken to bring up the website for the apartments on her phone, "Well, this might take a while to get through." she frowns.

"I'm guessing there is a dampening like the last place. It would explain why the girl fell out of the sky when she flew over." she points out to Tom. "So be careful if you have a wardrobe malfunction." she muses to that.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
As they near the buildings, Tom pauses. "Some thing there is ... like holding down the connection with Digi." He says, with a frown. "High risk area." The man mentions, unholstering the pistol. Subdue magic all you want, you hell-denizens - Tom still has his .45 magic!

"Keep close, yeah? We'll take things careful and cautious - we don't want to catch any strays." He nods to the BPRD Agent.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara has to support Corben on that. "Please do stay, Kibs," she says earnestly to the friendly slug. She is rather fond of the little creature, after all. She suspects she ought to make a more compelling argument to support the idea of Kibs staying, but considering her communication skills, it is perhaps best that she not try to deliver a persuasive speech.

    It is that soft heart for things that others view as less than desirable which makes what happens next so painful for her. The slug under the car darts out right at her very own Dickens, and via Clara's control and reaction, the paper creature dances around in response, looking for all the world like it's ready to play.

    Clara reacts to the drawn weapons, but she is too late. "Please wait! Don't!" And then it happens. The slug is shot down right in front of her.

    It's not just a thing to be killed to her, obviously. She has no choice but to continue, though. She will let Corben lead her away. There will be time for emotions later.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     "Yes. I did get an alert on the application... still ongoing?"

It was a Sunday, which means that, for all it's faults, Richard /had/ been enjoying a quiet day at home, at Central Park West. The alert on the SHIELD app was... acknowledged, with the assumption that, of course, other people were handling it, and he could go back to trying to figure out why this assignment wasn't posting- Oh. Well. That was simple. So.

So, after a few moments of consideration, he sighed, grabbed the phone, and then headed to his basement.

It took him about 15 minutes to grab the ready gear; enough time to catch the car SHIELD had sent; it was a bit embarrassing to be rolling into a hostile area like he was taking an Uber, but at least it was the front seat.It was a number of blocks south, but lights and sirens shortened it, not leaving him a large amount of time to get himself ready. "Ahh... Okay, so the one at the police station is dead... live specimens, then. They've pings a set of apartment buildings... Here." He notes, tapping on the touch panel in the car, before moving to tighten the straps on a combat vest, slapping a magazine into the battle rifle in front of him. His skills would best be put to use with a field vivisection of one of those slugs that are reported... but lord knows he had enough experience to value force protection first.

The car's brakes squealed as it came to a stop in the area, Rick putting the finishing touches by looping his Consultant's badge on a lanyard over his neck, and pulling down the M50 mask over his head. Not a word as he exited the car, but two quick slaps on the hood to get him out of there. He... really hoped he wasn't supposed to tip in a situation like this. Now, who was in charge here?

Lucifer has posed:
The magical dampening aura is not a full space -- it is more like a membrane. It is located maybe 15 feet from all entrances and windows, like a squishy oblong bubble. Passing through it will negate powers, in a lashing forceful 'SNAP' sensation, before the invisible membrane is fully traversed through, and things are allowed inside. However, inside? There's... quite a lot to feel. And the dampening loosens up fast if passing through. This is more of a shell, to prevent anyone from feeling what was inside, until they are in themselves. Or perhaps making it so that ranged abilities can't fire on what's within.

The place is a heavy, beating demonic heart. Even to normal people, it will feel thick with a curse of 'should not be here'. Anyone able to sense the influence of active rituals would feel it breathing, thick and labored, with the ichor stench of something truly disgusting. Like being mentally bathed in hot disease breath. Yet there's something cloying about it, weirdly sweet.

--

Talia is first to get close. The front lobby is nice, with potted plants and clean atmosphere. There are some weird boxes there in the entry that anyone coming in will have to squish past. They are open, though to see what's in them would require lifting the flaps to see inside. Talia will find an ordinary pair of men in the lobby smoking. Smoking indoors, and they absolutely will stare at her, though they don't interfere. They're not friendly, and don't engage.

From the stairways of the building, a horrible smell flows. Acid and rot.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Going in through the front, Talia Al Ghul glances about and keeps her blade in front of her. "How quaint. Someone has made themselves a hutch." She goes to inspect the heart over cautiously - metaphorically or literally as the place would throb. She has two hands over on her hilt, holding it in front of her in a defensive position. She would glance over at the men as they would essentially.. Ignore her. They didn't have anything useful to say or to share to her. Either they were oblivious to here or caught up in the geass of it and ignorant of it.

She goes forwards towards the stairs as she heads towards wehre the smell is the worst. The ember, the acid, the sizzling, the stench, the rotting.. ALl these are things she knows well. That she has experienced. That she has done. That she has had done to her.

Her father's training wast horough.

Corben Kelly has posed:
For the most part, Corben is feeling for little slime nudges to his cheek or maybe even six inches of slug - slugging him upside the face if he's not getting the subtle directions. Of course any big movements cause Kibs to appear for all to see and then disappear again. "Are we close yet?" he asks his little buddy in a whisper. Not unlike a child asking 'are we there yet'. He finally notices Atrice.

"They are /always/ here when this shit goes down." he murmurs to Clara with a nod toward Atrice and Tom. "Hey, it's okay," he reassures her regarding the slug. He can't really say more than that because that's all he's got. It's okay when he doesn't really thing it is either.

Who's in charge? Corben! now wouldn't that be a sight.

When they get to that point and Corben feels that bubble. He gives a little shudder from head to toe and has to force himself onward. "That was... I feel like I need a shower now," he mumbles to no one in particular, not even Clara by his. He never lets go of her hand though. The entire time he is, one again, asking himself why the Hell he's even here.

But he is so that's that.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
"I wore my vest and decided that I was not going to trip into any portals to Hell tonight. Hopefully not." Ducky states to that. "I just picked all of this up on the police sccanner. Did they call you directly?" she asks Tom as they head up the walk.

Then she spots a familiar face, "Corben, are you and Kibby getting into trouble?" the woman with the brown and blue eyes asks him.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
A nod to Ducky. "They did. They saw I'd been at the previous occurances in New York, so..." A slight shrug. "Good on you for the vest." He won't mention he'd not worn his. There's a look of disgust as they push through the bubble - clearly not enjoying the sensation. It's also diquieting, having the connection with Digi severed - his mind seems so quiet.

And then with a pop, they are inside - and the presense returns. <<I missed you too.>> Digi grumbles in Tom's head.

"OK... so... inside we're good." He says, making sure to clear corners as they enter. "You listen to the police scanner on your time off?" He grins over.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara tries to focus her attention on the task at hand. The task at hand. "What are we doing again?" she asks. What is the task at hand? What is this situation?

    When Corben points out Ducky and Tom, she will make note of them, but little more. After all, Corben has her hand! Which is nice. This is like a date for them, see? A date with exciting tastes of feet and smells of rot.

    When Clara steps through the bubble, all her paper falls down. Performance issues. How embarrassing! But just a moment later and she's bewinged again and Dickens returns to form. Granted, the barrier does make it a bit more complicated to work out. In the end, Clara has to kind of throw the paper through the barrier and then rebuild it all again.

    Paper master logistics. The struggle is real.

    "So would you like to take a shower now, Corben?" she asks suddenly. She is rather confused by this new line of thinking.

    Oh, but then the women is talking to Corben. Which leaves Clara doing a polite little wave. She is the very model of uncertainty.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Stadler didn't like a few things, right away. Chief among them was that step through... something. Despite his recent peek through the veils of the metaphysical, he was simply a reasonably bright man with a rifle; even so, he could... feel a change in the air when he stepped closer; the sort of air that smelled fetid, almost putrid, even through the mask he wore; a feeling of uncomfortable humidity on the skin. Something was... wrong here, more than some infestation of large slugs in an apartment builidng.

The second was spotting a familiar corvid-aligned face in the crowd. Corben might not recognize him through the mask or the mask's vocalizer, but the context of speech would probably be enough. "I really do hope you're better at communicating securely this time, Mr. Kelly. You and I still need to have a talk."

Atrice, he recognizes, nodding slightly and gesturing to the ID. "Just here for support. I'm hoping you can take one of these slugs I've getting text's about alive for study, but it isn't exactly required. Do we know anything else?

He... had to take a look back toward the barrier, at the woman shoveling what looks to have been a loose ream of 8 by 12 across the sidewalk toward the door. "Is... ahh... she with you?"

Lucifer has posed:
"The other house was not complete. This place feels good," Kib'kir the slug says at Corben. "Is a good demon nest, safe and cosy. Smell good too." Safe for who??

"The elevators are dead," comments one of the men to the other in the lobby. "Dead as a doornail," the other says. It sounds a LOT like a signal. They smirk at each other and continue to smoke indifferently, but they do move into the mailroom area to the left, where there are lots of wall mail-boxes.

A few seconds later, the 'dead' elevator starts to move: the whirr and sound of its motion, and the little indicators show it is coming down from floor 2. Down it comes...

And with an overly happy ding, opens at the ground floor. Two men and a woman emerge, magical energy already pulsing from their wrists and hands, in a thick, nasty purple. They have dirty black hoods, full gas-masks on, and a stench exits the elevator as they come out, as if multiple people had been sick in the elevator. The smoking pair indicate where Talia went, and one of the warlocks, in his blacks and gas mask, moves in a swift blur to send four rapid-fire bolts of necrotic energy up the stairs at her. And from the floor she's headed to, is... a HUGE slug. It is easily the size of a big dog, and fills most of the top of the stairwell with its mass. Slime oozes off of it in sticky blobs, making the stairs slippery. The other two stay in the elevator, letting the doors close, to let more people come inside the apartment complex...

And Tom is in first. Those boxes force anyone entering to smush past them on one side. The warlock pair at the elevator are quiet to allow him and others in a short way, before they start to unload right at him and the front door. The boxes there make it very hard to move: it's sort of a sitting-duck, narrow entryway. Almost like a deliberate trap. One of the boxes is hit, though, and dumps gas-masks out on the lobby floor. The bolts are pure physical pain, and somewhat corrosive. The box can't feel pain, but it can feel impact! One of the bolts goes way high, and flares straight out the front door, like a weird purple firework, to splash into the membrane outside JUST over Richard's head. The debris of the magic against the dampener flutters down like ash.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
It's an obvious one but also well done. Sometimes one has to spring a trap to get it to go off. Better than having to sweep through the entire building roomby room to clear it with limited numbers and.. WEll, whomever the rest of the ones are. Talia's tracked them in her mind, but is focused more on fighting and surviving. She goes to duck to the side as the necrotic bolt of energy would shoot past and impact the wall. It might very well sizzle and go thorugh it. If the warlock was not being efficient..

Her adversary had ranged attacks, but Talia's were of a more limited nature. She goes to flip up and over, intent on charging her way towards the warlock. The flip has her ankles hitting the ceiling, which would be used to hopefully propel herself downwards, the rapid angle making it harder for her to be targeted.
    Hopefully her able to shoulder slam and body check him into the ground, breaking most of his bones in the process to put him down.

Corben Kelly has posed:

Oh shit. Corben must be the droid she's looking for. Kibs makes a sudden blink into existence and *poof* out again. Corben puts a finger to his lips in a shushing fashion. He's /trying/ to be sneaky here. He just didn't remember that his potion doesn't work on friendly knows, just unkowns and particularly threatening unknowns.

Great, now Clara's waving and everyone sees everything. Let's not mention how much shoving paper through a bubble of 'nothing happening here' is pretty attention grabbing. "It's not nice to litter," he teases in Clara's direction. So much for stealth.

"Huh, might as well just yell out to the world, here I am." He doesn't though, yell that is. It's more of a hushed whisper. His survival instincts aren't /that/ compromised. Oh hey, look, there's Richard! Professor Rich Whathisname. Straddler? Doesn't sound right. Kinky maybe, but not right.

Rather than make a fool of himself, he just goes with the first name, "Hey, Rich, you guys ever get that stuff from Baltimore?" Dog with a bone, he's never gonna let go of that, not until someone tells him /yes/. As much as he tries to be a lazy slacker that doesn't give a shit, he does... he gives too many shits sometimes. And that stuff seemed to be /bad news/ to him. He's also proven that the idea of 'secure communication' just flew right over his head. "Right, yeah, talk."

A beat, gentle chiding or whatever forgotten and he says, "Oh, this is Clara but don't you all think we should, you know, get on with this?"

Until Kibs starts talking. "Nononono, not safe and cozy, not for you. Bad bad place. Bad place." He's starting to regret bringing the little guy along. If he has to choose between beating back whatever this is and his little friend, he'll be turning tail to save his little friend.

"Son of a BITCH," Corben ducks and pulls Clara down with him. "Stay," he tells her before he reflexively snags a potion from his pocket and stands from his crouched position long enough to toss the bottle. The potion he tosses at the elevator goons is nothing but a big cloud of noxious gas that smells like someone left an egg to rot in the sun for a decade, cracked it open and added the stench of all the garbage, every dumpster, in the entire city of New York.

Nimbly, he skitters forward and snags a mask for him and one for Clara. "Here, you might need this." Because that gas /stinks/, worse than anything else in this building. "Hold your nose, Kibs!" Can a slug hold its nose?

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky is not really sure if that is a good thing to let Tom go first into, but...he does. There is a smile and a wave to Clara, "Hello." she greets her. But they are getting attacked fairly quickly after that. Richard is given a bit of a nod, trying to give him the run down of the situation. "Demonic slugs. Shoot them and that'll pretty much end them." she states.

"Please be careful of civilians. This is a great place for a possession type demon to just have a field day...and be careful not to pick up anything or take anything that's not going to go into evidence or burned." she tells them.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
There's reflexive action on the part of Digitabulum - Tom's three piece suit is shredded as the arcane armor encases him. Clearly, one of his stipulations for working with WAND is that he has an allotment for new clothes. As the weird metal warps around him, he's already ducking - the pistol kept in hand out of habit. He spares a glance at the affect the bolts have on the surrounding scenery.

"Keep in cover." He offers to the other, sage advice - clearly.

From his free hand, he fires bolts of divine energy towards the warlocks. They may not be demons, but magic is magic, and it's going to suck for them.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara really was not focused on stealth. She wants her paper with her so she can protect Corben! Plus Dickens is her emotional-support-imaginary-friend. Usually he's lower maintenance. And it is not as if he can even properly fit in these halls. So instead of one Dickens, there is large wolf-sized Dickens and a few rolling balls of paper.

    "It is a pleasure to meet you!" That is to Ducky. Even in the midst of the attack. Manners are always to be upheld.

    Corben's charge into danger is frowned upon. His order for her to stay down even moreso. "But I can," she begins, and then he is off! "... help." A sigh. "Drat."

    It leaves her in a tight spot. She decide to split the difference. She will lay low, but attempt to send one of her very large balls of paper racing towards the elevator. She has to /see/ to do this, of course, but if the paper is not destroyed and gets there, she can make it very useful. The paper ball will suddenly have tentacles that lash out. She aims to rip those masks off the enemy.

Richard Stadler has posed:
    Stadler gives a baleful look over to Corben through the mask's lens and glasses insert, raising a gloved hand for emphasis in his next words. "Please, for the love of the Lord above: Embrace brevity." He notes, moving to the door of the apartment itself. "And OpSec. Do you know what OpSec is? It's a Google search away." The slug he's speaking to gets a bit of a look, but no other words on it; he has to be somewhat used to these odd creatures and powers everyone has by now... Has to be. And besides, there's simply not enough time to check in it.

The elevator dings on the bottom floor, and there's some relatively unfriendly people. Richard is quick to move to the side, into cover next to the doorway he's at, watching magic bolts fly over, slamming into.. a barrier. SO there was a range to what they were doing... and what they were feeling. "Thanks for the heads up; looks like they've got some human friends." He says to Atrice, before he peeks out from cover and fires single rounds, rapidly, toward those slinging magic spells. He didn't know what they would do, but he doubted this was laser tag.

Okay... so. He wasn't used to powers. Otherwise he'd be less surprised at that ball of paper that rolls through them, ripping out to grab and lash against the things protecting them from Corben's gas bomb... opportunistic. Not bad on that part, though he might have some words on securing masks before deploying. He really needed to talk to that paper girl after this was over.

Lucifer has posed:
Talia's acrobatics were anticipated, to some degree. She's a woman sleekly dressed with a katana, it was clear to expect some kind of ninja behavior. However, doing all of that while bouncing off the stairwell? It was a lot to counter. The warlock put up a quick shield of black energy, but Talia's force propels him flat down under it. It protects his bones, but does wind him, as he's crushed under his own shielding and Talia's downward force. The bigger problem is that his mask is twisted, so he can't see, and Talia is able to kill or knock him out, if she aims OVER his shielding for the head.

On the stairs by Talia, there is now a river of sticky slime coming down the stairs, making them very, very difficult to use. Slippery mostly, and hyper-sticky in globs of pus-like rot. It smells about as good, too.

"Don't gotta, best smell ever," Kib'kir says about holding nose. No, the little slug is living for this lovely stench of rot. This is his JAM.

One of the warlocks is hit firmly by one of Tom's divine bolts, injured and dropping back into the elevator. Stadler's shot catches her sideways in the thigh, and she's down for sure, with that. The other slid behind an elevator door due to the mist bomb, so he was out of visual to get shot by the other two: the grenade had made him take cover. He then sends a big plume of black licking energy down the corridor like a spray, just angling his hand out around the elevator panel, intending to force Tom and the others back outside. When in doubt, just spray.

However, both warlocks missed the paper ball in the awful green mist cover. These masks fog up anyway, too. Also ... it's paper. Who cares about a paper ball? ... But then the elevator doors slowly close, as they intended to regroup... but instead there is screaming and yelling. Vomiting.

Tentacle paper ball is... effective.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Good, he's still at least partially conscious. Time to remedy that. Talia goes to strike him quickly over in the back of the head with the flat o fher blade to hopefully leave him unconscious. Then she would go to pause a moment.. And take her foot to stomp down on each hand to crush the bones to a fine powder when he was unconscious and couldn't feel it.

The river of slime gets a thoughtful expression from her.. And she goes to head towards the stairwell. Rather than moving to walk through the goo.. She moves to fire off a small grapple gun into it to just yank herself up and over it to try and get up to the next level - or at least where the next barrier was.

Corben Kelly has posed:
Corben risks a look toward the elevators, peeking up from behind whatever cover he's found for himself and Clara. He waits, waits, breath held behind the mask he's already slipped on. While he's waiting, he's considering Richard's words.

OpSec? OpSec? Operational Second? Opposing Secretaries? OhpartySex? He'll figure it out later.

"Yes! She shoots! She scores! See, I knew she'd do that!" He's all but doing the touchdown boogie. He's also not being very stealthy there is he?

Shit, gittdown again. As he's ducking, he's asking Clara. "Can you do that paper shield thing you told me about." But the words come out without spaces really, time is of the essence here, he's embracing brevity! If her answer is no, it'll be an immediate fall back, if it's yes? Well, so much for not wanting Clara in the middle of the action.

If it's yes, him and his Paper Doll are /going in/. Into what? Probably death and destruction. His hand feels for the right bottle again. He opens a bottle, downs it. Dexterity +2 bitches. He doesn't wanna fall going up those steps after all and he wants to be able to catch Clara if she does.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
"Nice to meet you, Clara, I gotta go catch a slug for someone!" she grins at that. "Please be safe." she tells the group. There is a nod to Richard, "On it!" she tells him as she skitters off.

"Looking strong, Tom!" Ducky offers encouragingly to her other half. She wasn't sure if he was going to hear, but she had another idea. She scoots towards one of the apartments, turning the handle and then stepping inside as she had dialed a number on her phone. She stops in the hallway leading into the apartment, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. "For the love of Lucifer please pick up." she whispers as she heads deeper.

There is a moment taken to cover her mouth as she sees what is going on in the apartment, her stomach roiling for a moment as she hopes one 'Larry' will answer his phone!

Tom McCarthy has posed:
There's a nod of acknowledgement from Tom to Ducky, the man focused on avoiding the nasty spray of evil magics sent in his direction. Volleys are fired back at those warlocks, even as Tom tries to inch forward to pin them further in the elevator. Likely, they'll use the buttons and go up - but that means they aren't shooting back.

"Keep it cool, folks! You're all doing great!" He calls out to those he'd seen enter with them - Corben and Clara, most certainly. Richard, sure! Talia? Well... that's not his schtick to worry about at the moment. She's not causing trouble, so she's one of the 'good' guys for the moment.

"There weren't warlocks at the last house... just the slugs." Then he spots the deluge of slime. "Mother of God."

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Can Clara do the paper shield? She gave up some paper to the elevator, but she's got a LOT left. Also, is that a mailroom? She can put junkmail to the very best use, should it come to it! In any case, next ball demonstrates by becoming something of a wall.

    "Like this?" she asks gently. She smiles over at Ducky, "Oh, I am quite bad at staying safe, but I am assured Corben will protect me. Or revive me, perhaps. With a magical potion!" She sounds almost cheeky. Or would, if not for her awkward stammering.

    And then suddenly they seem to be off! Oh dear. Corben is very vigorous today. She wonders just where they are going, though. If it is the slimy stairs? Well. She has no need of stairs! She will just make her own of paper to avoid this messy problem entirely.

    "Corben, I must insist that you explain..." It occurs to her this is a bit dangerous a time, "... after this is, umm.. done!"

    She will, as a polite woman of good upbringing and fine stock, maintain her stairway of paper over the slime for any who pursue. Swiftly. Who knows how quickly Corben shall draw her away, after all!

Richard Stadler has posed:
     For someone who taught at a College, it was clear Corben needed an education.. though there was some effect there. Vomiting agent, practically. Very useful for making sure someone couldn't effectively put that mask back on... if they were still alive, that is. How lethal Mr. Kelly intended to be was still.. debatable.

The blast of energy went past Stadler's position in cover at the door way for a moment more, before it ceased, and the area in front seemed clear. The rifle came out again, and he cautiously stepped forward, shoes clicking against the ground... before squelching, as he looked down and over to the stairs spreading down slime. "God, this is the right use case for incendiaries." He muttered, The elevator was an option, but a dangerous one; despite what the movies said, they'd be a sitting duck to whoever controlled the building... even the elevator tiself. That would be the stairs , but they were... Well. Wasn't that helpful. Book paper, it looked like?

"You might know more about him than I do, but I'll keep an open mind. What did you say your name was?" He asks Clara, as he ascends the staircase, rifle held in a tactical ready. "In terms of slugs... they seem to be dealt with easily enough. At least I'm just seeing corpses."

Lucifer has posed:
"Oh! Hello," says Larry's cheerful, lazy purred voice to Ducky on the other end of the phone, with that sly accent. There's a pause just long enough to imply she can go ahead and start talking. But... it's a recording.

Of course it is.

"I don't actually pick up my phone, I screen all of my calls. I'm far too popular and busy to field every random call," jokes the message. "I may not even listen to your message at all. But give it a shot, you never know. Add a prayer if you're really in dire straits."

BEEP.

--

The elevator finally... does go up. Somebody inside pushed it up to floor 8, and up it goes, leaving the heroes to deal with the stairway. The henchmen finished their smoking in the mailroom, but haven't said a peep, and they are very happy that everyone forgot about them, likely. They stay there, and are easy to overlook.

The stairs are super unpleasant, as is the interior of the apartment Ducky checks. It looks like slugs vomited their goo everywhere, and at least two people are unconscious and stuck to the walls in the slime. Most of the doors of the apartments are open, or even ajar, and have the same situation. People stuck, and weird buckets here and there full of something worse than the slug stuff.

The slug that was at the top of the stairs is way down the hallway now, on that same floor. It's big, powerful, but slow. It's just sliming the next stairway up to floor 3, working along its merry assignment. There's some running feet overhead, in the next floor. These ceilings are super thin, this can't be a fun place to live with neighbors sounding like elephants upstairs!

It's possible to go up the stairs, just slow and disgusting, for those without special stair-paper or grappling hooks. It may feel a little like a funhouse of slow and awful, into the depths of this building. Attrition; it could exhaust anyone coming in, over time.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Walls are thin. People crying. Whatever going on is up higher, becaus eof course. And Larry is there but not the other cousin Darryl. Or is that not the way it goes? The walls are thin, people screaming are generally easy to identify and track the location of.. THe quicker moving ones are the attackers. And the -scent- of them is thick through the walls, even with all the horrific scents thrown around. And she goes up..

Pinpointing as best she can where the running is coming from on each floor. The pace, the direction.. Launching up..

And then as she does so as best time she can throwing out small micro-explosive charges ahead. The floor is thin, the paneling cheap,and the construction shoddy. So what hopefully happens is men rushing ahead suddenly have holes in them.. And then are going down said holes.

Corben Kelly has posed:
Of course it's the slimy stairs, did anyone have any question?

"That's because this house is complete and the others weren't!" So sayeth Kib'Kir. Probably wouldn't have been better to impart that wisdom earlier? "I have no idea what that means, but probably nothing /good/."

Corben gives his little buddy a scritch and promises, "You be good and stay with me and I promise you can smell that smell every single day."

He's following right up that paper staircase. "Well, see, these greedy ass demons are trying to open a portal so they can come through and eat everything? I think. I dunno really. There's a demon that starts with 'A' here." He's sure not going to say it out loud. He's a little batshit sometimes, but not /that/ batshit. He's not going to call 'here kitty kitty' to a demon. I just know that it's bad stuff and we need to stop it..." He might have more to say but...

Wait, she said after they were done.

Seems his dexterity +2 wasn't needed. Non-slimy stairs? He can handle those probably doing back flips up them.

"Thanks Clara, these are my favorite boots and they've seen enough slime." And some demon vomit and that bubblegum he stepped in yesterday.

As long as no one makes Kib a corpse!

To be fair, he's a /volunteer/ ASL instructor. Never claimed to come with accreditations.

He's right behind Clara, as she's the one with the paper shield. But he has one hand in his pocket and the other is playing a piano - no wait. He has one hand in his pocket ready to snag whatever might be useful when they get to wherever it is they're going.

Up! That's where they're going. "Damn, should have gone with stamina +2," Corben laments when the elevator keeps going and going. He could just transform into a bird and make this stair climbing deal a thing of the past, but he's so loathe to leave Clara and isn't sure Kibs wings are strong enough to keep up.

Corben pulls a vial from his pocket and waits for just the right moment to lob the bottle and the slug making such a mess of things. The cloud it causes is pale yellow and it does not stink, so that's something. It smells sweet actually. As with anything he mixes, could work, could just create a black hole and suck everything out of existence. If it works as intended, it'll banish that mucous trailing bastard back to Hell.

Sorry Clara, but desperate times. "Okay now, once we're past the slime, I want you to find a place to sit tight?" Because he knows as they go higher, they're probably getting close to the Boss Battle.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky rolls her eyes SO HARD at the recording after she had started to talk. She lets it finish as she heads towards the residents that are stuck to one of the walls in the apartment in some sort of gross...cocoon thing. "Hey Larry, this is a very unimportant person sending you a quick call that your gluttony slug friends are back at it. I'll text you address if you want to look into it. They've got a hold building held hostage." she states in a cheerful satire. No prayers from Ducky. She spent most of her childhood praying to deaf ears. She doesn't do that anymore.

She straightens herself against the torrent of wanting to wretch and needing to get people out of here. She grips a chunk of the goo cocoon and starts to rip, freeing as she gets grossed out. And unknown to her, there is a glow coming from her eyes the whole time. Because that was normal!

Tom McCarthy has posed:
Warlocks chased off, explosions, screams - seems pertty standard for a day in the life of a WAND agent. Noting everyone moving for the stairs, Tom follows suit - though he takes to the air. No need for stairs, no goop on him at the moment. Ducky was off doing her BPRD thing, everyone seemed to be pretty capable in their own way. No need to fret, right?

Skimming above the ground, he wisks by - his target the big Mamma-Jamma slug. Even on approach, he start blasting - the pistol tossed aside as a wicked looking curved blade forms in his hand.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara looks at Corben and then looks up at the hole in the ceiling. "Can we just.. ascend?" She forms a staircase going upwards. "With a bit of time, I could get us all the way to the top. It is umm, well not a problem." Just a LOT of property damage to make holes in every single floor on the way. But what is a little destruction between neighbors?

    She will wait for others to weigh-in on this idea. "Oh, and we could use a fire... what are those. Oh yes, the the fire escape. If the building has one. I mean. That is. Or I just make one for us."

    So! Options. Without anything actively going on for her, though, she fidgets. Where should her hands be right now? At her sides? Pockets? Wait. She has no pockets. Should she have pockets? Corben has pockets. Does Ducky have pockets? Oh dear she is the only one without them, probably!

    Her anxiety in the moment grows as he speaks. She is... not good at this normal human thing.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Stadler's rifle is pointed down the hallway itself, and perhaps, after the throw of Corben's potion, it's a bit overkill to pump three rounds into the creature's retreating, pulsating back. But it wasn't as if he knew what those potions would do to the thing; for all he knew, it might have turned it into a larger, angrier slug. It still allowed a steady advanced down the hallway... which was useful when the micro explosions detonated on the roof of their floor, and, like manna from heaven, a warlock came crashing down through wooden joists and installation to slam in front of Richard.

Options were ran through, quickly. The easiest thing, especially given the lethal intent of these folks, would have been to put two runs through the back of a skull before they organized... but this also represented an opportunity that Rick decided to take, quickly moving to slam his knee down on the warlocks's back, grabbing for his wrists in a quick motion to loop them through a set of zip ties before cinching them tighter than they needed to be. "Can't just drag him up with us. Have to hope he's still breathing when we get back down." He noted.

Clara gets a bit of a nod at her suggestion. "Smart play would have been to insert on the roof and work our way down. Easier to mouse hole through the floors when gravity is assisting you, but resources have yet to be tasked. Didn't see a fire escape coming in... but I don't trust them with this amount of gear and this amount of time. If you've got a way for us to get up their quickly, I'd appreciate it." He does... gingerly test his weight on the paper staircase formed. "Just... promise me this is better than the fire escape.

Lucifer has posed:
It does rain warlocks in the hallway. Well, only two, but they did NOT expect to suddenly be falling through the floor into the one below. They're not dead, they are very much able to fight. So Talia brought friends down. (yay?) There's some yells, angry, rallying, from the warlock side. Intruders are here! They call out to their 'mistress' a few times, and some use a weird alternate language that sounds like a demonic offshoot of some type. Probably specific, and they have BIG accents. The language is new to these warlocks, maybe. Richard doesn't kill his warlock, so he gets a real threat: "You will never find our dark lady. She will possess you, grant all of your dreams, and then show you how you have become your own nightmare!" But it's hard to hear inside a gas mask. Still, he shouted pretty good.

The potion doesn't do exactly what Corben hopes. But it does cause the slug to suddenly start to puke up everywhere. It had some expensive rugs in it, a nice flatscreen, several very designer purses and a fur coat-- the items just keep coming, as it reacts and lurches to the yellow potion, shrinking as it loses all of the items inside it! It just seems to have gotten very bloated by overeating expensive things, like a big pus-covered Bag of Holding. It can't dodge, and takes multiple shots from Tom. It's too busy with Corben's spell to get out of the way, and can be finally cut down.

"I think that was Yibmiggs," Kib'kir observes to Corben of the huge slug. "Big meanie."

--

Ducky does get a text back. Evidently these ears aren't as deaf. Would her prayers work too? The text reads: "I'm in the middle of something at the moment. But you can expose the leader within by reciting this spell, or drawing it out to invoke. Don't use blood to draw. Good luck! <3" There follows a picture of some quickly scrawled letters on a NAPKIN of all things, and the language is not a human one. Loosely translated, it is a demonic challenge spell, a type of summoning. It may or may not be a great idea to challenge a demon inside its house, but that's up to Atrice.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The riff-raff is mostly dealt with, and hopefully those along the ground are remembering to cripple their own enemies just to play it on the safe side. Talia's going to then fire off another grapple bolt, and going to launch herself up and over towards the entryway to the eighth floor from the stairwell. She's gonig for a breach motion along towards the door as she would go to flip up towards it. But rather than using explosives..

Small vials of acid flung over to the bolts holding the door into the wall, line from the grapple used to launch herself up and slam into it feet first.. Then as the grappler would be retracting and the full momentum of it hopefully having the door explode off the hinges from her impact..

THen she's gonig to pull out a double barreled shotgun from -somewhere- on her and is going to greet the first thing she runs into with a load of buckshot that she takes as remotely hostile.

Corben Kelly has posed:
Corben watches the slug with a sort of rapt facination. Wow. "Well he landed on a Whammie this time and lost all his big money, he's nothing now," he tells Kibs with one more little skritch. He doesn't even mind the slime under his fingernails anymore. It's a good thing none of that expensive stuff was overly shiny!

Corben makes a decision. He takes his little buddy off his shoulder and places him on Clara's. "Kibs, be good and stay with Clara, keep her safe and stay so very still and invisible, I'll meet you both topside. Clara, see if you can get everyone up?"

She'll be okay, right? Rich is with her and Atrice and the dude that always ends up naked? What's his name again? Tom. Corben makes a mental note to ask the guy about all the nakedness.

The steps will be short work once he's in his raven form. It's a smooth, fluid transition. There's none of that messy bone popping, muscle tearing, nastiness one sees on late night horror movies about shape-shifting. He's Corben, then he's shrinking and then he's a big black raven, all purple and blue hued black feathers.

Up and up he goes. "I'm gonna get eaten, I know I'm gonna get eaten," he croaks out, quietly, on the way up. He's hoping to just be able to check out the sitch, maybe come back with some recon. But he's ready to throw every damned thing he has on him at whatever's up there if there's no choice but to do so.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky is just ushering the people out towards the door when she gets the text back. She gives a bit of a smile to that, <Figured you were busy, buhank you for taking the time to respond. I will let you know how it goes! <3> she replies in text. Because this is how texts generally go with her. ~Hey SHIELD folks, I have a way to draw the big one out, I am going to do so. Please tell those that are with you to prepare to rain down...Hell.~ she states.

With that pale one gets to scrawling the symbols where she needs to and then starts to summon it up. She even prepares to blast it on her end!

Tom McCarthy has posed:
Big baddie down, as far as Tom knows. He takes one last swipe at the slug with the sickle blade, before hovering a bit away. A hand goes to his ear, as if trying to shield it from the external noise as Ducky starts speaking over comms. ~Where are you? I'm on my way.~ He responds, before gliding over towards the last location he'd spotted her.

<<These Demons are becoming far too common, Tom. There has to be a source, or reason.>> Digitabulum mentions in his head.

"I'm open to hearing theories, Digi."

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara is unsure what is happening or what Corben has planned, but she has Kibs to protect her! Plus some other people who are, for the moment, thankfully clothed. It would be wonderful if they maintain their current level of... that. Yes.

    "But where are you...?" Oh. Off he goes. "Corben is a bird now." She watches him go with a sigh. "Just me, kibs, and... strangers," she says aloud. The anxiety grows.

    "Oh, and a warlock! Can't forget about you, can we?" She doesnt want to use paper on the warlock. At some point it just is not fair. So she kicks him in the face instead, as if that were somehow far better. "Sorry about that. I am rather easily upset, and all your chanting and such was terribly stressful," she explains to the unmoving form.

    The stairs are still there. She is still there. The various people who she would prefer not suddenly be naked are also there.

    "Someone should help him! I mean Corben, the nice man who held my hand and made me feel comfortable before he became a bird."

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Stadler looks down to the man ranting in zip ties, before shaking his head. "That's a rather... confusing set of events, but still, I don't think she'll get too far possessing me. I am rather close to being used up." He says, moving to kneel down to the man, and taking a firm grip on the mask...

Before adjusting it slightly. "Old German ones like this, you have to get your mouth on the right place for the vocalizer. Project, next time." He says, before standing up. What, he wasn't about to rip the mask off of the man. That was for when they were a threat... even if it would have been satisfying to see him choking in this fetid air.

They're moving up the stairway, floor by floor, and Rick's own ascent is limited to the way the paper and real one intersect (a power ascender; he needed to add that the next bit of loadout. Oh, what it would do to be a bird like half of the damned mages he knew at this point. At least he had a few people walking up with him.

"Let's move. Those warlocks will either be down here when we leave, or they won't, and it's a risk we have to take." The slug still gets a bit of a look as he moves, before reaching over to his phone, and reading the text. And sighing. And moving to press in an HE grenade into the underbarrel launcher. "We'll be kicking off her in a moment." He notes to Clara. "If you've got something... destructive, I'd recommend readying it."

Lucifer has posed:
Kib'kir pats Clara's ear. It is ok. Slug is there. "We should make friends, not fight here. These aren't bad friends," he suggests to her. That's his view: these are friends. Something is really making him think so. Perhaps the fog.

--

"Hi, sweetie," says the first thing that Talia runs into: face to face with a female 'warlock', perhaps looking to be about sixty in age, with beautiful long lengths of golden-chain woven braided black hair, and a purple runway dress, trimmed in fur and gold. The heels are probably thousands of dollars. Talia unloads the buckshot, and the woman collapses IMMEDIATELY. There's a little soggy laugh, and she slowly picks herself up, despite the injury, unconcerned. Corben arrives in time to view the collapse... and rise.

The fog, the stench of the place, is heavy, though. And it flows across the woman, feeding backwards into the vents, and the whole of the location. Notably, she has no gas mask. She starts to breathe deeply, across, at Talia. A mind-numbing cloud, as Talia has chosen to entirely not bother with gas masks. That was a choice. "Be mineeeeeeeee."

But below, Atrice is reciting, and the woman before Corben and Talia looks... surprised, pauses. A stream of swearwords burst out, and she jerks, like a weird puppet, /pulled/... and is pulled. Screaming, a cloud of pure hate and demonic energy. It's pulled straight downward, through all of those starting to climb towards the top. It's very apparent, this shrieking possessed cloud-woman moving down. A few warlocks behind her had gathered to back her up, but end up standing there stupidly before they engage Talia (the raven is mostly ignored), in a mix of hand to hand a raw necrotic energy. There's three combatants - and one of them has a sword like hers. This might not be immediately easy!

Below, on the sigil, the thick cloud of rotting mist reforms, forced into place. A weird, giant snakelike shape, golden ribbon, and then a woman's form, the long dress, reappears there, hauled unceremoniously to that spot. She's ... livid.

"How DARE you," she thunders. The whole of the building shudders under her anger. This is no minor demon. And they are in her house. "Where did you get this?!" She screams that at Ducky. She starts to claw the ritual drawing apart, a tone that might have some... fear?--- while she is still clearly having gunshot wounds from the shotgun that she is clearly ignoring. She has several rings on every finger, necklaces are so heavy they must be almost a flak vest.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
And Talia Al Ghul goes to make eye contact wtih the woman, even as she goes to sing into Talia's mind. Talia's mind goes to open, and she goes to croon, "Be miinnee.." Hitting the same tone and pitch. The other woman isopening a magical connection to command and co-opt. Physically attacking her won't be useful. And none of Talia's normal bag of psychotic tricks will do much.
    But.. Hopefully that empathic connection is two way. And while Talia definitely can't imprint something upon her of any real nature.. What she -can- do is give the woman the frame of madness. Not pain, not agony.. Talia's not a Gotham insider. SHe's not a true freak of the streets and the asylum. A demonspawn won't flinch at things that the human mind can conceive of.
    Even as her body was puppeted, Talia's weapons would fall to the floor, out of her grasp and she goes to try and -feed- the woman the sensations of.. Rebirth. Madness. Torn from the grasp of death, shoved back into one's body and caught up in a total mental break. The way that when one came back from the Lazarus Pit you left just a little bit of your soul behind and have something else take it's place. The mania of one totally disconnected from Rebirth to Reality.
    And she attempts to feed some of that back to the woman even as her own body hangs limp with her neurons neutralized.

Corben Kelly has posed:
Damnit, demon downstairs. Girl in trouble up stairs. Corben's transformation from raven to human is just as smooth and effortless as the other way around. He circles the room once before turning human just before his landing. He takes a few steps to continue the momentum as to not fall on his face.

First, hands in pockets, he pulls out everything he has that could possibly deal with that demon. He has three larger size vials in total.

"Heads up guys!" Hopefully they can actually catch, because he's tossing them down. "Just throw'm!"

Then his attention turns to Talia. "Shitshitshit." He has no idea what's happened to her and the best way he knows to figure it out is to touch her and 'see'. Thing is, his seeing means giving something back. Maybe it'll help, maybe it'll strengthen what Talia's doing? Just maybe giving up every vision of everything horrid the fates have ever shown him? Maybe it'll help. There's a lot of madness in what he's seen.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
(Insert Ron Burgundy 'I immediately regret this decision!' gif).

Ducky is hoping that this works. At least to draw away the main demon. Was she in over her head? YOU BET CHA!

<Never you mind where I got it!> she states in that other language she's been slipping into every so often since the demon run ins have become more and more. The way that her eyes are glowing white and there is a few drops of blood dripping from her nose maybe signal that this is a new situation for the woman.

<Release the people you have here.> she states as she flicks the bottle of holy water at the demon.

Tom McCarthy has posed:
A raven flies by - explosions and such are still going on. Is this a John Woo film? He doesn't have time to ponder it - so long as it's not a threat, he lets it be. His focus is on the nexus of power that the wicked sorceress seems to embody - along with the energy released by the ritual Ducky completed.

<<She's the source.>> Digi hisses.

Tom is boosted forward, in rage and righteous fury. Blasting in through the air, he barrels right for the woman. "Get back to Hell!" He screams, firing dual bolts of energy from his hands. No defense, only offense!

Clara Jennings has posed:
    "This is.. very distressing," says Clara to Kibs. "Stay with me. I will keep you safe." A pause, her eyes narrow. "Keep everyone safe." Not that Tom probably needs help, but he did request destruction. She is not really a fan of it. It is so uncouth.

    However, with Tom racing in, she is given many a chance to first of all defend Ducky with a wall, complete with a small opening to shoot through. Or throw holy water through. Or to observe Tom post-fight from.

    As for the rest of the paper, that rolls into the shape of Dickens (remember him!) He gets as big as he can while still fitting and darts around Tom's side. The great thing about being a paper golem? The flexibility to suddenly not have a head, but instead have a mass of roiling tentacles reaching out to grab every limb the demon has while not overly messing with Tom's approach. If Dickens gets a grip of that thing, though... the paper will start to rend flesh as much as it can. It's not quite a razor blade, and the blood ruins it in a second, but it has got to hurt.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     There were sounds above them, steps, thumps, but Richard's attention had to be on the floor they were on, because that summoning was actually working, and the creature that was coming up from the sigil was... well. It wasn't exactly a large demonic goose, so it was rather outside of the skill set he had cultivated so far. But he was planning on dealing with it the same way. It was scared to be in this position, and it was clearly looking to escape it. As much as Atrice was trying to press and negotiate, force was clearly the order of the day here.... and the bolts of force were already on the way by the time Rick was bringing his rifle up.

Corben's yell has him looking up to the holes, however, and a decent reaction time, Richard reaches for one of the vials dropping forward. The others... well, he misses. And he practically fumbles the third one in his hand, before grumbling. "Oh, what the hell." He says, tossing it over to see if it will break and splatter against the demoness they've summoned. If that didn't work, well. There was always lead.

Lucifer has posed:
The reality is, the woman is not clawing apart the drawing, she is changing it. She swats the holy water bottle with a flick, slugs pouring out to take the damage. The slugs shriek and writhe as they fall everywhere, bathed in the holy water. She otherwise ignores Atrice, obnoxiously. The muck covering her hands is used to draw, to change the spellwork. "I am evolved past these rituals. I have my own. I will consume it all. I know how to take everything you have."

She does give a slow pause, though. Yes, this is a monster that feeds and pulls in everything around it. And Talia's 'backwash' such as it is... the rebirth, much of it is weird. A lot of it is delicious. It's a variety of flavors that distracts the demon, though. Tasty things AND bitter things, all are something to muddle with her. And distraction is important.

It gives Tom a moment to charge in, to assault her more directly. And she lets him, lets him seemingly stab her deeply. "So bloody," she observes. She's lying: she's not bleeding, it's black ichor, sludge! It messes up the ritual designs some, and she flexes hard, flinging Tom off of her. "No, never going back to Hell," she mocks him, with a flowing second pulse of that dampening aura. That's why he didn't really deeply stab her, the dampening. And there is a big truth, there: it is not truly dampening. It is a SIPHON aura. She is drinking it in. A true glutton of power and energy.

While a great idea with the paper, the forms fall apart when they touch her, little bits of beautiful paper shapes like snow and snowflakes, when dampened. However, the paper is able to move to catch and help Tom. "Papercutting me to death? Cute." CUTE. All the dampening is raining on the parade of the heroes... Which likely means Tom is naked, hit by the aura. WELL. -- And the demon licks her tongue in the air at the sight. She doesn't get to do quite what she intended, out of time, but decides to invoke the changed spell as-is anyway. She inverted it: banishing herself elsewhere. They've stalled her; she adapts the ritual as a last-ditch effort. She jolts, moving swiftly behind Atrice. "You have a new problem. My children are never sated," she murmurs to Atrice, a threat. "And /I/ can now summon you, when I please, pretty-eyes." A lie? Perhaps. Or maybe not a lie.

In a confusing pulse of motion, the demon moves back to the sigil, a disorienting swirl, the fog thick in the room, thick enough to gag and choke and suffocate.

And the demon has retreated: disappeared. But that vial Richard threw... did impact it just as she invoked it. Maybe she's not where she intended, as the designs melt like wet paint from the vial's influence. Hard to know.

--

From the bottom floor, the slugs have 'hatched' in the pool area. There will be plenty to do even with the demon having run away: slugs to defeat, a mix of warlocks to stop (who have paused, unsure if they should flee or not, having sensed their demon leader's retreat), and apartments of terrified people. There's a lot of good to be done, still, even if the demonness Ank'galah proved to be quite powerful and underestimated... at least, this time. No one could have known that she adapts rituals to her own design...

--

"Next time," Kib'kir says, "Let me eat the siphon magic. Am immune, hehe. It is soooooooooo yumm." Could they use her own tools against her?...

Corben Kelly has posed:
Well, that sucked. Once the demon is gone and that linked is severed, Corben hit his knees. He adds his own vomit to the stench of the place and then rocks back on his heels to wipe his mouth on the back of his hand. It's then that he notices the two... still alive and probably moving warlocks.

His hands are shaking, he's trying to get to his potions, but he's trembling from head to toe. Backwash indeed, that hurt.

"Uh! Up here! Got some ... just. Someone!?" He never actually uses the word 'help' though.

Atrice Duckstein has posed:
Ducky gives a bit of a grump as the demon doesn't do what they need it to do. But, she wasn't expecting it to one hundred percent. She'd just have to text 'Larry' and let him know that this one was rewriting his stuff. She'd get to that later though. For now they had civilians to save and...so many showers to take. Because it was SO GROSS to be in here around this stuff!

Tom McCarthy has posed:
That... did not go well. Tom was batted aside like a Nerf football - his body crashing into the wall, crumpling to the floor unconcious. There are cuts, bruises and Lord knows what else - the blow was powerful. He's certainly not doing well.

And yes, he's naked.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    The demon is gone. Tom is naked. However, Clara hears Corben's voice. All is not well in the world. His voice is obviously distant, but Clara was listening for it. Her one comfort. There is a rush of fear as she senses trouble, and then action. Her ascent is fueled by paper, as one would guess. Part rope, part whip, she is essentially thrown upward, faster and faster. It hurts her to do this, but she is focused and the bruises and scrapes will heal.

    When she clears the last hole her momentum is now considerable, and it is redirected as vines of paper grab her by the wrists and throw her over Corben and towards the Warlocks. The impact is brutal, and Clara will likely need help walking. She wasn't built for impacts at that speed. Her body is not what she needs to make quick work of the fight, though. She just needs her paper.

    A ball of it is launched, dividing neatly into a spray of sharpened paper. It could not punch through a car door, but it will do horrible things to a delicate warlock who accidentally scared her.

    Only when every enemy is immobilized (perhaps forever), will Clara finally come to rest. And then Kibs is back on her shoulder!

    Now all is right in the world.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     And there it was. It didn't seemed phased by what was thrown at it... her? Who knew how demons worked, but he'd stick with 'her'. It had.. retreated, without taking a significant amount of fire... the substance thrown at her Rick had gotten from Corben's drop going with her. Did it have an effect? He didn't know. Hocus Pocus wasn't exactly his expertise... but biology was, and there was plenty of that to deal with right now.

Stadler looks to Atrice. "That was... a bit worrying, what she said. We might need to get you somewhere secure. For something like this... no idea what it is. But it may be something to plan for."

He looks up,, Corben's yelling coming down, but assistance seemed to already be on the way, and wearing a mask in this atmosphere was taxing. "I think... we better calling some clean up team. Save me a slug."

And he had work in the morning.