View source for 5748/Flashback: Against the Limner

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2021/03/27
|Location=Latveria: 1965
|Synopsis=In 1965, a BRPD team fights The Limner, wins but misses a soul in this flashback scene.
|Cast of Characters=1068,2564,2481,648
|Tinyplot=What Price One Soul
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:1068|Hellboy (1068)}} has posed:'''<br>The Limner has been the talk of the occult world for three months. He is a powerful transformative sorceror who has managed to evade capture by many of the most powerful figures in the world. Now, he has managed to aquire all of the things that he needs to build his massive transformation machine and turn Europe in 1000 miles in every direction. As it is, the BRPD has been contacted in a last ditch effort to stop the madman before he starts! <br><br>Right now, Latveria is a poor, backwater, Russian puppet state, without any of the cutting edge might created and installed by its future dictator. The BRPD has been invited because Soviet occult agents have been completely and utterly overwhelmed (or...turned into lawn gnomes) in every attempt at infiltration. The stars are right, and Hellboy can intuitively understand that the madman will turn on his machine soon. He parachutted in and puts his chute away, looking at the rest of his crew, checking his gear and looking at the dark and daunting forest ahead of them, "You guys OK?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2564|Camellia Lowe (2564)}} has posed:'''<br>A few moments later a strange shape comes down right next to Hellboy, a large human torso colored black with two large wings and no head, what seemed to be a partially summoned demon. It flaps its way down and safely deposits its summoner onto the ground before disappearing. "No problem on my part." The young mercenary says with a grin, it was situations like these that allowed him to make a living despite his only trade being bringing horrible things into the world. He whips out a paint brush and dips it into a canteen, rapidly drawing a series of runes on a nearby tree. "Give me a second here."<br><br> He says before starting to chant under his breath, coming up with a very complicated summoning diagram. At one point he steps back and holds his hands in a triangle while doing the final pull on the creature. What comes out is a a large floating hand, the size of a fridge. "Yeah, that should be enough. No need to bring the whole thing in." Not to mention it was quite dangerous.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2481|Rien D'Arqueness (2481)}} has posed:'''<br>Rien didn't even take a shoot before dropping out of the plan. When you're an accomplished sorceress things like gravity are often optional. Whistling through the air at relatively high velocity but in a controlled descent, she sticks the superhero landing easily enough before standing up and dusting herself off.<br><br>The young woman, perhaps in her late 20's or early 30's if one is attempting to guage purely by appearances is dressed from head to toe in black leather. It is one of those 'ops suits', along with a utility belt, and canvas back.<br><br>"Never better Red." She replies letting a touch of her French accent bleed through into her English.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:648|Carson Deschain (648)}} has posed:'''<br>Oh what fortunes are flung on the ethereal winds to tumble like dice being shot down a gambling alley. When Hellboy has chuted in at night, covert operations of sorts by appearance. A few feet away, a man in clothing from forty years in the future swirls into being like sand being poured into a mold. Eyes wide, blinking and looking around himself while holding a sort of jewelers loupe to his eye with one hand and what looks like a tiny hourglass... that has no glass - only tint and hue shifting metal.<br><br>"-o, I'm not tou-..." blink. "OK." staring directly at big red, "You're where you were. Why are we in the woods?" Carson blinks again, "Why are you dressed like..." he quiets, looks around, then raises up the glassless hour glass again. "So." eyes sliding left to right. "I hope that you remember this and don't throw us into a causality loop... and just let me make this mistake..." because he's talking all sorts of sense now.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1068|Hellboy (1068)}} has posed:'''<br>Hellboy doesnt see the man in his fourties of course, he sees Smithers, the W.A.N.D. meatstick who shoots guns at tentacly things but body transference isnt something that he is entirely inexperienced with and says, "I'm Hellboy, that's Rien, that's Lowe" to the brazen demonologist. Luckily, a much younger Hellboy doesnt have the occult knowledge his future self does to yell at Lowe for being INSANELY dangerous and motions with his head since time is ticking down.<br><br>"Alright" he says mainly for Smithers who might have had a concussion, might be possessed or simply mentally transmuted by the Limner. Mental and physical transformation are definitely his forte, "We have twelve souls powering a transformation device inside that we have," he checks his watch, "About two hours to stop. Can you still shoot?" He looks at Smithers/Carson. If Carson can't, he will tell him to stay behind elsewise? Any port in a storm.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2564|Camellia Lowe (2564)}} has posed:'''<br>He cracks his neck to one side then the other. He actually loved his work, right up until the end. Despite the tragedy that will have happened, it was the only thing he was good at, pretty much. He pats the hand and it opens, he then jumps up into the palm. It closes slightly and he sits with a cocky smirk. "Alright, sounds like enough time if we don't mess around too much. You'd think someone in my position would be in favor of this sort of thing but it actually hurts to have this much competition." He simply lights a cigarette and leans back a bit. "On your mark, big guy." He does eye the dude that just swirled in with a quirked eyebrow though, wondering if this was some kind of strategy or just a very unfortunate event.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2481|Rien D'Arqueness (2481)}} has posed:'''<br>"Then what are we waiting around for?" Rien glances between the others and just starts walking, pushing her way through the dense undergrowth of the dark forest. "Try to keep up." It's mostly directed at the two that are not Hellboy, who she has worked with before.<br><br>At Lowe's comment about competition RIen glances back over her shoulder again like she is about to say something, but the demon hunter just lets it go. "There is no telling what we might find in this forest, best to be ready for anything. Do we know how this Limner is manipulating the souls? It is unfortunately not a unique type of magic."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:648|Carson Deschain (648)}} has posed:'''<br>"I uh... I've got middle marks in the academy training?" feeling around himself for a firearm. Carsmithers looks about himself. Shifts a little. "What?" throwing his shoulder into a tree, or did he just slip? Wet underbrush and all that. But he's pepped up somewhat now. "I'll be fine, Hellboy." adjusting his jacket and giving a little bounce on his feet. <br><br>At least -something- here is making sense.<br><br>"I uh... Controlling souls, right..." lips pursed and eyes opened. "I... If we just shoot the guy it stops the soul manipulation, right?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1068|Hellboy (1068)}} has posed:'''<br>Hellboy says, "You know its funny, we don't. I mean, with that damn board of his he can manipulate ANYTHING but the way he bound and collected the souls does seem...different doesnt it?" He nods as Smithers seems to 'adjust' adn get with the program, "Shooting bad guys good, yes" he moves into the forest as they are immediately attacked by the trees themselves. Its a low level enchantment to defend the house and more of an annoyance than anything else but streight out of the Wizard of Oz as trudges forward and shoots a small bush in the 'head' with an incindiary napalm round.<br><br>A large two story house becomes visible in the thick canopy of the house, several kitshy pink flamingos and rather surprised lawn gnomes lay out front as Hellboy categorically ignores them and kicks in the front door of the house."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2564|Camellia Lowe (2564)}} has posed:'''<br>Lowe just let the big red dude draw the attention and shifted the position of the arm holding him up to avoid the attacks, the back of the hand twisting to block them while the fingers held him like claws. He does this by tapping the hand a few times and sending it commands directly. Once the front of the hose is kicked in he hops off the minimalistic demon and pulls out a pistol of his own, a normal one though. The hand floats by him, very near, and he keeps a hand touching it at all times. "I guess there's no time to waste, huh?" He comments on the rather aggressive approach with a chuckle, it was quite the opposite to the way he operated himself, but he could adapt. He's staring at Carson with a more curious hesitation now, the way the guy was acting was fairly bizarre. Then again no one here was normal, so he shrugs it off.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2481|Rien D'Arqueness (2481)}} has posed:'''<br>*Snikt* And that's when the claws come out. As the looming trees of the forest move to attack them, three bone claws nearly the length of her forearms emerge from each of Rien's hands glowing with a faint bluish white light. *Fwip* *slice* *thud* Branches falls to the ground around her with heavy impacts as she doesn't even slow down, making her way forward like a seasoned explorer slashing their way through the jungle.<br><br>Rien was going to stop and take stock of things at the house, she normally works with a bit more stealth, but that is never how things go when she is partnered with Hellboy. "Real subtle Red." She calls in his wake since the entire world already knows they're there anyway and follows him inside claws still out.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:648|Carson Deschain (648)}} has posed:'''<br>Keeping pace was... at least easy enough, though he takes no care in avoiding thumping into the occasional tree, growing more pepped up with each accidental misstep - but when the trees start actively attacking it's like Smitherson is letting them hit him, the first few knocking him off balance - its those nearest the house that the slapping bows just seem to bounce off on approach to the home.<br><br>"I think I read about this... or something like this..." looking to Rien, pausing momentarily, "Jeeze you haven't aged a day!" blink blink, "Just... I mean..." shaking his head and watching Red kick in the door.<br><br>"I wish I could have gotten access to more of the WAND records before the call-down." pausing. Try making sense Carson. That'd be a good idea.<br><br>"I mean. Hah. Yes. Take that foul door." drawing his gun and holding it with at least passing amateur sort of skill?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1068|Hellboy (1068)}} has posed:'''<br>Hellboy says, "W.A.N.D?" Hellboy looks curios since while he can ignore most of the things Carson says government acronyms stick out like a sore thumb, "Havent heard of it." He chuckles at the door comment, looks around inside and doesnt see anything, listens and says,"Bastard is in the basement" kicks in ANOTHER door and goes trundling down into THE DARKNESS.<br><br>The Limner, in the shadows barely visible as the stairs go around and around and around and seem to last forever chants and moves what looks like an eldritch guttenberg printing press, changing letters one for another and looking up at the interlopers and frowning. He points, without breaking a breath and stone gargoyls come to life and begin to attack the four heroes."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2564|Camellia Lowe (2564)}} has posed:'''<br>Lowe narrowed his eyes on one of the gargoyles. "And here I was thinking things would keep going smooth until the end." He says as he takes aim and fires a bullet into one of them, just a single one. He then pats the hand and it goes flying off at high speed, zooming towards the target that had been marked, aiming to smash it into bits with a rocketing closed fist. It was his tricky way of controlling a demon for attack without the demon actually being there. This greatly reduced the risk of losing control over it. Unless, of course, something were to happen to the summoner.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2481|Rien D'Arqueness (2481)}} has posed:'''<br>"This is not a church, why does he have gargoyles?" Rien sighs as she gathers mystic forces swirling in one hand before launching a blast of raw arcane energy at the closest gargoyle before lunging straight at it and planting the claws of her other hand deep in the crack left behind before wrenching them free in a violent fashion sending fragments of stone flying in all directions.<br><br>Though as she is doing this another gargoyle manages to land a solid stone fist into her back causing her to grunt and cough up a bit of blood, "Is that your best shot?" Rien asks turning to glare at her new adversary and wiping a bit of blood from near her mouth. It looked like that was probably really painful though.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:648|Carson Deschain (648)}} has posed:'''<br>"Oh.. jeeze. It's the nerdiest form of... Soul-o-mancy? Necromancy?" pausing at the sight o the Magical Hell-Guttenberg, "Is this what you WAND and BPRD people deal with day to day?? The outfits had me thinking it was like... Lightning bolts and women dressed up like strip-club Morticia... Or Elvira! Mostly Elvira!" blinking and... Carsmitherson seems to be at an utter loss for the danger of magical threats and the mystical arts. <br><br>As if he's not dealt a whiff with magic his whole life.<br><br><br>Distracted enough that one of the stone beasts is able to come in and ax-handle a fist into his brow with a thunderous lack of sound and nary even motion from Smitherson for the act. "Oh your boss shouldn't have had the trees punching me buddy." another, harder, smack getting him in the gut and sending the man skidding back with a 'whoof' of air. <br><br>"Ok that's a bit better." <br><br>Does he know how to use a gun? Hawww... The man who is and isn't Carson Deschain rears back and hurls his pistol like a throwing ax, at high speed - enough to shatter the stone head it impacts with. "So uncivilized!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1068|Hellboy (1068)}} has posed:'''<br>The Limner's eyes flash with annoyance. He stops chanting as the four destroy his gargoyl's left and right. "NO, this is not a church but it is nevertheless holy. I made them from the stone themselves, they are far older than...why am I lecturing plebians? My BEST SHOT? My BEST SHOT?!" He cackles with laughter as he moves letters on the transformation board that is soon to turn every living thing in Europe into his own reshaped vision as powerful magics reach up, moving up and up and up the stairs as Hellboy is turned into a small plastic demon doll, eyes shifting around in wonder and concern as another surge reaches up and hits the demonoligist turning him into a wind up doll (and incidently potentially making the demon mayhap uncontrolled?)<br><br>"There, interlopers, want to see more of my BEST shots?" He laughs maniacally<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2564|Camellia Lowe (2564)}} has posed:'''<br>Poof. The young blonde man is turned into a doll, an unpowered one at that. It was not good, he had controlled this particular demon many times before, but it had to be kept on a leash. This results in the hand wildly attacking everything around it, zooming around, smashing into walls and stairs, punching through bricks and making the whole place tremble with impacts from time to time. This could be helpful if any gargoyles needed to be finished off, but definitely was going to be annoying to the other two that were still whole. His pistol clatters on the cold stone next to his unwinded self.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2481|Rien D'Arqueness (2481)}} has posed:'''<br>"Zut alors," Rien lets out the French exclamation of annoyance as Big Red is turned into very small and slightly adorable Red, doll edition.<br><br>The intensity of the glow around her claws gets a bit brighter and a backhanded swipe cleaves straight through the stone of the gargoyle that had attacked her from behind, dropping it in neatly severed pieces.<br><br>"Mon dieu, this is why I hate working with even well intentioned demon binders." She mutters as the hand begins to go berserk after another is turned into a doll. "Okay, guess we're doing this Red's way."<br><br>With the situation going to hell, in some cases literally, Rien lunges for the Gutenburg Hell Press. She had wanted to examine it more closely, perhaps find a safer way to disarm it, one can only hope those already changed might revert and the souls will be freed. Too many lives are on the line though if this keeps up and so Rien leaps into the air, fast ball specialing herself with mystic telekinesis. She fly-lunges towards the contraption, claws out, their glow brilliant to behold now, as she sets about wrecking the thing with extreme prejudice.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:648|Carson Deschain (648)}} has posed:'''<br>"Ma'am I hope that you know how to reverse this dollification!" Carson calls out when Rien makes to turn her interaction with The Printing Press of Doom into a Table, Ladder, Chair match. But his target isn't the press. It's the lunatic wielding powers beyond the ken of mortal men.<br><br>Well Carson played Dungeons and Dragons. He's been in Genosha when Power Girl was shooting eye beams and Sentinels were adapting to his people's kinds.<br><br>Hell he met a lady with the most effective bracelet in history. Let's not forget he picked up a thingummy, turned it, and is now in Latveria, thirty odd years ago. But he makes his play by charging for the Limner... whom he only now has passing ideas of the dangers of - but he begins focusing all of the energy pooled in his body from the impacts he's suffered. Enough to potentially stop automatic fire from hurting him, or possibly the impact of that damnedable hand from crushing him. Focusing it into a punch intended to put the force of a speeding cargo van behind knuckles if he can make contact with Omadon here before the Red Wizard can call on his Flight of Dragons or somesuch!<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1068|Hellboy (1068)}} has posed:'''<br>Hellboy is, well, you know, a doll. He looks around worriedly and tries to make sarcastic comments and cant! Boo! No one hears his witty dialog that he thinks is witty and others could take or leave.<br><br>The demon does a LOT of damage to the gargoyls but the press is harder to damage. Between Carson's shooting, Rien's claws and the lose demon the gargoyls are largely changed. <br><br>The Limner's gaunt face stares like hollow empty shells from the stairs below, "If you come any further you will be in a worse fate than your friends!" And with that he resumes chanting, so close to his final goal decades in the making.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2564|Camellia Lowe (2564)}} has posed:'''<br>Lowe remains a doll, so the hand keeps on beating around, on the walls, on the stairs, sometimes zooming an inch off the two remaining team members, sometimes smashing into the press violently. This means that at one point it breaks through to the outside and starts just flailing madly through the air, zooming around and trying to hit enemies it wasn't even sure existed. Without something pinpointing it there was just no way for it to know what to do, and for the time being, that left it largely disabled much like its owner. At least, not being wound up meant he was totally unaware of what was going on and couldn't feel embarassed.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2481|Rien D'Arqueness (2481)}} has posed:'''<br>Rien hacks away at the machine but finds it actually able to resist her mystically charged claws, a feat in and of itself. Taking a breath she focuses, brute force can't do this but there isn't time for an elaborate study and that's when she sees it.<br><br>"You know, machines like this, they're looked down upon by the Great Magic Clans. There are advantages, but ever since they first arose among the Greeks there always seems to be one fatal FLAW."<br><br>As she says the last words she drives her claws through a central crystal acting as a nexus and relay for the mystical energies throughout the device and as the power of the souls begins to converge with no limiter to reign them in or direct their power where it needs to go things begin to devolve into absolute chaos as the machine's arcane power matrix begins to invert and turn back upon itself.<br><br>With the machine going haywire behind her, Rien turns her attention back towards Limner, "Now let's see how you do without your favorite toy."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:648|Carson Deschain (648)}} has posed:'''<br>Still moving at best speed towards Limner, Carson mutters between clenched teeth, "Yeah... worse fates all around if we do nothin' eh?" an idea comes to mind and the man dips to pick up the Helltoy, bouncing red in his hand, shifting his gears and the focus of his pooled energies, a slower jog to approach the evil sorcerer - very casually moving the doll's limbs so that the Hand of Glory is out and in a fist while he makes to throw the little incarnation of Red.<br><br>He does halt, finally, if only because he needs to aim.<br><br>"If hell really exists, I think Red here will be happy to be the conductor on the freight train. Winding up and pitching the Hellboy doll with a little 'English' in the spiral backed up with a couple thousand Newtons of force.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1068|Hellboy (1068)}} has posed:'''<br>As Rien puts her claws into the device, the vast magical energies building up have nowhere to go. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?" The Limner howls with fury and tries to fix it but is unable to do so. He can normally mend literally ANYTHING with the slightest of will and whim but in this case...he can't hold it all together and the room starts to shake, rattle and roll. Both "dolls" are untransformed and return to their natural state. The souls screwed into the elaborate matrix around the machine burst one at a time, until only one remains falling into a small crack deep in the floor of the shadowed basement and Hellboy shouts, "RUN!"<br><br>The building magical energies pulse and throb and even Carson with no natural attunement to the supernatural can feel it as Hellboy dashes up the stairs and out of the house.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2564|Camellia Lowe (2564)}} has posed:'''<br>Lowe blinks as he gets back up to normal. "Huh." He says with surprise, seeing as everything was starting to well up out of control. He grabs his pistol and shoots the ground, the hand comes flying in and he taps it, getting it under control again. He hops on and flies up after the rest of them. He didn't mind one bit, as long as the job was complete. "Ah, wasn't this a fun experience everyone? Maybe we will work together again, Reddie there in particular, my life is a lot less difficult when he's around. Though the lady still seems the most competent out of all of us here, eh?" He chats them up, since he was doing nothing while riding the partially summoned evil thing.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2481|Rien D'Arqueness (2481)}} has posed:'''<br>Rien makes a face, she doesn't like leaving Limner free, but the situation is rapidly going from bad to worse and at least her comrades and hopefully those outside have been reverted. That will have to be enough for today. Limner gets one last glare as if she is burning his face into her eyes, before she dashes up the stares behind Hellboy dragging anyone too slow to keep up behind her.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:648|Carson Deschain (648)}} has posed:'''<br>Run. Things keep shifting, Hellyboy was massive again, the man with the wunderhand is real boy sized. Yeah. Run. Carson stands, looking all around him when he hears a tone that drops his eyes to his pocket, pulling out the little hourglass and staring to see the sands gathered back to the top, without it having really been tilted... and still lacking glass.<br><br>"Woah wait." looking around, "Hey I gotta get this... me..." he blinks and watches the last grain drop 'up' to the top of the glass.<br><br>"OH! SHIII-" Smithers? Still there, but contorting as if he was being pulled away while Carson himself is sucked back through the fabric of space and time... back to where he -totally- wasn't fiddling with one of the various doohickeys in Red's place.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1068|Hellboy (1068)}} has posed:'''<br>The Limner is seemingly incinerated by his own machine. He certainly isnt seen or heard and the blast from the machine utterly destroys the countryside all the way around for three miles, leveling trees, and seemingly incinerating the forest. The forest will grow back, and the house will slowly repair itself, and above all the most lasting memory is the single small blue vial that fell into the crack.<br> <br>
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