8320/PoP: The Exorcist(s)

PoP: The Exorcist(s)
Date of Scene:	28 October 2021
Location:	Lake George, NY Sacred Heart Church
Synopsis:	Members of the Night Brigade cleanse a church and its congregation of the evil plaguing it.
Cast of Characters:	John Constantine, Phoebe Beacon, Chas Chandler, Paul Ramsey, Jessica Cruz

---

John Constantine has posed:
    Lake George is a tiny town, population just over three thousand, but John and Chas have been friends with Father Donovan almost since their arrival in the New York area, back then it was a Backahasten; damned horse nearly drowned Chas before John got the spell off to banish the blasted thing. Since then, they've made trips up to visit the good Father, sometimes taking Geraldine along if it happened to be Chas' weekend with her. It's a quaint, quiet little town, especially outside tourist season.

    John would have answered the call of any Priest making the claims Donovan did when he called, but it being *Donovan* made it different. The claims were impossible, but John knew the man wasn't an alarmist.

    When the portal opens just outside the church, he steps from it and pauses. He gives a shudder, involuntary from head to two and whispers, "You all feel that?"

    Paul would feel it to his bones, evil... even on these sacred grounds. Dark and oppressive.

    Phoebe would was well, perhaps even to the same extent of the angel. Even Chas with his mostly normal self (outside of too many lives to live) would get a shiver like something just walked over his grave.

    No one rushes out to greet them, the air is heavy and silent.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe does feel it. She feels it striking against her bones and the beat of her heart. She feels the chill run up her spine, and for the briefest moment she wonders if she had already pushed too hard. She breathes out as she settles herself, dark eyes looking over the town, holding a bit of the inside of her cheek between her teeth as she purses her lips before she gives a huff out.

    "I do." she states quietly, looking to John, Paul and Chas. Half of the Beatles.

    She has her backpack over her shoulders, tall boots on as she looks out over the twon and feels that heaviness weigh down on her.

    "Double digits they were saying?" she asks quietly.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas was carrying a rather large duffel bag, an industrial grade military surplus thing and from the looks of it it was filled to the brim with equipment. He wore clothes that looked like they were ready for action. Dark greys and browns in canvas and leather.

    "This... isn't good" he says shakily, his grip tightening on the shotgun he carried in his hands. It wasn't loaded with buckshot, but rather rocksalt. Non-fatal to any human who got hit with it but hell on wheels if it struck a spirit. "Where's the good Father...?" he asks, his head on a swivel looking around. "Half his congregation..." he says in response to Phoebe's question.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul steps through the portal and has to hold himself back from flaring out his wings on the feeling in the air and in the ground. "Evil," he says, teeth gritted. He rolls his shoulders, settling down the desire to bring out those tattered wings.

    He has only his own Gotham PD-issued gun, which he'd rather not fire unless he has to, but he has his own abilities beyond that. He eyes the church, brow furrowing slightly.

John Constantine has posed:
    "...and it just started this morning," John adds to the bit about 'double digits' and half the congregation. "Well, we gotta start somewhere." The fact that the good Father isn't already on the lawn has him unnerved to say the least. The fact that it wasn't long ago that his heart actually stopped beating and, for a moment, he was actually dead... that doesn't do much to bolster his courage.

    He's just about to open that 'third eye' when a familiar face comes running out of the Convent on the property.

    "John, Chas! ... Paul..." Sister Anne-Marie seems a little surprised by that last bit. Phoebe gets a warm smile along with, "It's good to see you up and about, child." Apparently one of the Dads has kept in touch with the Nun. "Come, quick... Father Donovan fell to it shortly after he called you. He phoned me early this morning when it started."

    John just makes a 'lead the way' sort of gesture.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Sister Anne-Marie!" Phoebe greets the nun with respect and a warm smile, "Glad to be able to help." she replies to Annie, and at the news that even the local padre fell to what was sweeping through the parrish, and her eyes narrow a moment. She follows close behind John -- half to mind his heart. Half to mind herself.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas' face drops as he hears the father himself has fallen to whatever sickness has come over the church. Shooting a gun at members of the congregation was one thing, but shooting the Father, even with non-lethal rounds. Contrition didn't come close to what he'd have to pay himself if it came to that. "Please Sister, take us in" he says, givng his companions a look of cocnern before he follows along with them.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul nods respectfully. "Sister," he says. There's always an odd feeling when walking on sacred ground, a sense of belonging-yet-not. Like a wayward child returning home, not sure if he's welcomed. He, too, frowns at the news that the Father has fallen to the problem, but he'll stride along to follow John regardless.

Jessica Cruz has posed:
The woman known as Jessica Cruz is very good at staying unseen. She blends easily into the background and she has done it again. She came through the portal last and almost immediately went off to the side to watch and listen.

<Why are you hiding, Jessica?> The Ring spirit asks even as Jessica glares at it.

"I am not." She mutters, "I am watching and learning."

John Constantine has posed:
    "Annie, wait..." John calls out before the Sister turns and pulls a necklace from to let it dangle in view over top her habit. "Yes, John. I have it. Is everyone else here safe?"

    John gives a little tilt of his head, lips pursed and nose scrunched. "Ehhhh." He does the math in his head. Chas, check. Phoebe, possible check, dunno hasn't been tested. Paul check, he's pretty sure... can an angel, even a Fallen one, be possessed, he doesn't think so. John's himself is safe, that's a known. Jessica over there, already has *something* inside her that John's pretty sure won't be pushed out and replaced easily.

    Pretty good odds on all of them, right?

    "...pretty sure..." he mumbles before he takes one step back closer to Paul, or more pauses a step so Paul can catch up. Only so he's close when he finally takes a peek with that 'third eye'. "Jesus fucking Christ," he whispers, not having the same issues about such language in front of Paul or... it seems, in front of Sister Anne-Marie either.

    She doesn't flinch, she's known John long enough. All she adds is, "I know." When they reach the doors to the Convent, it's the good Sister that pulls them open. It's the cafeteria they enter. It has to be fifty by now, maybe a few shy, perhaps a few over, bound to cots brought in from other areas of the building with whatever could be found to do so... many just by torn sheets.

    Jerking, twisting, screaming, a few floating above their cots as far as the restraints will allow. Body's bent and twisted in unnatural and odd angles, heads turned wrong, mouths open too wide, skin bloated and purple, blue, gray... mottle green.

    John's heart skips a beat, then two... three... and starts back up again.

    "All right then..." A breath in, let out. "Chas, you know the rituals as well as I do. Phoebe..." He's not even sure what to tell his daughter to try at this point other than, "See if your light'll... but go one at a time, start with just one. Paul, I'm sorry." Because he knows dealing with this amount of *that* isn't easy for the angel and putting for the effort to try and drive it away, force it out... it won't be easy either.

    "Jessica, be ready if any of them get loose, aye?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Well. Phoebe once was able to clear enough Dark Magic out of Wonder Woman to wake her. That's got to count for something.

    She hadn't been expecting... this. She feels her heart sink in her chest as she looks up to John.

    "Yes... yes this is exactly what it was meant for." she replies, and she stretches her fingers a moment, and gives a nervous swallow.

    "I'm going to need two buckets." she mutters, half to herself. She's never done an exorcism before. She doesn't know the rites, but she has about five thousand years of it in her bloodline -- she'll be fine, right?

    And so Phoebe, who has never had to defend herself from such things, swallows the lump in her throat and hoarsely whispers "I'll start on the left."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas starts forward and sets down the duffle. "Start here at the front, I'll go to the back and we'll meet in the middle" he says to his daughter as he pulls out a small leather book, a silver flask, and a rosary. He didn't have the words memorized and he was a bit rusty in the department, but exorcisms were simple enough when the afflicted were contained as these seemed to be. Thank God.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul knows how to do an exorcism, because Paul was around when the words were dictated through some of his peers. So he takes his own supplies and moves to another group of the people on the cots. He sighs deeply. "I'll be alright, John," he says aside. "It's... difficult, but necessary. This was never my area of expertise, I hate to see people hurt, but..."

    He trails off. What can one do, but take up the implements and begin to recite the words?

Jessica Cruz has posed:
A twitch and Jessica stares for a very long moment. She takes a step back as if to run but after John speaks, she hears him if even through a tunnel. Like a voice calling from the distance about an oncoming train. She closes her eyes tightly as she hears the voices. Slowly she let's out a breath.

"Uh, yeah." She finally replies and raises her hand.

John Constantine has posed:
    "Chas, something's... it has to be causing this," John offers as his best mate starts working. Of course something's *causing* it, but something has to be amplifying it or... this just isn't normal. "I'm going to see what I can find, just keep an eye on Phoebe, aye?" He claps the larger man on the shoulder before turning to Paul. "Work with Annie, love. Quick and efficient."

    "Phoebe, trust yourself, your instincts." He offers his daughter a little wink of encouragement.

    "Jessica!" snapped to get the attention of the sometimes distracted girl. "Don't... kill any of them, these people are people in there somewhere, aye? Just protect ours."

    Thank God indeed, all tied up neat as a bow, right? Things can never be that simple though, can they. John takes off at a trot toward the door they came out of, his destination the church next door. No sooner does he push the doors open that they slam shut behind him, locking him outside. "No!" he bellows, turning to rattle those damned doors, pull, tug... push to make sure he's not just doing it wrong, peer through the windows, bang...

    Inside the cafeteria of the Convent, the beds start rattling and shaking, bindings begin to slip and fail. A half dozen, then a dozen free.

    ...and nothing John throws at that door from Hellfire to Force is budging the thing.

    Father Donovan, last to be taken, first to attack. He floats from the cot he'd been bound to, bound himself too even before he could no longer fight the influence he felt creeping into his mind. Arms stretched out, hands open and aiming for the throat, he launches himself at Chas.

    Annie screams a warning, but is it in time?

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe removes her sweatshirt and gives it a toss to the floor as she digs out her own materials, though for her it's not quite the same. Her powers are instinctual, internal, and she relies on her own light. She holds a water bottle out, and closing her eyes with an invocation, the bottle fills with water. And because of who she is, the water is made Holy. John should probably not drink out of this one, right?

    She was about to ask Annie to mind John, when her Magic Dad goes into the sanctuary -- and the doors slam.

    "--John!" she calls out, standing to try and rush the door -- only to stop short when she's accosted by a blue-haired old lady crawling accross the wall!

    "-- you're not the one with the savannah, are you?" she asks, taking a step back before the lady flings herself at the teenager! Thankfully, Phoebs can roll with the punches -- literally -- and she catches the lady, rolls back, and uses the momentum to fling her on her way backwards!

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas hadn't had a chance to put much down and the Father, of all people, is lunging for him. "I'm really sorry Father, but..." He drops everything else, book, flask, and rosary and levels the shotgun at the man. Rocksalt or buckshot they both pack a hammerblow of force behind the shell and he pulls the trigger without hesitating for more than a second.

    The shell slams into the Padre, shredding the black of his vestments and sending him back with no more than minor scrapes from the salt. "Paul!" he calls. "What's going on?!" He can't sense any of the mystical energies in the room after all.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul spreads his wings, almost on instinct, to try to shield himself from the swell of power he feels. "Dark power... I don't know /what/, though!" he replies to Chas.

    "We need to try to exorcise them if we can!" He's got his rosary held out at a man levitating off his cot; he's knocked off-balance by another who tries to jump on him from behind but is thrown off by the wings, tattered and torn as they are.

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Having been practicing, partially thanks to Cyprus and partially thanks to John. She stares at John and then glares, "Kill? Thanks, John. I'll do my best not to commit murder."

Then she watches how people move and she focuses. The ring lights up and she aims it. Energy flows out and several clamps flow out. She starts grabbing people, pushing them back before sucking in a breath and expanding the clamps. out into. a dark green shimmering wall.

John Constantine has posed:
    John spends a few more moments trying to blast that door open to get in to his... his fucking *family*, they're all in there but one... Nettie. And the new ally he has in Jessica and whatever lives in her head. <Get to the center of the room! Defensive circle!> he barks out over that connection they share through the amulets. Defensive circle, back to back so nothing can come in from behind. <Just hold on!> He bellows with on last slam of a fist against glass that doesn't give. ...and then he's gone, not from the link, but from sight through the suddenly unbreakable windows in the doors.

    The Good Father goes flying back from that blast and slams into a nearby wall to slump down it, motionless, an inky blackness, not quite solid and not really liquid either begins to seep from his nose, mouth and ears. It crawls over his skin, down his chin, across a cheek, down his neck before it begins to stretch outward, blindly seeking a new place, a new person to call home.

    Annie shrieks and presses the crucifix of her Rosary to the forehead of a teenage boy that manages to knock her to the ground, hands around her neck.

    <Chas! I'm not sure, but I think it's all the same entity, get it to name itself!> Sight open, stumbling a little due to it, John's on the run, looking... something *has* to be here.

    <...and when it does, banish that bitch!>

    Seeing Jessica as an immediate threat, a young girl, head twisted backwards, scuttling across the ceiling like an insect, drops... her intent to land a top the young woman.

    It's not a big room and the odds, currently are about ten to one.

    Best find a way to even them, innit so?

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe gets a Bright idea.

    "Center! Get to the Center!" she calls out, and she reaches for her backpack.

     -- which is across the room.

    Well. Her mandala work has to count for something.

    Phoebe takes off the leather dog collar that she's been keeping around her wrist, brings it to her knuckles as she goes to rescue Annie, and she uses all her weight to tackle the teenager off the nun!

    And she Lights up. Her lay on hands on the boy's shoulder as she grasps and rolls with him!

    "Jess! Get my pack!"

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas backs up. <And you expect *me* to get it how?!> he all but screams through the link. He fires another round of rock salt into a charging churchgoer. More black goo flows out of them and joins with the mass collecting on the ground. He is making his way to the middle of the room slowly.

    Another leaper is fended off with a cross of the shotgun and flung aside, but not before they manage to spit a foul-tar smelling liquid from their mouth all over the front of Chas' shirt. "Son of a bitch!" he screams. It seems his cautiousness around Paul goes out the window in the midst of a crisis.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul flares his wings to keep everything off of him, then move to catch the falling girl on them, keeping her from landing on Jessica. "Go!" he says to the ring-bearer. There's an /instant/ respect in his eyes, whether or not he knows precisely what that green energy is, he has an inkling.

    Then he's turning to try to make sure the girl that fell on his back doesn't get hurt while he deposits her onto the ground.

Jessica Cruz has posed:
"Anything else you want? A drink maybe? Maybe I can make you a snack?" She strains as she holds back the group of people coming at them and then gasps as she hears the incoming girl only to be saved by Paul and her shield flickers. SHe turns to look at it and winces as she forces more of her focus on it. She shivers a little as she can feel something else as well. A different source.

"Dammit, I have my hands full but here..." She slowly walks over toward where Phoebe's bag is, holding her hand out and sweat beading up on her forehead. She grabs at the bag while looking at the shield only to finally grasp it. She finally looks toward Phoebe and throws the bag.

"Catch!" She's still not used to the in mind communication so instead uses her words even as she nearly drops to a knee, "Hurry it up, this...is not as easy as it looks."

John Constantine has posed:
    <Same way I would, mate! This isn't about the magic, it's about the tools and the words!> Wherever John's gotten himself too, he's starting to sound a little distant. Which shouldn't happen with the amulets, not when they're this close. Interference of some sort?

    That black gooey, foul egg mixed with burned hair smelling stuff creeps and crawls over Chas' clothing, looking for a way in, only to be repelled, once it reaches his ear and makes an attempt to burrow that way, by the big man being warded six ways to Sunday by the biggest pain in the ass friend a bloke could ever hope to have.

    Annie shoves herself to her feet with a grateful smile aimed at Phoebe and a hand up offered to the girl after the teenager Phoebe lit up falls still and to the wayside with that laying of hands, same goop creeping from mouth, nose, eyes and ears. "You're your fathers' daughter, that's for certain," she says... fathers' being an obvious plural.

    Jessica's efforts pay off in that she manages to keep about half of the possessed parishioners at bay.

    Those attune to it - Paul - will feel the sudden switch from irritation, frustration and fear for his family from John to just - fear. It's not an immediate 'afraid for his own life' thing, it's more a 'Holy Mother of God, what the FUCK is *that* and can I kill it with fire' sort of fear.

    <Found it!>

    He's just not sure, just yet, what to *do* about *it*.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Right about now, I hope so!" Phoebe answers to Annie, grabbing her bag when Jess throws it to her and she gets to the center of the room. The demonic obsessed are encroaching, there's dark fluid coming from people, and she is one of the two unwarded to the nines here.

    BUt she's moved to the center of the room, and she grabs out the water bottle from her bag.

    She glances up, not for any particular entity that might be listening, but uses the water to liberally sprinkle it around the area. Give her a buffer, and then Phoebe for the second time today, lights up.

    Phoebe manifests her Light. She closes her eyes, the focuses, and she grabs her knife from her bag and cuts a deep slice on her forearm, forming a fist as the blood gathers, and she flicks it at the ground, and brings her right hand up.

    Circles form on the back of her hands, and around her, an aura glows up. For fifteen feet around her, there is Safety. A half-orb surrounds her as she draws down, and she puts her bleeding hand to the sprinkled water on the floor, mumuring under her breath.

    Healing and Holy and Hope, Light. A safe place, purifying.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas tears the shirt covered in the black tar off and tosses it beyond the line of Phoebe's barrier. He has a black tea, darkened with sweat, underneath. <Fine. I get it!> he says over the link. Then he starts speaking in Latin.

    He's rather good at it and the command in his voice is clear, even if the words are simply words and not laced with any power. "/In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, I command you to give me your Name!/" he says. He repeats it. Then he augements it, "/Thrice I command thee, give your name to me in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit! I command it!/"

    There is a shudder and a voice screams. It appears as ripples in the air beyond the shield. The disembodied voice screams again and growls out, "I am called many things. Betrayer. Corruptor. And parasite. But for you who has compelled me. I am Sivyacin!"

    He thinks to the link, <John, did you get that? Can we handle this bitch?>

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul folds in his wings and moves into the safety of the Light offered by Phoebe. He has to close his eyes for a moment; it's familiar and comforting, even in this moment of fear.

    Then he opens his eyes and says, "That is /very/ similar to the name of the demon John and I found... it just underscores the idea that this is a tulpa, made from multiple similar things."

    He does not pull his gun, but puts up his hands, ready to throw off anything that comes into Phoebe's circle.

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Looking back briefly, Jessica listens to al that is being said and she's sort of absorbing it but for nwo she really can't do much more than hold that wal. She slumps down, gritting her teeth as she stares forward at the wall that is starting to crack under the pressure of basically insane people attacking it.

"Whatever you are going to do or are doing, hurry it up!"

John Constantine has posed:
    Those caught within ten feet, which is a *lot* of them, of Phoebe's light and circle collapse motionless to the ground with that goo oozing like the others, reaching crawling, blindly looking for another source, another host to inhabit.

    Annie ends up in a rolling dive to get behind that protection, her face covered in creepy, crawling goo that, like Chas' did, gets stopped in its tracks by the protection provided by the necklace around her neck. "If he's going to do something, he should do it soon," she mutters under her breath. "As soon as these people come around, it'll just take them again. Unless we can figure a way to stop it."

    <Phoebe! Fire alarm. *Sprinklers*...> A page from the old man's book for sure, a recent page. Maybe it'll work better this time even without the Soulfire they managed with their combined efforts that night.

    ...Father Donovan begins to stir and moan. The black ichor that's congealed into a mass on the floor starts to inch its way toward him.

    Between those held back by Jessica and those felled - for now - by Phoebe's light, only a few of the congregation remain aggressive *and* threatening, those held by Jessica are certainly aggressive still.

    There it is though, the spike of 'oh shit, I'm gonna die' from John that'll stab right through Paul's head before John can even think the man's name. <Paulie!> HELP ME!

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Go to him. I've got this." I think I've got it. Please, don't let his faith in me be misplaced.

    Phoebe's Light has given them a few minutes to catch their breath. She looks around -- Annie recovering. CHas having had to strip off his shirt. Jessica holding the wall, and she grips her hands into loose fists, and she holds her still bleeding left arm out. She tries to split her attention as she looks up at the sprinkler system and looks for the nearest smoke alarm, breathing out the only other evocation that she's memorized at an empty bed.

    The sheet catches flame. Then the mattress. It smokes. It steams. The smoke rises, and Phoebe then places both hands on the ground, in the mess of her blood and the holy water that she's dumped around them.

    And she sets fire to the rain.

    -- well. Everything gets wet, mixing with the water, and Phoebe's blood and light blesses it. She can't create the same effect without John guiding her -- but she does her best and improvies!

    And when she chants, it's Liverpuddlian-accented Latin.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas ejects the rock salt shells from the shotgun and pockets them. Then he loads two red shells (the only two buckshot he brought) into the chamber and hands the shotgun to Paul. "Go to him, blow the door off its hinges if you have to to get out. Just make sure he survives."

    He reaches into his boot and withdraws a small pistol. It's not much but it's a defense in case he has to use it. He won't kill these people, that's out of the question. But he doesn't have to, he can disable them with a few choice shots.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul doesn't need to /walk/ to go to John. He just... disappears from being in Phoebe's circle of Light, and reappears next to John, one hand going to his gun to draw it if need be, wings flaring out. "I'm here," he says, and then looks to regard what he's facing.

John Constantine has posed:
    <Chas! CHAS! Command it gone! NOW!> John sounds out of breath, even through that mental link. Phoebe's Holy Rain does the trick in dissolving the ichor crawling toward the Priest, but does nothing but enrage the bunch trapped by Jessica. Blisters and boils appear on skin and the pain of it causes the demon inside to use their hosts to slam themselves against her barrier. Enraged, in pain and perhaps weak enough now for Chas to do just that?

    In the church basement is where Paul winds up. The sight he takes in might rattle a bit at first. In the far corner, there where the water heater should be... well, it isn't or it's hidden behind what is there. The giant arachnid-esgue monstrosity that *is* there, doesn't seem to be able to move its bulbous, swollen body from the corner; it's abdomen too laden with... are those *eggs* for it to be able to lift itself. But that doesn't mean the thing's *helpless*, far from it.

    It has John between two of its eight long, spindly spidery legs spinning, spinning, spinning. The webbing seems to have started at his feet and its managed to cocoon him up to just above his elbows. It's thick and it's tough and even with the clear glow of Hellfire coming from his hands, it ... it's just too thick. All he's managing to do is smoke the place up. As he spins, the thing is dragging him nearer and nearer its fanged maw.

    The caretaker is always the heart of a place, innit so? There, above the SpiderThing's head is the caretaker of the Church, the handyman, the janitor, the grounds keeper, the first victim... a face reflected in one of those upstairs, suspended in a web already spun, only the sunken head sticking out above the silk.

Jessica Cruz has posed:
The water falling down, the area filled with cries, strange goo, and the like? Jessica is at the far end of too much given her complete lack of skill and prowess with such things. Then finally, one slams into her shield and Jessica gasps as it shatters and there's a brief feedback of energy into her ring and she falls backwards and end sup on the floor gasping. She just can't focus and now the blistering, upset and angry possessed people are free of her.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe is keeping the pressure on.

    The circle of light around her begins to twitch, flickering as she takes a deep breath, pushing herself as she winces, and her head bows, her shoulders tightening as her eyes begin to push harder. She's still bleeding out of her left arm, where ordinarily it would have long healed by now. She keeps up the chanting, trying to hold them all in place, though the language switches from Liverpuddlian-accented Latin learned from John, to Old Kingdom. The language of her ancestors.

    And she pushes her hands to the water, her blood mixing with it.

    Purify and protect these people.

    Clear the darkness and painf rom them, bring them rest and purity.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas pulls a crucifix from his back pocket and holds it out. He's riding the power on Phoebe's words as he speaks his own commands to the demon. "/Sivyacin... I command you to leave this place of sanctity and light. I command you to depart from this realm and return to your pit of torment. I command you to leave these people and this Holy ground./"

    There is power in his words, even if he can't infuse it himself the power is there in the air of the church, in the light from Phoebe, in the power of the Green Ring on Jessica's finger and it shows. The crucifix burns bright with Holy light as Chas' continues. "/Sivyacin, I command thee! Begone! Begone! BEGONE!/" The last is a bellow that carries weight of a ritual behind it and could possibly shake the foundation of the church itself.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul hesitates a moment, on seeing the spider, but just a moment. He's not particularly afraid of them--they aren't clowns--but he had to decide exactly what to... /do/.

    He shoots the spider, aiming for the spinneret, the part shooting out web. Because it's the webbing that's the immediate problem. And then again, and again, one toward each leg holding John. He's not a crack shot, but the thing is big enough to be an easy target.

John Constantine has posed:
    The church itself does, indeed, get rattled to its foundation, so hard that Paul might end up a little off balance, but not before he gets the shots needed in. The ones that save John from being dragged into that gaping maw.

    Upstairs, in the Convent, just as Jessica is about overrun by churchgoers possessed beyond just the usual Sunday rude crowd eating lunch after noon mass, one particular voice amid them rises up above the rest in an wail of rage and agony. The Caretaker, or at least the copy of the man that fell to the thing in the basement first, the origins of the 'infection' that spread from him to the next to the next. His face splits where his lower jaw attaches to upper, his tongue turns long and near serpentine, his eyes bulge from his head and then he falls to the ground, his flesh melting and hissing away to nothing beneath Phoebe's Holy Shower.

    The others fall too, but only to have sizzling, vanishing goo pour from noses, mouths and ears. They'll wake with little memory of the events in a few hours.

    Downstairs, John's forward momentum toward that thing has been stopped, but he and Paul both might be deafened for a bit after the sound that creature makes before it... too, just melts away to a puddle that sizzles and evaporates.

    "Little help," John croaks out once he's dropped to the floor. Seems the spider silk itself is still there, holding the original caretaker's body in place and strewn about the walls and such. "Fucking *spiders*..."

    Taking him home that way might be an option, keep him out of trouble wouldnit?

    "Well... that was exciting," Annie pipes up with, loudly and a little shrilly.

Jessica Cruz has posed:
Jessica raises a hand, attempting for one last shield around herself as she expects to be torn apart by angry church people. She lets out a surprise when they all appear to have similar goo based issues. She looks up slowly, watching goo disappear in a sizzling mess all around her as people collapse. She lets out a slow breath and looks at her ring before shaking her head and falling on to her back. She may or may not be very clean right now but she's at least alive.

<You did well, Jessica. You have begun to truly take the steps to being a true user of that ring. A woman who can learn the occult and truly bring the glory that that ring deserves.> She eyes the ring and then lets it fall with her hand, to the ground and shakes her head.

"I don't really care right now, ring..."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe is continuing to let her light shine. Even though the wound in her arm isn't healing quickly. Even if her blood keeps mixing with the water as she feels her eyes roll back. She trembles. Her fingers curl, and finally, as that groundskeeper, that patient zero falls, and the rest of the afflicted draw down (and everyone is soaking wet and probably going to catch a cold!! she lets off, leaning back on her legs and she takes a breath.

    "Just... another day... ending in Y..." she trails off exhaustedly. The bed that was on fire is now no longer on fire. That's good.

    She reaches up and grabs at her pendant and thinks <<Possible rule number one incoming>>

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas lowers the crucifix and gives the nun a *look.* "Yeah... sure... exciting." He turns and gets his pack before moving to Phoebe. "Here..." he says, wrapping her arm in a bandage received from the pack. Once done he looks to Jessica. "You good?" he asks. "No injuries?" He only lost a shirt, which... it was a nice shirt. But replaceable. Eventually.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There is no use of Rule Number One: Puking is OK. She watches numbly as Chas wraps the cut. It'll heal, just a bit slower from all the focus she took to making things work. And then...

    Phoebe just sort of eases herself down, her shoulders going limp... and then passes out, face-down on the floor.

    "Gimmie... five minutes...." she mutters, and then just goes completely out, spent between John's cardiac episode ealier she just... cannot function further.

Paul Ramsey has posed:
    Paul goes to offer John help up, doing his best to pull the spider webbing off of the other man. Okay, sure, maybe it'd be /easier/ to take him back that way but he doesn't really want to. "Are you alright?" he asks, looking John over.

John Constantine has posed:
    "No, but I will be. I'm not injured." John replies. Paul never gets the 'I'm fine', it's against the rules. But he will be okay, he's just skeeved the fuck out. Once on his feet, he does his best to pick away that spider silk that's left behind. There's a lot of 'yuck' noises involved in doing so.

    "That was... the thing that was trying to get out in Maine, love," John murmurs while giving the sizzling goo pile a once over. "I didn't feel a thinning here, it was already closed. They're getting... thinner, or bigger or what's opening them is getting stronger."

    Alone in this disgusting basement, he takes a moment to snag Paul's hand and pull the Angel (Softly Fallen) in for a quick kiss, more side of the face than full on lips. His mouth's a little dry and ... web-y. "Let's get the others, get the fuck out of here. Annie'll take care of triage and cleanup."

     And she will, with much thanks to all that came out to help and a quick, "I was mostly kidding," for Chas' benefit. But c'mon, a woman goes from being John Constantine's introduction to the Occult during his punk years and now wears the Habit? She has to get her excitement from *somewhere*.