7194/The Magic of the Theatre

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The Magic of the Theatre
Date of Scene: 02 August 2021
Location: Tribeca
Synopsis: Amanda, Kurt, and Lucifer find an old theatre that's being used by some extra-planar entity as a gateway onto Earth and clean it up.
Cast of Characters: Amanda Sefton, Kurt Wagner, Lucifer




Amanda Sefton has posed:
For months, now, Amanda has been carefully tracking an upsurge of supernatural activity in Tribeca. She believes she has found the source: An abandoned theatre in the middle of an old cotton gin neighbourhood. For reasons Amanda speculates are entirely occult in nature, this little part of the otherwise fairly upscale, artistic community has somehow been left to decay. Surprising, from a mundane perspective, given the focus in recent years on gentrifying and elevating the rest of the place. Not so surprising, if what Amanda suspects is here actually is here.

The theatre building itself started life as a factory, but was rebuilt in the thirties, covered with Art Deco accents and remodelled to have a classic Broadway feel -- even so far from the Great White Way. In the sixties it was converted to a movie house. Thus it stayed until just after 9/11, when efforts were made to turn it back into a traditional theatre again. For the past fifteen or so years, however, it's sat vacant, owned by a city who magically forgot it existed.

So, acting on her hunch -- the fact it's been forgotton, combined with the fact it sits pretty much in the middle of the circumference of magical influence she's demarked -- she put out a call to the two men in all the world she believes will have her back in this: Kurt and Lucifer. She stands outside the building, on a remarkably deserted street given the fact the sun is up and the city is fully awake and bustling a mere three or four streets over, looking up at the old edifice. It glowers down, a white and gold facade left to fade to grey and black tarnish.

"See what I mean?" she says to the pair, having explained to them the building's history and the reason for her hunch on their way over. "And look." She waves her hand. Red energy ripples over the building as her little push of magic illuminates... not so much wards as a huge shadow/concealment spell draped over it like a bird brooding over its nest.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
While Kurt might not be a practioner himself, he has been around magic for much of his life thanks to his association with Amanda and her mother. And certainly he has had his own recent run-ins of the mystical sort that have broadened his mind and horizons when it comes to this particular area. He might not be a great deal of help on the hocus pocus end of things, but he is pretty handy to have around in a pinch.

Things are a little chaotic around the mansion these days -- alien house guests bringing warnings from beyond the stars tends to have that effect even on the X-Men -- but there are a few people who he will always make time for, especially when it is an emergency. Besides, getting to New York is not exactly out of the way for a fuzzy blue elf that can teleport. Who wouldn't take a hop, skip and a jump for family.

Kurt has a little experience with out of place buildings that have been forgotten to. He, at least, is unlikely to forget that particular experience, but standing out on the sidewalk with Amanda and her friend, those golden eyes flicker over the decaying theater with interest. "I do. At least now," he notes drily. He has walked down this street before, several times. He likes to roam. But not once has he previously taken note of just how out of place this building really is.

"I presume we are going in? Just to let you know, if the walls start to bleed and an unearthly voice tells us to get out I'm going to listen," he says flippantly.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer is smoking, in a thick manner, the dark streak of smoke wafting away, not towards, the others. He stops distractedly next to a fire hydrant, watching the building. The cigarette has burned down to his fingers, a smear of black on them but no injury, before he stubs it out on the top of the hydrant and drops it. Such a litterbug.

"How obidient of you," Lucifer lightly teases Kurt, a lilt to his tone but no real pressure in it. "Bleeding walls would certainly narrow what it is; I can appreciate a blood manifestation. Sets the mood." He doesn't explain that, just leaves that comment.

"What is the main goal of this, then, Sorceress?" Lucifer aims to Amanda. The question isn't sarcastic, he's really asking the goal. "Examine, do an exorcism, make contact...? Make it up as we go?" Any of those options seem fine by the cheerfully upbeat occultist.

Lucifer has his phone out in his other hand, and he shuts it off with a little click sound, slipping it away, and puts his heavy gaze firmly on the building, as if he could pierce its nature with a hard look. Still his mood is tourist in fashion, as if Amanda were the tour guide and he was having a good time overall.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
"I say we go in and poke at it," Amanda admits, giving Luci a bit of an impish smile. She chuckles at Kurt's comment about bleeding walls and unearthly voices. "Yes, well... perhaps this time there won't be a giant snake skin lying around in the attic, hmm?" She remembers his haunted house, too. Though this one feels less ghostly than that one did.

Sobering, she says, "If I'm right, this place is the epicenter of all those strange attacks in this region last winter -- the shadow stalkers, the reavers, the corruption that turned those rats into... well, yes. You know." She gives a mild shrug. Even if they didn't see all those things, she's told them about it. Especially once the dead bodies started showing up. Then, however, it all mysteriously... stopped. Maybe she was just getting too close.

"The one thing I think it all had in common was that each of those things were naturally given to hive or pack minds and were very good at siphoning life energy. My working theory is that whatever is in here is the puppet master for all of them. I'd like to find out what it is and, if possible, shut it down. Or at least shut it away. It's had nearly a year to entrench itself. I shudder to think what next Samhain will look like if it's still around to take advantage of the thinning of the Veil and the turning of the year."

Thus, she pulls a hand-carved rod from the rune covered satchel on her hip. It's about 18" long and heavy enough to use as a club in a pinch. Chances are the crystals bound to its head would leave a mark. It's clear, though, the rod is magical in nature, however, and not really designed to be a weapon in the classic sense. It should help amplify her power in a pinch, however, its woods, stones, and metals all chosen for the strengths they represent, the runes along the shaft designed to bind them together and balance them in her hand.

"This may provoke a response," she suggests, raising her rod and pointing it at the building's front doors. "We'll see." She speaks an old Romani word of power and white light spins out of the head of the rod, webbing over doors and causing the shadow spell that conceals the building to part in that one place. She won't remove the whole spell... yet. She doesn't really want mundanes stumbling upon it. But they should be able to enter, now, anyway.

Deep in its foundations, the building stirs.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Well, at least she has some idea of just what they might be up against. That's more then what he sometimes knows when he leaps into a situation, so there is that.

Of course he also can usually leap right back out of a situation in a blink of an eye making it both easier and much less foolish then it sounds. Of course, as he has discovered, when deal with things in the mystic realm that is not always a given.

He has of course heard Amanda's stories about the troubles last winter but he still listens with interest as she presents her theory and gives a bit of a recap before giving a small shrug of his shoulders. "Mmmmm, you would know far better then I how we should approach the situation. If you want to poke the thing and see how it reacts I am up for that. But if whatever it is that is hiding in there starts biting off fingers keep in mind that I don't have anywhere near as many as you," he says wryly, one hand lifting to wiggle the trio of fingers at her.

The fuzzy blue elf stands ready as she does her thing, exchanging a smirk with Lucifer, before his attention turns back to the rundown facade of the theatre as the light coming from the rod gives a passage through the shadow. Hesitating for just a moment, he steps forward to enter the building itself.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer doesn't really seem to be paying full attention, even if he was the one who originally asked Amanda for clarity on the goal. He's looking intently into the building, his eyes flaring a bit more wide, which gives him an overly intense, slightly offputting expression. But it's often one worn by the strange man.

And he proves he was listening, at least a little: "If I go in, I will wake it up," Lucifer says, with a certainty. There's a weird 'knowing' to his voice. And a mix of some sort of dismay - like someone that knows they can't stealth enough walking through a room of bells. Self awareness.

"But let me see if I can narrow my ... noise." Lucifer rolls his hands together, and seems to ... quietly reflect inward. He does very little, though Amanda may sense his ambiance and aura are fluxing and drawing or dropping away as he deliberately pulls into himself.

"There's an awareness, though. A gaze, below," Lucifer comments, while still slowly folding back.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
"Each one of yours is worth two, anyway," Amanda says, winking at Kurt. Luci's words bring her back to the business at hand. She can feel the sense of him... tightening, for lack of a better word. "So... we're going down." She gives a wry smile. "Why am I not surprised? Nothing about this that smells familiar?" she asks him, wondering if they're walking into more of a hellish situtation than she's yet guessed.

She enters the building with Kurt and looks around. The lobby is wide and shows signs that, once upon a time, it must have been a grand thing. "Poor old Lady." Amanda glances to Kurt as she does. It's the performer in her. No theatre should be left to rot like this. So, yes. There are sympathy pangs here. "We'll fix her up..." Or, at least, they'll try.

Grand as it may have been, it's now a crumbling ruin of faded paint, peeling wallpaper, and ruined carpet. And it smells like it, too, unfortunately. There's a layer of dust on hard surfaces and not signs of that dust being disturbed, safe for the small tracks of tiny animals that might have thought, for a while, that the place made a good nest. That said, even those tracks have more dust fallen within them, like snow drifting to half fill old footprints.

Amanda holds her rod up, letting its light illuminate the space. There are sweeping staircases heading up to the balcony level, but it's the ways back into the secret places of the theatre she seeks -- a narrow door behind a counter that leads to offices and, likely as not, the stairs to the basement.

Easing through the door, the sense of unease in the place grows stronger, as does signs that some of the creatures she hunted through the winter originated here. "Looks like we're on the right track." She heads for the stairs.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Like Amanda, Kurt is something of a born performer and that gives him a tie to places like this. Even more, given his love of classic cinema it is particularly disheartening to see a place like this lifted right out of a different time and left to decay and fall apart. It definitely feels wrong -- even if they were not approaching some unnatural threat.

Still, despite their circumstances it is hard for the fuzzy blue elf not to glance around with interest, his imagination righting the wrongs with the place, restoring it to it's classic glory in his head as he pads his way forward with that nimble, acrobat's grace. The dark doesn't bother him; for all the lightness of his spirit his physical form is very much made for the night. That indigo fur that covers him all but vanishes when the light goes out and those gold eyes soak up every little bit of light there is, letting him see in complete darkness.

So he pads forward without a care, taking point despite his lack of mystical defenses. Afterall, should he come across anything threatening he can be gone with nothing more then the slightest of thoughts.

Lucifer has posed:
"What, no desire for a kiss for good luck before you head in?" Lucifer teases in mock offense. And adds, "Either of you." And a sly grin that does supply that while he's joking, there's no real press on it. The hedonist just tends to be like this.

"A subtle power attracts other things. It's not a hell lord at the core, sadly." Sad only in that Lucifer would have dominion if it were a hell lord and could act efficiently. Though Kurt may well take that comment as sarcastic... specifically due to that Lucifer's tone lends that way.

"More something like ...planar doorstop." The pair headed in, and Lucifer is not put out by remaining outside or talking to himself: at least for the time being. He has good influence over looking in even if he's outside, and takes a little stroll along the street, while still collapsing his aura. Eventually he feels confident enough about it, and approaches one of the side doors. A little strength applied cracks the lock and he explores in that way, listening to the aura and pulse of the house like a doctor's fingers on a heartbeat.

Lucifer is just in time to appear around a door from Amanda and Kurt, though, to supply a jump-scare that wasn't intended.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda offers a brief laugh at Lucifer's invitation for a kiss. She's kissed him once. More will wait until after a more private discussion. "Planar doorstop. Why is it always the Planes?" she asks drily, not really requiring an answer. Elder gods, being from the outer planes... She's got easy access to the King of Hell, but no. So rarely a demon to banish. Always the more exotic intruders. She lets Kurt precede through the space and across the lobby, down that hallway to the top of the stairs. As Luci pops through the side door, she spins, rod in hand and pointed at him. Then, she snirks and lets the rod fall away. "Find anything interesting out there?"

In fact, there is the occasional sign of interest on the property. An old dumpster filled with bones out the back, most particularly, that suggests this thing has been concealing itself for far longer than the few months Amanda has been tracking signs of it. It's the type of bone fragments that suggests even now they still serve some sort of purpose for whatever lies within.

The answer to what, however, is found at the base of the stairs where the form of what looks like an old man teeters on spindly legs. It looks up at them with glowing red eyes, the rest of the hallway behind it disappearing into shadow so dark not even Kurt's vision can pierce it. Though, Luci has other means at his disposal. The shadow is alive and that form is only one of its many, many faces.

It looks up at the three of them, hisses, and raises its arms. Tendrils of shadow whip out from its finger tips and then from around behind hit like a squid reaching for its prey.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
It is a question, if he ever truly will understand all of these mystical going's on. He has far more exposure to it then most, but still hostile bird aliens from across the galaxy are far easier to get a grasp on then this sort of thing. So Kurt merely arches a brow, a faint smirk curved over his features at the other two before shaking his head over Lucifer's regret that this is apaprently not the forces of Hell at work.

If only he had a clue. Or, well, he has that. Perhaps a greater belief in the truth. Or perhaps he does, who knows.

So the fuzzy blue elf picks his way forward, taking the high ground quite literally as he crawls along the wall, away from the middle of the hall where eyes might first be drawn. To the fringes, where one so often fails to get noticed.

At least until he reaches the stairs. The stairs and the strange only man who lingers there with darkness so absolute behind him. When the first shadow whip lashes out he *bamfs* vanishing in a puff of inky black mist and reappearing several feet further back down the hallway.

"I would say that we are not particularly welcome. Surprise, surprise."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer is keeping his own personal aura and marks of his own entity contained. He can do this when he wishes - centuries of walking undetected when he chooses to be so lead to high finesse here. So he is confident that the creature is responding to them as it 'should' -- well, as prey. Though Lucifer may change stride soon, for now he's curious and still in a playful mindset, even as the shadow grabs.

Lucifer can use his physical strength withou revealing much, and that's his go-to here: it isn't to get out of the way, but to more arrogantly lash across any shadow tendrils to disperse-- though if they are entirely without substance, there may be other effects if the shadows encounter the burning interior of one of Lucifer's arms.

"Hej h-ch't mejrhen, methis," Lucifer attempts at the shadow, first. He had a good guess of what language it might use, though he could be off. Starting somewhere. That is not a language of Earth, though, and Lucifer's 'accent' is very heavy on it. His words translate roughly to 'No words for us, pity' in essence.

"Welcoming hugs of razors," Lucifer answers Kurt, though his tone is less playful, and more irritated, or closed, due to focus.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Where the shadow tendrils hit, the building materials hiss and bubble, albeit briefly. Their contact with Lucifer's arm would normally encourage them to pull the creature they've grabbed into their inky depths, but he is stronger than they expect. The man thing lurches forward to try to grab Lucifer more directly. Behind him, lumpy shapes of shadows beome apparent and more of these humanoid constructs, all of them joined in the tarry darkness, fill the hallway. It's not a wide hallway to begin with, which means it gets very full, very fast.

Amanda leaps backward, landing not terribly far from Kurt. She aims her rod at the seething mass of shadow and lets off a blast of witchfire toward the thing. Where it hits, the thing squeals and recoils, white smoke rising. Strong as the rod is, it isn't enough to dispell the creature. But it does start to illuminate further down the hallway where broken holes in the walls suggest this particular creature is neither all alone, nor all-encompassing. There are gaps around and behind it, which means it can perhaps be flanked, as well.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
"I like to think I am a fairly affectionate fellow, but those do not sound like appealing hugs at all," Kurt counters mildly, blinking those bright golden eyes as he looks where the wall he was clinging to moments earlier hisses and bubbles. So grabbing this thing and trying to teleport it away seems like a very bad idea. Though it would appear that Lucifer is holding up well enough.

Crouching there on the floor, one hand pressed down in front of him as he braces himself there, eyeing the passage beyond that becomes increasingly less obscured by impentatrable shadow, the fuzzy blue elf considers his options for the moment. As is increasingly the case when he comes out on these little forays to the magical side of the street, he does have one of his rapiers strapped to his side. But he has no particularly reason to think that it will be terribly effective here. Still, he does draw it in one smooth motion and casts a grin back towards Amanda for just a moment. "I think I can best help by playing the moving target," he offers up.

And then just like that Kurt vanishes once more with that faint whiff of brimstone, reappearing an instant later further down the passage, behind the old man with his spindly legs and lashing shadow whips. "You know, I would have thought shadows would be a little quicker, and yet here I am, untouched."

Lucifer has posed:
"There's something still /open/ here. It's that rift in space that is the issue, or this just continues to crave your affection," Lucifer says, raising his voice a little over the sound of the shadow-arms impacting hallway and sizzling against smokey attacks from Amanda.

"Us lighting it up won't help if it has an escape route," Lucifer adds. He doesn't dodge the man-thing, instead approaching this with a more hand to hand method - to physically swat and throw the tendrils aside just to keep it off of touching him much, though Amanda, who knows Lucifer more than most, may recognize Lucifer will not continue this particular tactic for long.

Fortunately, Kurt is playing moving target, and Lucifer shifts forward, quick, to hunt for a 'source'. There's not much teamwork to the movement - Lucifer is not used to working with others, and just suddenly moves when the whim and moment came up, his gaze raking into the elusive passage and dark.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
"So, we need to find the rift," Amanda concludes from Lucifer's words. Which makes the shadow thing and its myriad of meatsuit puppets an impediment. She can burn away more of the shadow, it's true. And that severs the puppets from their strings. Instead of collapsing, they continue to lurch around, bereft of the ability to shoot tendrils at their foes, but still as effective as any zombie thing might be.

The man puppet Kurt appears behind is preoccupied with Lucifer, who breaks through his shadowy guard soon enough, making it easier to dispatch. Another emerges from the darkness to try to enwrap Kurt, though it clearly suffers from a dwindling strength when Amanda's fire severs its connection to the shadow mass. The mass begins to retreat down the hallway, disappearing through one of the holes in the wall -- one that leads to the old carp shop where sets were once stored and repaired at the height of the theatre's stage glory. That way lies a litter of old power tools, broken scenic flats, and dried out paint cans.

However, that room is not the source of the rift. Merely adjacent to it. There's that sense of planar energy further below, bleeding up through cracks in the floorboards running beneath the carp shop and other places throughout the basement space.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Rifts, shadow-whips, these are all the sorts of things that Kurt is not really equipped to do very much about, at least not directly. If it can't be bamfed or stabbed or prayed away there is a limited amount of things that he can do.

But a distraction, he can provide. A little scouting, he can provide. Rather then dwell on what he can't do, Kurt is pretty darn good at finding other ways of contributing. Teamwork is sort of his thing afterall. It's what he's used to and where he thrives.

So the fuzzy blue elf basically bounces around, hurling insults that probably don't particularly phase the shadows or the meat puppets that they are using. He waves his rapier about, that polished metal catching every bit of light available to be a visible target. And every time those shadowy tendrils launch themselves towards him they find nothing but a pungent, inky dark mist left where he was standing as he appears somewhere else in the passageway.

Of course, in addition to being an effective distraction Kurt is good at that other thing; scouting. Instantaneous transportation is useful for that and when that tell-tale *Bamf* sounds next he does not immediately reappear, instead teleporting himself to where that portal will be found, the intent being to steal a second or three to glance around before returning to report back to Amanda and Lucifer whatever he can

Lucifer has posed:
There's still a question, for Lucifer, that if he exhibits his nature, that two bad things could happen -- either the creature could flee (which is no good if they want to catch and punish it), or worse, it might absorb or soak in the edges of the aura Lucifer emits. He's sensed it is somehow absorbing ambient power, and Lucifer is not of the mind to give it any food. He feeds enough demonic presence as it /is/ without powering this thing up.

Though if Lucifer actually gets mad, most of these cautions will evaporate. He has a problem with wrath.

"Here," Lucifer says, after a kick launched at a flesh-puppet sends it backwards likely hard enough to splatter. Lucifer bends, and exacts a pulse of strength, to rip a floorboard off manually, and then insert a toe to jerk loose another piece. He makes the whole, looking down, but doesn't automatically lead the way -- he's still on alert, watching, not mindlessly charging. For the time being.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
The meat-puppets rather explain why the indigent population of this area of the city has gone down. Neighbourhood authorities have been quietly chuffed to believe that the shelters in Tribeca have been emptier than usual because their activities have cut down on the opportunities the homeless and lowlifes of the neighbourhood have to do what they do. But the truth is... the old theatre has needed to, well, 'eat'. And the homeless people in the city aren't stupid. Down on their luck, maybe. Addicts and mental health patients, more often than not -- more's the pity -- but certainly not stupid. If anyone had bothered to actually believe them, maybe someone would have clued into this place back closer to Hallowe'en.

Oh well.

As it is, Amanda's fire burns away a lot of the shadow. Kurt's bamfing confuses the rudimentary creatures and their hissing tendrils (they clearly have no higher intelligence), and Lucifer's strength dispatches the things and makes short work of the floorboards into the old prohibition tunnels running under the old place. The shadow flees through cracks in the floorboards, retreating deeper within the tunnels below, though with considerably less 'flesh' for it to command. If it has any left at all.

Amanda crouches at the edge of the hole and looks up to Kurt. "See if it's clear?" she asks him, because he's best suited to it. "Don't get hurt." At least, not beyond what she can heal. There's no question in her mind that Kurt will agree. Nor is she surprised when he makes another quip about getting the hell outta dodge if a B-grade movie horror raises its ugly head before he bamfs away.

It's only when he's given them the all clear that Amanda glances to Lucifer, gives him a tight smile and, lifting herself on eldritch winds, drfits down into the hole to see just what they've found.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer doesn't directly enter the hole, though his body language just reads of not wanting to dirty his suit, not too much else. His vision is clear, anyway, to look and listen-- though he folds more into his other senses, trying to pull more information that way. The problem being that when he reduces his ambiance around him of his power, it does restrict what he can sense. If he exploded with heat and power, he has much better senses, but he's gotten a 'feeling' that this thing might well feed on his style of negative energy.

So there's no sense putting out a buffet even more tasty than what it has been eating, at least until he determines how it functions. Still, a test is worthwhile, and he hops down, to allow a subtle wave of his aura to flutter out; a sort of pressure of heat, though it lacks any visual light, a stifled furnace.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
The tunnel is clear, as Kurt said, aside from the shadow clinging to the walls. The pulse of Lucifer's power as he descends into the hole, sends a ripple down the corridor. The shadow begins to pull back at a greater speed than it had before. Amanda watches it recede, the darkness turning from unnaturally dark to merely regularly dark. She lifts her rod. It casts further light down the corridor.

At the far end, hardly discernible against the shadow, is a glow of power that is more evident to Lucifer and Kurt's eyes -- because of the light frequency it uses, rather than anything magical -- than to Amanda's. It's somewhat concealed behind both the receding shadow and the heavy door at the far end. "Shall I open that?" Amanda asks the gentlemen at her sides.

She doesn't really want to be in the midst of that shadow when she does. So, she points the rod at the thing from where they stand down the hall. "Do 'port us out, if something tries to explode in our faces, will you, Kurt?" It's handy having a teleporter in their company. While she expects Lucifer will survive whatever's behind that door, she's not sure she will.

Still, it doesn't stop her. She lets loose with an eldritch blast. Beyond the door, something resembling a small sun, all stretched out in a vertical direction, hangs in the air. It's muted because of the shadows, but for those that know such things, it's clearly a magical nexus of energy... one that quite likely opens up not just the ley lines in the city, but a potential breech in the Veil itself, which means other worlds as well...

Lucifer has posed:
"Hm. A nexus. ...It does strike me, well. This would be a horrible place for a hellgate," Lucifer comments, voice dry. His tone is dark, but it's more of a thoughtful direction. But that gives an idea. Horrible maybe, but, what if....?

"Here's my idea -- we /do/ need to pull the energy from this gateway. I'm going to pull the energy into forming a hellgate. That should sap it's strength out, and let you close this one. Me burning this thing shut would collapse all these leylines, pulse the city with ...well, let's say I'm trying to be light touch." And.... gates to hell are preferable?

Lucifer doesn't wait, he immediately stretches his hands to either side of himself, with a wrapping warp of fingers into the fabric making up the room, and begins to pull on the ley lines. Towards his project, away from the currently open portal, intending to sap it out. The site may very well begin to strain, rumble, to quake, under the sudden pressure.

A new 'scent' comes to Lucifer then, making his eyes narrow, but he keeps it to himself for the moment.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
"You're going to what?" No, Amanda isn't sure how creating a hellgate is going to be helpful in this place. Then again, he can close hellgates even easier than she. So, she raises her hands in a 'what the hell, okay' sort of gesture. She did bring him along for a reason, after all. And shutting this portal down is important.

The tunnel rumbles, dust falling down from the ceiling. Amanda reaches out with her own power to stabilize it, still relying on Kurt to know when to port them out, if it becomes necessary. As the energy is pulled from the main portal, however, it begins to flicker. There's a sound like rocks groaning, though it's not coming from the walls -- thank whatever higher power deserves it. No, it seems to be coming from that portal.

Whatever it is that's behind the shadow, whatever's been seeping its energy through the rift and into this world, protests by starting to pull back on those same energies. Amanda reaches out for Kurt's hand. "Don't let me fade," she tells him, knowing he'll know to pull her out in the event she uses too much of her own juice on what she's trying to do.

She raises her rod and begins an incarnation to ward and seal the riftgate, letting Lucifer's power pull the attention of the thing within it, hoping it won't notice her lesser strength contesting with the Veil and trying to mend it.

Whatever scent it is that Lucifer catches, she can't discern it from the greater power trying not to lose its foothold.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer doesn't need leylines to find hell-- and using one to power a gate is exciting. In that it's explosive and powerful. He's mostly focused on not burning the whole site in this horrible idea.

But sometimes explosions are /fun/. And feeling the flow from the leylines into his project, this funny tug of war, is fun too. Lucifer gives in a little, only to pull back, his laugh starting to grow, and reverb through the underground area.

This might be getting a little blurry. If someone arrived, they would have a hard time determining who would be the better entity to win here. Heat and charred, reeking burning plastics and metal start to melt together in reeking, hot ambience as Lucifer leans backward in the tug of war, allowing himself more freedom to exert force.

"Did you eat the guardian, hmm?" Lucifer asks the shadowy thing, not expecting answer. "Are those his bones littered upstairs?"

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda can tell Luci's having fun. Partly because she and Kurt are having a little bit less fun. She crouches down beside her foster-brother and continues her enchantment. The monster beyond the veil continues to try to push through more fully, now wishing to confront the King of Hell that stands athwart its purposes. While it doesn't answer Lucifer in words, as Lucifer's power draws the creature's energy more into this fight, it also draws the attention of the thing away from the realm beyond. All of which means that the scent Lucifer caught earlier seems to grow a little stronger.

Stronger, because it is apparently trying to help Lucifer and Amanda by creating a ruckus on the otherside. At least, one might presume that, given the sense of power being thrown around over there.

Amanda closes her eyes, now. She doesn't need them open to know what's happening with all the energies in this place. She can vaguely sense the new player in the game on the far side. But since that power isn't trying to stop her from closing the riftgate, she ignores it and continues her task. Slowly, the rift begins to weave itself shut.

Lucifer has posed:
As the gate begins to weave shut, the flux of power floods to Lucifer's call, and multiple tears burst open all around them -- the heated plastic on the floor and ceiling bursting like ripe disease pustules, spilling flutters of wet hellfire pockets here and there. The bubbling, disgusting floor and ceiling continues to grow more mottled with this bleak, angry thick quality.

Hands start to form in the metal, grasping. Shapes of human forms, distorted with horror, bleed into each other, ripping out of another's ribcage, as spirits pull forth to create this hellgate. Lucifer isn't overly paying attention to it specifically, but puts another press into stealing the power and diverting it away.

....Though Lucifer does then approach the rift as Amanda continues to close it, like a diver on a diving board tempted to leap off, leap through. "I see you," Lucifer comments, voice low, thick with the cloying heat. As if he might go through.... but perhaps it is for the best that Amanda has continued to seal, and Lucifer does not pass through into that rift.

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda sags against Kurt as she finally seals the rift gate. Whatever, whomever, was behind it, has no answer for Lucifer before the portal vanishes, leaving only that bundle of leyline energy tangled in the hellgate. She looks at Lucifer and then back to Kurt. "Told you he'd be handy," she says breathlessly to her foster-brother, a wry smile on her lips.

There's still concern in her eyes, though. She waits to see what state Lucifer is truly in. He seems to have been enjoying himself. She's hoping whatever he sensed beyond the rift, that she couldn't, hasn't pissed him off. A pissed off Lucifer is not how she wants to end this evening.

She eyes the hellgate as it all but finishes forming, seething, horrible thing that it is. "You *are* going to banish that thing, right?" She has to ask, yes.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer slides his gaze sideways from the closed portal to Amanda. There's a flat quality to it, that marks him as something 'other', that does summon hell gates without some long sacrificial ritual and the proper moon in the sky and all that that NORMALLY entails.

"Mmmhmmm," Lucifer answers, as if a little peeved to be questioned, that that had to be asked. He drops his hands and the whole process ends.

Not with a small amount of tormented screaming from the walls, but it does end. There's some show of weaving magic from Lucifer after that, but it's just a put-upon show for Amanda (or more, Kurt), to add some showmanship to the whole thing. Still unnecessary. "I have something to look into," he adds, thoughtfully, his expression a little distant, but not withdrawn or angry. "Or someone, more specifically."

Amanda Sefton has posed:
Amanda rises to her feet, not so much heedless of Lucifer's momentary pique as relieved. It's not that she thought he'd just leave a hellgate laying around unattended. It's just that she'd rather there be no gates here at all of any kind.

Once it's all take care of, she dares to touch his arm briefly in thanks, giving a small, not-quite-apologetic smile.

Still, as he grows a little thoughtful, she lets her hand fall away. "Let me know if you want help." He doesn't need it, certainly. But she would be curious to find out just what transpired here.

As it is, they still need to run through the building and clear out the dark things lurking here. But she's fairly confident that can be accomplished with considerably less risk than when they first entered. The shadowcloak over the building has faded considerably, now. It's not nearly as attractive a nest as it was when they began.