9113/Path of Glory: Call for the Sorcerer

Path of Glory: Call for the Sorcerer
Date of Scene:	16 December 2021
Location:	The Laughing Magician
Synopsis:	Doctor Strange pays a visit to the Laughing Magician. Revelations as to who the JLD is actually dealing with are presented and research begins on how to adequately stop the destruction of all things.
Cast of Characters:	Chas Chandler, Jonathan Sims, Phoebe Beacon, Stephen Strange, Rien D'Arqueness, Asariel
Tinyplot:	Path of Glory

---

Chas Chandler has posed:
    While the atmosphere over Hell's Kitchen has settled somewhat (there haven't been any Palpal Killings in nearly a week) the atmosphere over the Laughing Magician is anything but relieved. A posting is nailed into the door of the worn yet solid building "Closed Until Further Notice" in deep red that isn't blood, but sure looks like it.

    This obviously doesn't matter to those who know, the bar is closed to the public. Those who have reason to be here know that the bar isn't shut down... it's *contained.*

    The inside has seen better days--that happens when your known workers are in Ecuador and captivity--but it's not fallen to complete disarray yet. The chairs and tables are still in their places and there is no filthy dishes taking up the sink. It's just clear that for a week silence is the better word for what fills this establishment.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon's on watch duty today, keeping that silence by focusing on a stack of books (angelology, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) on the table of the booth he sits in, a half-ignored plate of kebabs from the place down the street growing cold next to an overly-full ashtray. He's put out word to certain people that he needs to talk to them, in-person, regarding the nature of the angel they have chained up in the back room. Thus far, however, the truth of what he found out has sat in his mind, privy only to him, terrifying and worrying.

    It's bad. It's really, /really/ bad.

    He looks like he's barely slept, still wearing the same clothing he wore when he came in from the plane to Ecuador, and he has indeed taken more than his fair share of watches. He /claims/ that it's because he was gone for half the week and so ought to make up for his absence, but he eyes the back room from time to time like he's worried whatever's back there is going to break out. Or like he's pondering going back there and finishing something. Maybe both.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Silence would be the best word for what's settled over the bar. Certainly no laughter going about tonight.

    Its missing barback returned, though, late into the morning from travels elsewhere. She has her cleaning bucket, with its Barkeep's Friend and scouring tools and GooGone for the gum that always finds its way under seats. Phoebe goes about, setting bottles back in place, checking the glasses, discarding stale popcorn and looking to Jon. She's not gotten a chance for a second watch yet after staying with Chas the first night.

    "If something happens, we'll know about it, Jon." she states as she opens a container from under the bar and makes a face.

    "... I think this was orange slices." she mutters to herself, and turns to pitch the container into the kitchen.

Stephen Strange has posed:
Footfalls sound out just outside of the door. Grey eyes cast over to one side, seeing the rather large void close to the Laughing Magician. Well, that certainly wasn't there the last time this particular person was at the Magician. Those eyes flicker up...and focus on the posting on the door.

Closed until further notice?

Not for Stephen Strange.

The sorcerser pauses as he checks his senses. Yes, the trail leads right into the closed bar. Of course it does. Another check...and....yes. The bar is not as closed as it advertises itself to be. People inside. Some familiar...some not. Now then, how should Strange make an entrance? Just in a shower of sparks in the middle of the pub? Or, practical and just knock on the door?

Well....Strange is already at the door. Might as well knock.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
    Rien has been here for most of the week as well with her nose in one old tome or another. She looks a lot fresher than Jon does even though she's only left the bar once, mainly to shower and catch a few hours of sleep. Her training and healing factor have made it pretty easy for her to put in extended amounts of time when needed, as it pretty much is this time.

    She's also spent a decent amount of time staring at what they have trapped in the back room, trying to see past the flesh it is currently wearing to figure out exactly what it is they have gotten themselves into. To put it mildly, it can't possibly be good.

    When a knock comes at the door, the book gets put on the table as she comes to her feet, moving to the door and cracking it slightly. She may not know that man on the other side of the door personally, but she can recognize him. She opens the door enough to admit him, saying "Please come in, I imagine you have more than a few questions."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Whatever in in the back of the room hasn't made a sound since Jon's emergence from his interrogation. Once could be forgiven for thinking that whatever is there is truly destroyed, save for the mystical presence of something lingering there. Waiting. Processing.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I know, Phoebe," Jon says as he looks up from his books, "it's just--"

    He cuts off at the knock on the door and cranes his neck around. He'd positioned himself facing the back door, as if that were where the worst threat was coming from, and trusting others to watch the front. Which Rien has done.

    He's met the man at the door before, and so Jon stands from the booth, wiping his hands on the thighs of his khakis. "Dr. Strange," he says, tone respectful. "What brings you to Hell's Kitchen?" It's polite. He can guess at about a dozen possibilities, none of them good.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "We're clo--" is Phoebe's verbal answer to the knock before she registers Rien going for the door. She makes a sound of peturbance, more out of habit than anything else, and she looks to the back room again, shifting her weight on her feet and then ducking below the counter to grab other things to clean out -- but at the name Jon states, her head pops up from behind the counter. She presses her lips together, then slowly rises up and places her hands on the counter, the young mage's left hand curling slightly as she regards Strange.

Stephen Strange has posed:
Stephen Strange says, "...closed, Ms. Beacon? I know. I am not here as a patron."

Stephen enters the pub proper. Even as he does so, Strange turns to regard Jon. "And I am quite sure you can guess as to my rather unforeseen visit, Archivist." Yes, he does remember Jon from their previous meeting. "I am not necessarily surprised that the disturbance I felt has led me to here. Though, it does set certain questions into motion." A nod is given to Rien as well as Strange shifts to stand in the middle of the pub's floor. "So, let me just get to the heart of the matter. At some point in the extremely recent pass, there was an incursion of nullspace for about thirty seconds....followed by the entirely of reality suddenly ceasing to be for a moment, then restored."

Stephen pauses for a beat, those grey eyes taking measure of each person in the room. "So, does anyone care to tell me why the universe did its best impression of a VCR when it is unplugged, then plugged back in?""

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
    Once Strange has entered, Rien closes and relocks the door. She turns to face him as he begins to talk, looking around at the others in the room. After he asks his question, she shrugs a little, saying "That's what we've been trying to figure out, sir."

    Sir? When did she get that formal?

    Looking around the room, she ends up tossing the ball to Jon. "I think it's probably best if you explain, since you've got about the best handle on it right now."

Asariel has posed:
Lasariel was gunning for the worst girlfriend of the century award apparently given she'd not been back since they had the 'INCIDENT'. That and she was dealing with her bodyguard quitting and smashing her own artwork. She's probably not too far behind Doctor Strange, but she gives a look to those gathered in the main bar and then towards the door to the back room, "I...am just going that way..." she mentions as she toes closer to the door to the back room. Nothing to see here. Just going about her business.

Nope. Not looking at whatever else is going on.

"I'm not sure what it did and I'm not going to pretend like I do." the little angelic woman states on her way to the bar.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Ah. Well. Yes." Jon clears his throat and looks around at the others, shoulders hunched a bit. Sort of like he's been caught cheating on a test or something. Not that he would, but it's that sort of expression.

    "So. Well. We needed to bind an angel, and Lydia and I came up with a way to do that using negative energy. An inverted circle of greater binding inside an inverted ward against entropy, to keep the entropy /in/. But... Lydia was worried that the entropy might ultimately escape the circle, so I came up with the idea to... bind the angel in two places at the same time, to sort of... stabilize the circles against each other and give us more time to work up an exorcism." He clears his throat. "It... ahh... well. It worked!" He gestures to the back room. "We have it chained up back there. But... we /also/ dragged the angel through Nullspace in so doing, and... I think that sort of dragged... the /entire universe/ through Nullspace." He rubs at the back of his neck. "Think I've mostly worked out why, but--"

    He's distracted by Lasariel as she makes her way in. "Do /not/ go back there alone, Ms. Weiss." His tone is suddenly not 'chastised student' but 'authority figure.' "Not until I've had a chance to tell you what's inhabiting your boyfriend. It's... not happy with what I did to it."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    COuld be worse. Phoebe absconded to Ecuador to have two days without living in crisis. It was rather nice. Phoebe looks to Dr. Strange, and she gives a slight nod of recognition, and then she hops the counter, reaching to wipe her hands on a wash rag. She's wearing socks with little happy sushi rolls on them and no shoes.

    "If you want, Las, I'll walk back with you. I haven't seen him since he's woken up. Maybe between the two of us we might be able to get a couple words out of the right him, huh?" she offers gently.

    "... it's... pretty bad otherwise." she states gently, rubbing the back of her head. Her inexperience was showing, but she wasn't willing to face Chas alone just yet either.

Stephen Strange has posed:
A solitary finger is held up. "Wait, wait. You needed to bind an angel. And you felt the appropriate way was to utilize negative energy from Nullspace." Even as that finger remains aloft, the free hand of the Sorcerer Supreme raises up, pitching the bridge of his nose as he takes in the situation. "And...you did the binding in two places simultaneously, in an effort to stabilize the two binding circles. Well....that is certainly a creative solution."

The hands drop, as Strange turns to regard Jon. "You essentially created a circuit. And yes...you did 'sort of' dragged the universe through negative space. We are just rather lucky that reality decided to not implode in the process." Well, to Stephen's credit...he isn't 'mad', per se. There is a slight sense of disbelief, but mostly due to the fact that it wasn't worse.

And then...Strange catches Jon's warning to Lasariel. "Wait. You have it *here*?! A bound angel, presumed to have taken residence in this woman's paramour, in the middle of one of the most populated cities on the Eastern seaboard? And...you thought this was wise after pressing reset on the universe?"

Yes...it seems it is going to be one of those nights...

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
    Rien looks just a touch uncomfortable.. given that she had drawn one of those circles, she's responsible for a chunk of this mess. Still, it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

    "Well, it was killing people, making them crucify themselves and then burning them for rather minor transgressions. You may have heard of that series of murders in the past couple weeks. We needed to stop it, and then it took one of our group, so we didn't have a ton of options. And honestly, after the fight and binding which ended up right outside, I don't think any of us were in a shape to take it elsewhere. We've been guarding it and trying to figure out exactly what we were dealing with in order to get it out of Chas and back to wherever it came from."

    She shrugs a little, "I tried going through Clan D'Arqueness' libraries, but we didn't have a ton on angels. They're not often directly contacted, not like the demons I hunt down."

Asariel has posed:
It's Jon's tone that brings Lasariel up short and the white haired woman cants her head to look at him. Whatever words she was going to say are quelled by the blood she bites out of her tongue. She straightens, pulls out a bar stool and drops herself onto it. "You're going to explain to me why Chas allowed an angel to possess him." she asks as she folds her hands in her lap and tries to not shout or be mad. It wasn't something that would help.

Then she looks to Phoebe, "Maybe we can get something out of him, though I'm not sure what angel is in there...and I don't want to agitate it by playing twenty questions in my fathers tongue..." she sighs.

When Strange asks about the bound angel she feels a little spark run down her spine, defenses rising. But she keeps herself seated on the stool for the moment since no one is moving with a malicious intent.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Using negative energy was the only solution we could /find/," Jon says, a little snappish, and then sighs. "We've had it on constant watch, two people apiece, while we try to figure out how to exorcise it. And... this is part of my /job/." He laughs, shakily. "My ancestors were tasked with watching and judging immortals--which includes angels, evidently--to do /precisely/ this when they get out of line."

    He sighs. "I know why Chas summoned it, Ms. Weiss. He felt powerless. He was... upset, and alone. We were all dealing with the revelation that we'd been dealing with a demonic meat-puppet in our ways--this is Chas'."

    A pause. He glances to the back room. And then, like he's dropping a stone into a pond, "It's an archangel. Michael, to be precise. And... I think it wants to... bring about the End of Days. It's convinced the 'experiment' is 'flawed.'" He frowns. "I... wish I had a better option than exorcising Chas, but that's not my area of specialty. I couldn't get a statement out of the damn thing, so I can't judge it directly."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    PHoebe's eyebrows rise up, and she looks to Las "Nephelim?" she questions in a whisper, "... where else were we going to put him? Gotham?" Phoebe asks. Obviously that was not going to be an answer, and she reaches for a glass, and fills it with sprite -- but at the actual name of the angel, she stops. Her eyebrows rise up. She tilts her head back and she looks to Jon.

    "You didn't tell me who it was that's in my dad!" she hisses at Jon, and she looks at the quarter full glass of sprite. She grips her hands against the bartop, feeling her heart sink, and then she brings her hands up, and sets her elbows on the bartop, and covers her face.

    "Balls."

Stephen Strange has posed:
And it keeps getting better and better.

"You have....the archangel Michael...bound in a human host body...in the back of a pub in Hell's Kitchen." Well...maybe it is better than trapping spectral energy into an unlicensed energy grid in the basement of a fire station. But...only barely. "See, you could have led with that fact initially. Because you do realize that it is considerably worse than just any angel, right?" A slight shake of the head. "Normally I would just pull the essence out. It isn't outside of my ability to do so. However, most possessions do not have the fate of humanity in the balance. I...believe I should sit down before you reveal any more pertinent details."

And with that, a quick hand gesture summons a barstool from the side, which Strange claims for his own. "I am afraid to ask...but....is there more information I should be aware of?"

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
    Rien blinks when Jon reveals what has gotten ahold of Chas' body, then looks at the door to the back room. Every new thing that pops up about this just makes it a little bit worse, not that an angel on a rampage hadn't been bad enough. This just can't possibly go well.

    "Not unless Jon has anything to add. I've just been playing guard for the past week to make sure nothing disturbs us while Jon was trying to figure out how to handle it. Give me demons anytime, at least you can understand their motives and there are a million ways to get rid of them. This is way outside my normal sphere of operations."

    Giving the Sorcerer Supreme a direct look she asks, "Is there any chance you know the proper method to fix this mess? We were just trying to stop the killing, which then turned into save our friend and Chas, which is where we're currently sitting."

Asariel has posed:
"Just call me Lasariel." The white haired woman states tiredly. "Ah...Michael. Can't we like...get Uriel...maybe Raphael? But leave Gabriel and Michael to do their thing in Heaven?" she frowns. Phoebe's question makes her shrug, "No idea really and it's not open to discussion at the moment given things." she states to Phoebe quietly. No, she wasn't sure what she was and there was Chas to be concerned with. "So, an Archangel has been bound and not just 'An' Archangel. 'THE' archangel. Michael is going to get exorcised and he's going to be super pissed. And if he's already thinking that God's hairless monkey experiment needed to be wiped out before...this little bondage vacation isn't going to help, but he also couldn't continue to use folks to murder either." she frowns. "Either way we're going to have a fight coming." she states.

And we aren't even sure that Chas will survive an exorcism of this magnitude. This isn't some low rung entity." she puts her head in her hands as she says that. Because she felt nauseous.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "I didn't /know/ until last night!" Jon protests to Phoebe. "I've been trying to figure out how to say... well... that. What I just said. It's a lot! I know! I'm not going to /text/ people saying 'oh by the way we have the /leader of the armies of Heaven/ in the back room!' Good lord, this whole thing is just..."

    He drops into a chair himself, and puts his head in his hands. "I met with Lucifer Morningstar and got a flask of unholy water from him, and used the water to burn one of Michael's wings. The left one, just near the shoulder, so as not to hurt /Chas/. That's how I got his name out of him."

    Head in hands becomes head on table. "I /know/ it's considerably worse. I know! The bloody world is ending! The seals are breaking, the tapestry is fraying, however you want to put it! And, oh, Michael's motivations aren't hard to figure out--he wants to re-make the universe with less free will, because us pesky mortals have gone and mucked it all up with our chaos and entropy and..."

    He turns his head to regard Lasariel. Swallows. Sighs. "Maybe he'd be happy to see you," he says softly. He really did just want to warn people what they're walking into, back there.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe just leans against the counter of the bar, half sullen, but silent as the wheels turn in her head. She looks to the back room, and then she shakes her head as she breathes out, her eyes closing as she crosses her arms.

    "So... we need a plan. We need someone who can exorcise angel out of Chas Chandler, and we nee da way to stop the end of the world. Again."

    She presses her lips together. "I'd burn myself out if it meant saving Chas, but I don't think I have enough oomf to my light to combat his for more than a few metaphysical blows."

Stephen Strange has posed:
"I do."

It isn't bragging that prompts Strange to answer as he did. Just straight fact. He does have the backing, should he need it, to do the fighting. "However, there should be another way than to succumb to the baser instincts and just duke it out. That only feeds into Michael's intention to reset the world without free agency."

A sigh escapes from Stephen. Yes....he does look tired, but only because it is the end of the world as they know it...again. "We need to find a way to free your friend, but in a manner that convinces Michael to allow the experiment to continue its course. Otherwise, we are only encouraging his viewpoint."

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
    Rien nods to what Strange is saying, "That makes a lot of sense. If we do manage to eject him forcefully, he might be able to just come back. I'm not caught up on the rules that govern angels, so I don't know if he can just choose to come here. At least demons have to be summoned, that makes it a little easier to banish them for long periods of time."

    She looks around the room and asks "So does anyone have an idea how to convince Michael that he should let us keep going? I'm not a fan of obliteration, myself."

Asariel has posed:
"I mean, I'm not a part of the group here but I've stated if you guys need information on angels my library and knowledge is available." Lasariel states. "If it's something like this we can't really afford not to call in resources we have access to." she admits.

Then she stands up, "Whoa, wait a minute...LUCIFER? THE Lucifer." she motions with her hands in a vague 'holy shit!' gesture. "Oh this keeps getting worse." she whispers. "Look...he's probably not even going to talk to me, but I would like to see him for just a few minutes in case..." she swallows and stops herself for a moment.

"Just in case something else happens and we can't stop it." she whispers. "I could attempt to exorcise it, but I'm guessing we're going to need more than one person to assist with it." she admits. "Is it alright if we go see him now?" she asks.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon sighs as he sits up. "Michael was already bent on this before Chas summoned him. I get the feeling he's been itching to 'fix' things ever since Lucifer Fell." He doesn't like that all of that is evidently /true/, but the world is rarely the way we'd prefer it were. It's what they have before them, so it's what they'll deal with.

    "Maybe we can talk him out of it. I don't know. I... already did try. Begged him to look into Chas' heart and see the love that drove him to summon Michael in the first place... and all the bloody git said was 'well not everyone loves like that.'" His shoulders slump. "I... also had a visitation from something... big. And /that/ indicated that maybe Michael just took advantage of the situation. That... Michael shouldn't have answered Chas to begin with."

    He shakes his head. "I'm no exorcist. I'll leave that to those who are good at it. And if you can find the right words, to stop this... gods, I pray you can." He sighs again. "In the meantime, we prepare for battle, I think. We can't keep it back there forever, and once it's out..."

    He lets that trail off. Things are going to get bad, very soon, is the implication.

    "I'll give you the address of his nightclub," he says to Lasariel. "And I'd like to look at your library. Go on, talk to him. Maybe..." He closes his eyes. "Lord, I don't know. Good luck."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe brings her right hand up, and scratches at her chest, right above her sternum.

    "You're not... I am." she states, standing up. "I'll check over my libraries and see if I can't get any information or pointers."