5210/Slithering in the City

Slithering in the City
Date of Scene:	16 February 2021
Location:	Abandonned Water Treatment Plant -- Upper East Side -- NYC
Synopsis:	The foul Lamia is driven off, with the hunt for the Snake-Woman Sorceress sure to pick up in the sewers and tunnels beneath NYC. Kurt learns the cold, gross consequences for hesitating to stab said snake ladies when he has the chance. But hot chocolate will make everything worthwhile.
Cast of Characters:	Kurt Wagner, Talia Wagner, Amanda Sefton

---

Kurt Wagner has posed:
It has been an interesting -- if at times disturbing -- experience, these past couple of weeks. As a general rule Kurt Wagner is more of a leap into the middle of things, get on in the action instead of meticulously research and plan things out. But thus far this has proven to be an elusive sort of problem to crack. How does one track down a giant snake like creature in Manhatten when it has successfully been hiding there, apparently for decades?

In the end it has been a two-fold tact that the fuzzy blue-elf has engaged in. The first step? Figure out what the heck that they are dealing with. And after pouring through the various tomes that Amanda has lent him he is pretty sure he knows what they are up against. A snake like creature, capable of powerful magics, apparently of the ancient Grecian style? He finally found something that ticked those boxes. A Lamia. Half woman, half snake, right out Greek mythology. That certainly seems to fit the bill.

rStep two? Narrow down her likely hunting grounds. Go over missing person's reports, strange, unexplained police reports -- particularly those involving missing pets. And this too seems to have finally produced some results. A cluster of odd sightings, missing people and animals all lead back to a handful of blocksjust south of Harlem on the east side of the island of Manhatten. Specifically a shutdown water treatment plant that has been scheduled for demolition for over a decade where something always seems to come up at the last minute to delay it.

Is it a sure thing? No. But it has the right feel, and at this point Kurt is prepared to act on a few hunches instead of just waiting to have everything served up on a platter.

Looking for those that might be able to assist, reaching out to Amanda was a no-brainer of course. Someone who knows a little something about the supernatural would be rather nice -- beyond what he could learn in the borrowed books at least. His extra-dimensional 'daughter'? They haven't exactly got to see a ton of one another and while it probably wouldn't be considered tip top parenting to take one's kid to an abandonned sewage facility to hun monsters, they both live very different lives from most people. Kurt thinks he's in the right here. The fuzzy blue elf at least considered some of the other mansion residents -- both student and teacher -- given how the trip to the haunted house turned out. But additional help or not, he is confident enough with those that he already know have his back with this along for the ride.

So here they are, standing outside a rusted fence surrounding a distinctly unattractive, concrete bunker of a building. It is a cold, blustery day, grey and bleak and the waters of the nearby East River are rather rough. "Not much to look at, is it?" Kurt comments mildly.

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia is cheating with her image inducer, she really has to lend it to McCoy long enough for him to take a look at how it works. The device is currently projecting a pretty normal blond haired blue eyed young twenty something in a nice winter coat, blouse, and jeans over top her velvety blue furred armored self.

She mmmms lips pursed as she studies the water treatment plant. "It is indeed not much to look at ... Kurt." she really has to work harder on calling him Kurt. "Though if I was a snake monster and needed a lair I would pick this place. I mean.. even if we don't find what we are looking for I would bet we find some sort of criminal operation or monster. Place is too perfect for things that go bump in the night to pass on completely..."

She is honestly pretty thrilled about the whole spending more time with this reality's Kurt. He may not be her dad, but he is enough like him... and she is pretty damn home sick.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
"These sorts of places never are," Amanda replies, giving her foster brother a lopsided smile. When he told her he thought it was a lamia they hunted, she was surprised -- not nearly as surprised as she was when he told her about his interdimensional daughter. (That was a fun conversation -- she knows Wanda as well as Kurt.) But when she looked at the evidence he presented for the snake... yeah. Lamia makes sense.

A deep red hood covers her blonde hair, over the collar of the knee-length, tailored leather coat that is her usual 'Daytripper' look these days. She's glad of it, given the blustery winds. "Well, fuzzy?" she asks, gloved hands rub together not so much in anticipation but to ward off the faint chill. She considers spending a little power on a warmth spell, but suspects she'll have need of that energy later. It's better to save it. "What's the play?"

Kurt Wagner has posed:
The place definitely does have the sort of look of where one would expect criminals to make their lair. The squat, concrete building looks very sturdy even after being 'abandonned' for more then a decade nad it has a distinct, uninviting air to it. If the lawn surrounding the building was ever grassy, it has long given up that pretense. On presumes it is dirt -- or mud -- and the grey, sludgey snow that covers the brief open expanse to the building looks distinctly unhealthy. There is not the slightest hint of a tree, or brush or anything else -- another point that makes Kurt believe this is the place. That something... unnatural... is lairing here.

"This is the right place," he says confidently, flashing a tight smile towards both Amanda and Talia. "As for approaches, I figure we can just bamf past the front door and see what we can see," he suggests. So, that would be just spring the trap then. "Unless you see any signs of magic or anything?" he asks Amanda, wiggling fingers at her in what is presumably meant to be spooky fashion.

While it might not be apparent to the fuzzy blue elves in the party, there is indeed a faint aura that surrounds the building, magic similar to that which they found in their haunted house. Some sort of adversion field perhaps? Subtly encouraging people to stay away and perhaps even capable of creating minor accidents for those that have a strong enough sense of self to push past them. It would certainly fit with the various stories about why the demolition of this place has been pushed back a half dozen times over the past couple of years.

Talia Wagner has posed:
TJ peers at that mucky yuck that is supposedly snow out there in the expanse. I mean it isn't an active water treatment plant. That is pretty gross looking.

"Well it is definitely... a right place...." Talia notes with a shake of her head. She cocks her head and squints towards the building. Magic is really her mom's specialty though and she has never really been able to pick it up. Then again she spent most of her childhood with the X-Men at Xaviers learning how to be a fuzzy blue mutant not a witch.

So she looks to Amanda at the question of if there is magic.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Obligingly, Amanda spends a moment to open her Sight, calling up a subtle spell to alert her to the presence of magical wards or traps. Yeah, if they're just going to bamf blythely into the serpent's lair, she'd definitely like to see what's coming. Especially after the nasty surprise that was the magic in that old haunted house. That said... she's learned some since then, and is very, very careful about how she applies her magical energies to this place. She'd really rather not set off the magical equivalent of DEF CON Armageddon alarm again.

She studies the auras she sees, interpretting the sense of the place. "This is definitely the place," she agrees. "I recognize the magic. It's the same keep-away and don't-look-here design as the house. Same signature, too. Just... not quite as violent. Yet." Give it time, she's sure.

"I can probably break a hole in it for us. But that'll probably trip an alarm." She chuckles dryly at that thought. "Then again, so will bamfing, I expect. So, we might as well just knock on the front door and be done with it." Otherwise knows as making a hole, yes. "It depends on whether or not these wards are set up to prevent teleporting or not." The ones at the house were.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Honestly, Kurt just had a sense about this place. It's so damn perfect -- temptingly close to all sorts of targets with all manner of underground access to the city, but a place that is hardly ever visited or looked twice at. The building itself must date back at least fifty years and he would not all be surprised they the creature they track found a way to make use of it even then. One of the reasons this particular plant was decommissioned afterall is the unusually high rate of accidents at it. Of course, gut feeling or not, having the confirmation that the magical signature is close to or the same as that they've already encountered is a nice confirmation.

"Mmmm, you make a good point. Maybe we'll just bamf to the door," Kurt suggests. The wards at the magically concealed house only pushed them back, brought them up short when teleporting. No need to test and see what these ones might do to unwanted intruders.

Look, they could hop the fence and just walk on over easily enough. But that grey, sludgey snow is very unwelcoming. And it is cold out, even for fuzzy blue elves. So Kurt simply takes hold of Amanda and Talia and a moment later they reappear, right outside those doors.

The double doors to the building are closed naturally enough and there is a chain wrapped around the handle, a padlock resting in the links. But that lock is not sealed, dangling open, and the chain is loose and easily removed. "This isn't suspicious at all," Kurt comments drily, removing the chain and pulling open the doors to reveal... a shabby but ordinary looking reception area. The pair of windows are absolutely coated with grime so only a little natural light creeps in, casting the room in darkness and shadow. A handful of chairs in varying states of repair sit around a small table that has keeled over on it's side, one of it's legs clearly broken. The chairs appear vandalized as well, the padded seats torn open that the stuffing missing from them. Abandonned magazines and papers are strewn about messily and on the far side of the room next to a build in desk a single door seems to give access to the facility beyond.

Talia Wagner has posed:
"Better safe than sorry if it is trapped. I mean. We are here to investigate and if need be end the threat right?" confirming what she thinks is the plan and giving plenty of warning to be told no that isn't the plan if it isn't.

When Kurt is ready to Bamph them well Talia meets Kurt's reach leaning into it like old habit really. She has been bamph'd a million times after all and the routine is muscle memory. Even if she herself can't teleport like Kurt can.

"I would have thought we would have had to blast the lock off to be honest. I mean a snake monster would just come in through the water pipes right." pauses "I reserve my theory that bad magic evil criminal gangs is still a contender even if the magic is similar." teasing there. Said softly to the other two.

Once the doors are open she glances to the other two. "Well at least there isn't a creepy receptionist still... so safe to step inside?"

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda looks at the useless lock and chain, as the sulfurous cloud clears. "Either someone got here ahead of us with an Alohomorah spell," she says, "or that's a written invitation if ever there was one." Probably for the unwary. She does not like to count herself among them. Indeed, she's very wary, right now.

Still, as Kurt opens the invitation and ushers them in, she uses a hint of an eldritch wind to raise herself a few inches above the floor so as not to disturb anything overly much. "Leaving the door open makes sense," she tells Talia with a bit of a smile. "Why make your prey have to work to be your meal, right?"

She drifts slowly forward into the room, opening her Sight to see whatever magic lays within. "It's pretty clear their was a fight of some sort, even it if may have been one sided." So, more attack than fight, in that case. "Hard to say just when. I can try a memory spell, if you want. But we may be just as far ahead to keep going."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
It does make sense, right? The lock was probably intended to keep people out of the condemned building. To prevent squaters by the city, while they prepared to demolish the building. By if there is an ancient Grecian Snake-Sorcerer in here they certainly wouldn't care about keeping the odd, random passerby from entering. That's practically home delivery of a meal and who doesn't like that?

If he had to Kury could probably make it across the floor without touching it. He's *amazing* when playing 'The Floor is Lava'. It's totally unfair. But really he's not sure if he sees the percentages there and after carefully planting one foot beyond the doorway -- and nothing immediately, horribly happening -- he simply shrugs and steps in, casting a grin back towards Talia to follow after.

"Wouldn't hurt, I suppose. More confirmation, right?" the fuzzy blue elf says easily, glancing about the reception area and parking himself by the heavy steel door that leads deeper into the complex.

When Amanda completes the memory spell it conjures up pale wiffs of smokey images. A man, homeless, perhaps by the looks of him managing to slip into the building, of glancing about the room as he rubs his hands together against the chill. And then there is movement. Movement that's almost to fast to follow. Something sweeps past his legs, something thick and strong that takes him down, sending him crashing onto one end of the table. He lands hard, the table giving way beneath him as one leg breaks sending abandonned magazines and newspapers scattering about. He lays on the ground, stunned, until the something approaches. Even in the hazy images it's possibly to see the fear, the disbelief in the man's eyes. And then something lunges at him and for just a moment the coils of a snake can be seen wrapping around him, long dark hair flipping about.

"Your memory spell wouldn't make things move quicker then they actually do, would it? Because that thing was fast," Kurt comments, shaking his head slowly before reaching for the door. Once upon a time the heavy security door might have been sealed. But not any longer. It opens -- not easily -- but he manages to tug it open to reveal the hall beyond. Without any natural light it is getting increasingly dark -- not an issue for the fuzzy blue elf -- but not reassuring either. On one side of the haul what looks to be a break room -- again, tables and chairs scattered about, some upended. What looks to be a mid-twentieth century refridgerator stands there with door half open, the top of it clearly snapped off it's hingers and dangling. The same looks to be true for about half the cabinets in the room as well. On the other side of the hall, a locker room in much the same shape with a number of locker doors torn from their hingers and one row tipped over entirely, leaning up against the wall. Finally a door sits at the end of the hall, solitary and ominious.

Talia Wagner has posed:
"Oh great, its like grubhub but for mythical monsters." glancing over the chain and open door with an entirely new light to them.

When Kurt steps in, well she winces just a tiny bit. Then sighs a touch and steps in after him shaking her head. At least there was no blaze of magic or explosions of any sort. Right. She takes a couple steps and leaps up nimbly to perch on the desk and look behind it with a lean now.

She keeps one eye on Kurt and most of her attention on the memory spell and what it might reveal. "I agree, the snake is very fast." which well thankfully she knows Kurt and herself are also pretty agile and fast right.

She hops off the desk and heads over to the now open doorway. "MMm" she notes very much like she is being studious. "Okay... no signs of it here but that door looks like trouble." indicating the end of the hall. "Probably the big treatment area too... onwards?"

Amanda Sefton has posed:
"Not in this case," Amanda replies to Kurt as her spell fades. "All you need to do is look at the speed of the man to be sure. That thing is just that fast." And she's not entirely surprised by that, either. Given natural snakes strike at speeds equivalent to 10 feet per second, it's not remotely unlikely a magical one would move at ten or even a hundred times so fast. "I can either try to cast a slowing spell on it, or a speed spell on us," she tells them. "But neither will last overly long." And may not help anyone but the physical fighters in the group. Spells take time to cast, and a speed spell doesn't change that fact much. But, then, that's why she perfected magical shields, long ago. To buy herself time to cast.

"I agree, regardless." she says. "Let's keep going. We've clearly found its new den. I'd like to take it by surprise, if we can. If it's not already too late." It probably is.

Regardless, to that end and given the dimness of the interior, she takes a moment to cast her shadowcloak spell, the one that makes her damned difficult for someone not gifted with the darkvision these two have to see. The clearest way to see her is to look for the subtle glints of lights around her countours, like subtle rim lighting. But neither Kurt nor Talia should have any trouble detecting her, regardless.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Hey, anything's possible. They might be able to sneak up on this thing. But given it's magical skills that seems... doubtful. Just like at the haunted house there appear to be lairs upon lairs of magic worked into the very concrete of the structure, again, clearly the work of decades. Apparently they didn't just build their buildings to last in ancient Greece. They built their magic the same way.

"Yeah, I figured as much," the fuzzy blue elf says to Amanda with a sight before nodding at Talia. "My thoughts exactly. Seems like a good place to find a snake," he adds with a tight smile, moving towards that door and tugging it open.

He might have spoke too soon. The chamber beyond clearly takes up most of the square footage in this facility, a massive concrete room filled with darkness and shadows. And dozens upon dozens of huge pools filled with dark, unmoving waters. There is a faintly stagnant, swamp like smell to the place that is particularly unpleasant, the inevitability of still water left undisturbed for so long. Rusting, metal crosswalks run from the doorway, throughout the room, inbetween and over the pools looking distinctly rickety and not all that safe.

"What do you think? If we ask nicely do you think it will come and fight us out here on solid ground?" Kurt asks drily, shaking his head at the room beyond.

Talia Wagner has posed:
"Well. This whole place is absolutely nightmare fuel." she notes displeased by the whole endeavor at this point. Talia just slowly shakes her head looking over all those stagnant water treatment pools and the catwalks.

The only good part about this is how acrobatic she and Kurt are.

"I sincerely doubt it though .. Kurt.... pretty sure we will need to go out there to get it out. I would suggest Amanda stay back on more solid land and provide support though."

Pause.

"Ugn I am so going to end up needing a hot shower after this."

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda snirks quietly at Kurt's question. "Oh, I don't know. It might," she says, chuckling dryly. "If we play dead." Or, you know, lob a magical hand grenade in at it that pisses it off enough for it to overlook the common sense of fighting on a battleground of its own choosing.

Nevertheless, she doesn't disagree with Talia. Her nightvision is much poorer than either of theirs. In that dark room, she may be more of a liability than a help. On the other hand, her magical sight is a helluva lot stronger than theirs. So, when the thing starts using magic, she'll be right as rain... Streaky, burning, magical fireball rain. Or, you know, maybe a scattering of magical bolts. She's good at magical bolts.

"Go," she tells them. "I'll cover you."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
So long as the entire structure doesn't collapse as soon as they step out on it, Talia and he should be well enough, but Kurt nods at the suggestion that Amanda cover them from here. It makes sense -- for now at least -- and if it proves necessary for her to actually come into the room proper he is sure she has a tricky or two up her sleeve to manage that. "Seems to me like we have a plan then..." he says, stepping out onto the metal grating first given the fact that he can always bamf away.

"You little meaty thingssss and your plansssss," comes a silibant voice from out of the darkness, those soft, whispered words still seeming to echo about the massive chamber. Their voices sure aren't doing that and while he doesn't look back at Amanda for confirmation, the fuzzy blue elf would guess magic is at play. "Such little, inssssignificant thingssss you are. Your livesssss over in the sssspace of heartbeatsssss. Your livesssss over to ssssusssstain my own," that hissing comes again, this time accompanied by the rustle of dry scales slithering over concrete and metal.

Talia Wagner has posed:
Talia is ever thankful about whatever combination of genetics gave her perfect dark vision. She blinks under the image inducer, which is hiding her very yellow mutant eyeballs now.

"I mean. Hear me out. You could just not eat people and prey on the city full of innocents?" she offers helpfully then leaps up onto one of the railings balanced prefectly as she glances trying to get a view of the threat.

She makes an executive decision though, drawing one hand back then the other a vivid dark angry purple and red envelopes her fists and she brings them both together and splays her hands outwards sending a powerful hexbolt into the side of one of the concrete water treatment pools. Trying to blow a hole in the side to cause it to drain.... or at least crack it open for the same effect.

That was an odd mixture of chaos magic and brimestone dimension for Amanda's mage sight benefit.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Yeah, it doesn't take a sorceress to tell them magic is at play here. Still, Amanda drifts into the doorway, limned by the slightly brighter light of the office behind her, at the threshold of the dark room before her. She begins to pull in pieces of light and shadow, drawing from both places and spinning them out on slender threads of green fire.

The chaos magic Talia throws is only surprising in how it blends with the brimstone. But then, she should expect that. She's both seen Wanda's magic and teleported with Kurt. It's a potent combination.

Still, she concentrates on her spell. An arcane gesture with her right hand sends a thread of green fire winging off into the darkness, across the room but at an angle from her. A similar gesture from her left hand echoes the effect, the pair of lines creating a V as they spread out from her. She flicks first one hand and then the other. The slender lines of fire ricochet off the far wall, above the catwalks, creating two more lines that cross to bounce again against the walls, this time to the left and right of where she stands. Her right hand flicks again. The slender line darts across the space to join the one on the left hand wall. Then, she curls her hands, sweeping them in broad circles. The fire crawls over the walls and through the space, creating a giant circle of laser-thin verdant fire -- a pentagram inscribed in a circle.

She is creating a warding that, she hopes, will interrupt its ability to cast. At least for a time. It will be a contest of wills, she knows. And she's not certain hers will be the stronger. But it may buy her companions time -- enough time to battle it without having to worry about a great deal of extra magic flying at them.

It's bad enough the thing is physically fast and equally strong. They don't need to fight spells on top of it all. That's her job.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
As Amanda begins to call upon her magic to spread green fire throughout the room in the shape of a pentagram, the massive chamber is suddenly no longer pitch black, though those laser-thin lines of light give off a glow without banishing the darkness or shadow that otherwise hangs so thick in the room. Though the way the light illuminates the nearby stagnant pools of water -- revealling vats thick with what appears to be algae and other... less pleasant substances and debris is unsettling in a very different way.

Of course even as Amanda begins her spell to contain the magic of the lamia, Talia's own efforts have a much more immediate, dramatic effect as their is a loud crack and a visible line moves down one side of a nearby vat, a patchwork web of faults that abruptly explode outward, sending a wall of water racing out of the massive container racing down the narrow gaps between containers, slowly spreading out as that water rushes about, sloshing wetly over concrete.

And Kurt? Kurt whips out his... rapier. Yeah, he's feeling a little underarmed here comparatively but then he's used to it. "You may find that this meat is a little on the tough side," he claps back at the mythological monster as he seeks out any trace of her in amongst the vats, joining his daughter from another dimension in nimbling striding along one narrow rail.

"Children. Playing at powersssss that they do not fully undersssstand or control," comes that hissing voice, seeming to echo from all around them. There is a bright, bursting flare of power right in the center of that pentagram and it is unclear for an instant whether Amanda's spell trap has worked or the Lamia has done it deliberately. For just an instant the room is filled with dazzling light. So it would be ease to miss the snake woman that lunges not from down below the rusted walkways, but drops from the darkness above, those powerful, serpentine coils dropping straight towards Talia.

Talia Wagner has posed:
Well this is good and bad.

Why is is bad. Well Talia definitely didn't see the thing up above in the darkness, which means it quite literally gets the drop on her. There is totally an involuntary cry of alarm from Talia as it does this.

Which may lead to why it is good. Well as it wraps its coils around Talia ... and after the scream of surprise slips out of her. Talia manages to get yanked into it's grasp and somehow sucks in a breath and gets her composure a bit back together. "Sucker!"

She wanted to make herself a big snake target and draw it out by blasting the treatment tanks and showing herself as a threat.

There is another aura of brimestone, but not Bamph. Instead she sinks into the Lamia and possesses it.

She struggles to hold it still for the other two and there is a hissing "Can't... Long... Do ... whatever..... you can....."

Did anyone know she could even do that?

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda, having the advantage of being outside the darkened room and unlikely to be as blinded by overwhelmed darkvision as her companions, looks up as the lamia drops from above. She pushes as much power as she can through her warding, it being between the snake and the Exile. It creates a net she hopes will slice through the thing's body on a metaphysical level. Talia may have to deal with its physical threat, but Amanda sends magic burning along her threats forcing them to fractal out to fill the spaces between the major lines in an effort to ensnare its metaphysical threat... or, hopefully, at least delay it a little.

She lets out a low growl of effort, drawing on power not just from the Winding Way, but also from the City of New York itself. She's spent time to attune herself to its ebb and flow. She's no rural hedge witch, lulled by nature or drawn by the wilderness. She's a sorceress anchored to the lifeblood of the city, sensitive to its moods and character. And this city is bold, brash, and wakeful. New York is, after all, the city that never sleeps.

She just hopes she doesn't shred Talia in the process. The magic is tailored to the snake by Amanda's intent, not to her interdimensional 'niece'. So... she can hope.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
For a moment the creature no doubt feels triumph. Even if Amanda's wards have limited it, clearly it is possessed of tremendous physical gifts to fall back on. It almost seems unfair really. Even in deaddrop it movesl ike greased lightning, almost too fast for the eye to track naturally as it falls towards Talia, that tail proceeding it, coiling around the young woman. It must be almost fifteen feet long all said and it tightens uncomfortably around her for a moment as she settles. And after that fifteen feet? The torso of a woman, bare and covered only by that shock of black hair that hangs long, flowing freely over her body like a cloak. Her olive complexion and face are beautiful, dark eyes pits to fall into. She smiles, and then that beauty melts away as she unhinges her jaw and lunges towards Talia to bite her.

Which is right when the extra-dimensional travel shows off her surprise. She seems to simply melt into her and then there is only the Lamia, straining against unseen bonds. There is shock there, on that momentarily inhuman face. There is no more boasts, no more dismissive remarks about primitive magics. Just shock. And maybe fear. For a moment it speaks with two voices, the other following right after Talia's. "Get... out... of... me..." she strains to say.

It's all a little much to take in. The sudden strike of the Lamia. His 'daughter's' surprising ability. Rapier in hand, he considers lunging, trying to run it through. But he is not at all certain of what that means for Talia. So he hesitates. "Do you get this from my side of the family or Wanda's?" he asks instead. A fair question to be sure. But not necessarily a well timed one.

A shriek sounds from the snake woman, full of pain and rage and she arches sinuously, almost violently as she throws arms heavenward as if heaving some great weight. And Talia is forcibly thrown from her. Powerful she might be, but now the Lamia looks drained, as if she had used every last bit of her will, her power to accomplish that much and she is almost sluggish as she darts towards the nearest vat, apparently seeking escape. "Kill them!" she gasps, making a waving motion towards the darkness.

And suddenly there, in the dark, dozens of red eyes appear to open, shadows stretching towards them ominously.

Talia Wagner has posed:
Well. It is a dirty trick. Surprisingly not one that only works once. Though getting close enough to do it again may take a different trick.

"Not the time... Kurt!" she notes straining to try to stay in the Lamia and keep her hold on her.

Of course the hold only lasts so long because this mythic beastie is both magical and very stronng of will.

Talia nearly lands in one of the large tanks of water as she is thrown out there. "Aaach...." she twists and lands hard on the side of the tank and pretty much sticks hands and feet gripping. The whole image inducer failed somewhere in there and she is her true self, blue and fuzzy, tail out right now too for balance.

"Don't let her get away... Amanda and I weakened her a lot!" she yells and then pulls herself up and looks around. "Dangit." as she stares at all the red eyes... dozens in the darkness.

She flings a hexbolt at one set of eyes to see how that works out.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda knows Kurt can teleport out if the red-eyed shadows around them get too much. She hopes he'll be able to teleport Talia out, too. She can't tell, from where she is, whether those eyes belong to shadows given form, or lamia broodlings responding to their mother's call. On some level, she rather hopes the former. Light can dispell shadows. It generally does jack-all against glowing eyes and sharp teeth.

Following Talia's lead, however, she flings her power upward to cast a little light on the subject. The circle she cast is no longer an immediate threat. It's done its job, weakening the creature.

Now, they need to stop her.

"Talia! Keep above the water!"

That's because, as Amanda begins to chant, she casts a new spell. This one, starts at the bottom of the vats, deep within the water, reaching for the cold air outside and channelling it deeply through the concrete. Frost rimes the grey stone and, absurdly, from the bottom up, the vats begin to freeze. She has no intention of letting that lamia flush itself down the drain. She'd sooner put it on ice.

Of course, elemental magic really isn't her thing, which means this spell is going to take a helluva lot out of her.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Okay, that is his bad. But in fairness there was no way he was going to impale an evil snake sorceress if it meant impaling his extra-dimensional daughter too. It's something they can work out later so they can adjust their tactics for next time.

If there is a next time. All those red eyes and stretching shadows look rather ominous and they seem fully willing to defend the fleeing Lamia to the death. Possible Kurt, Talia's and Amanda's by the look of things. Still, whirls that rapier in front of him as he edges up next to the other fuzzy blue elf in attendance, ready to grab hold and get them all out of here if needed. He pauses, just long enough to let Talia toss that hexbolt at the mass of ominous shadows...

...and that hexbolt tears through the shadows as if they weren't even there. The darkness shimmers and abruptly explodes into thousands of gleaming shards that alternatingly flash light and darkness, little motes that swiftly dissipate and melt away entirely.

With the spell shattered, Amanda will easily be able to recognize the telltale markers of illusion magic. One last, desperate plow by an exhausted sorceress by the looks of it.

Which is probably why she jumps into that vat of stale, stinking water, disappearing below the surface in a flash, even as depeleted as she seems to be. And as she disappears beneath the surface, those licks of frost begin to appear, little crystalline fissures spreading out rapidly, appearing faster and faster. It is a tremendous amount of water to freeze and takes a tremendous amount of energy. And from below there is a muffled shriek... then nothing.

Rushing to the edge of the rail, Kurt peers down into that ice, translucent mass, trying to see what he can. Is she there? Is she caught? A frozen specimin to deal with at their leisure?

"Mmmmm, I don't suppose you know any tracking magic Amanda? Something to use when you have a bit of the creature you're tracking? Like say the end of a tail?" he asks hopefully. That sounds suspiciously like their Lamia has slipped away. But left a bit of herself behind.

Talia Wagner has posed:
There is a breath of relief when her hexbolt shatters the illusion. "Oh thank the multiverse..." she mutters to herself and as things start to freeze over she leaps up off the side of one of the treatment pools and snags the catwalk.

It creaks ominiously as she hauls herself up onto it though which makes her look very wide eyed and worried about it. "Shew." as she gets up there and turns to look down at the watches the tanks freeze solid.

"Did we get her?" she really hopes they did, because she doesn't want to try to possess that thing again. Kind of left her feeling a bit mecky about it all.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda drops to the ground, out of the float she'd been maintaining. She keeps her feet, hands resting on her knees as she draws in heavy breaths of stale air and tries not to cough on the stagnant stench. "Yeah..." she pants, looking up at her foster brother and his timelost daughter. "I know a spell or two that can handle that." Though, she's not sure she can cast it just at this moment.

The illusion magic has evaporated and, now, so is the ice. Despite the chill, the water is slowly returning to its natural state -- Amanda's elemental magic simply isn't strong enough to create a lasting freeze. It's far easier to ignite fires, she's found, than freeze anything.

Cautiously, she steps out onto the catwalk, walking slowly and lightly towards them, hoping the decrepit grating will hold. "Where is it?" The tail... The lamia is gone.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
All in all, the both of them have had it much worse then he has. Between the possession and the elemental magicks Amanda and Talia have expended an awful lot of themselves. But the abandonned water treatment plant is silent once more and they have driven the Lamia out of her lair. Another center of power hopefully lost to her. Of course, now she's been driven underground. Literally. Who's to say if that's better for them or not.

"Understood. And the tunnels under the city aren't always the safest place to be. I think perhaps we should regroup for now," Kurt suggests, laying a hand on Amanda's shoulder and offering a smile to them both. "Perhaps we can find away to, I don't know, disenchant this place in the meantime," he says with a wave of a hand. He has no idea what would be involved in that, but denying her home field advantage in the future seems like a good thing.

"Mmmmm, I think your ice caught her, right down at the bottom of the vat. It looks like she had to leave the end of her tail behind. I think I see it still floating there near the bottom," he says distatefully. "If you're too drained I will" he begins, making a face, "Bamf down and collect it." The water is cold and disgusting. But it's the least he can do.

But then, THEN, it will be time to go somewhere warm. And have hot chocolate. With little marshmellows. Because they deserve it!

Talia Wagner has posed:
"We should definitely collect it... maybe it can be magicked to track the snake lady later." she looks herself over carefully.

"I mean.. I didn't end up swimming in that horrible stuff." no offense to her alt-dad and what he has to do soon. "But I still feel like a hot shower is needed and something warm and cozy..."

Like hot chocolates and little marshmellows.

She starts to make her way back to Amanda in the doorway now.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda peers down at how deep the water is and that patch of ice slowly disolving with the tail still trapped with in. She looks at Kurt and wince appologetically. "I think you need to get it," she admits. "But when we get out of here, I'll spring for the hot chocolate." It's the least she can do.

She steps back, waiting for him to do the deed before she begins to retreat. Because, again... it's the least she can do.