Owner	Pose
Loki	The intersection of Harmony Avenue and Lewis Street has had some strange activity lately. In particular, the police reports: a variety of weird things all centered around that zone. For those with access to such records, they are: Report 1: A superhero passerby was flying nearby and crashed into the middle of the street on Harmony, causing a big traffic problem, and broke her neck. She survived, but... Reportedly, her powers just 'stopped'. Similar reports exist, but metahumans complaining about loss of power isn't a high priority ticket item. Besides, others came by, and their powers worked. Report 1, buried. Report 2: Three homes with backyard hoarding reports. On investigation, determined to be prank calls, no actions taken. Report 2, buried. Report 3, Ongoing TODAY, which anyone is likely to see:...     A body was reported by a kid flying a drone over the house at the end of Harmony. Police responded, and two were killed in the street by what has been described as a 'horrible burst of darkness'. One cop went inside, status unknown. The police have taken a respectful distance... but the news has crept close, and there are visuals of two officers laying out there on that lawn. "You can't see through the camera, but I can see tendrils of smokey stuff rising from the poor downed officers, towards the house!" says the newsperson, crouching by a shrubbery on Lewis Street. "Why isn't the camera picking up on it?"
Steve Rogers	"... and so by comparing the statistical model of occurrences to the baseline for a given area, which already takes into account the time of year, any major threats such as alien invasion or other matters that tend to ramp up activity, the resulting machine learning model can give an estimate about an event being anomalous or within a normal standard deviation of the expected," the voice of JARVIS says through Captain America's earpiece as Cap rides his motorcycle towards the desintation. "Did that make sense?" "Not exactly," Steve replies as he takes a corner quickly, maneuvering around a taxi and continuing towards Harmoney and Lewis. "Next time I'll have Banner on hand to try to help translate it," Steve says over the Avenger's comms. "So too many odd things already and you were going to have someone take a look, even before this incident?" JARVIS replies, his synthesized voice patient as ever. "That is correct." "Alright. Let's hope the police officers are ok," Steve replies as he sees the intersection in question up ahead. He pulls over short of it, by the police cordon, and hops off his bike, leaving his shield on his back for the moment as he approaches an officer to get the status.
Corben Kelly	After having left the shop in the trusted hands of his one, higher than a kite, employee, Corben set to walking. It helps him unwind sometimes, to just walk the streets, cochlear processors stowed in a pocket and take in all the sights without all the noise. The Chelsea area is one of his favorite places to walk. All the noise that is, other Pup. Damned ghost never shuts up and is ALWAYS around. It's been seventeen years of Pup being around and no amount of deaf can silence the guy. It's Corben's mundane ears that are broken, not his mystical ones. But Pup is becoming increasingly more quiet. Disturbing in its own right. Corben hasn't noticed it yet, but it also seems that Pup is guiding this walk, him following the spirit rather than vice versa. As they get closer to the intersection of Harmony and Lewis, Corben's goosebumps begin and start to grow their own. "Pup," he murmurs, "What's going on." For now, he's stopped a bit beyond ground zero.
Atrice Duckstein	Ducky's here for bodies! The pale redhead with the mismatched gaze gives a look over a few things. It was weird enough to drag her out of the BPRD's library so it's got to be extra weird. And she's not alone. There is an Agent McCarthy with her. "I think we can get to the bodies due to being here to pick them up. Or we can offer to take them off their hands. I'm sure the police don't want to deal with all of this...stuff." she waves a pale hand in the general direction. They're still approaching though, so don't know the full extent of what might be lurking.
Jason Blood	Jason Blood is like a magnet for weird stuff. Or perhaps weird stuff is the magnet, and Jason Blood is the iron. Either way, he was simply out to enjoy a post-dinner constitutional after having sampled a delectable steak that hinted at some of the more archaic preparations that he is familiar with when he felt the change. What it is, he had no idea, but there was something within the ambient air, something disturbing the normal pattern of life and energy. And so casting a very basic spell to grant him some level of perception of the beyond, he heads towards the scene. Maybe it is just some minor trickster spirit.
Tom McCarthy	The well-dressed agent beside Ducky nods, glancing around at the situation as they arrive. It's a matter of situational awareness - there's danger here, and he's to make sure the BPRD Agent isn't overwhelmed. Tom smirks to Ducky, finally looking back to her. "There's something more going on here. Digi isn't sure of what it is, but she's clearly not happy." He motions to the car they came in. "I brought spare clothes, just in case." A slight smile at that. WAND kept him thankfully in stock with spare outfits - Digi wasn't easy on his wardrobe.
Loki	At the front porch, suddenly the police officer that went inside is coming out. They don't have a weapon drawn, they appear to be nervous, but moving, crossing to the outside, with someone in custody, in handcuffs behind them. "All contained, here," calls the officer, leading the handcuffed man out. It looks like a late teens guy, perhaps 19 at the most, dressed in casual clothing, nothing interesting. He is brought out, and made to kneel in the grass outside on the lawn. "Empty inside. Just him, he surrendered," the officer says clearly, looking over the array of gathered people and news. The policeman that was approached by Rogers is watching this unfold: a detective in plainclothes, clearly in charge. The other agents approaching may hear all of this, as well. "I'm Detective Klein, hello. Three officers responded to a report about a body in the yard. Two are down on the lawn, and Officer Wallin moved inside-- I need to speak to him. But it looks like we've got it under control. I'm sorry you came out for nothing." It seems Rogers is welcome to come join him to go over to the front stoop, though, as the other police mobilize to secure the suspect and try to collect the two cops. The handcuffed man, though, suddenly gives a weird wail and twists away, rolled over, with a scream. All the guns come out and point at him. There was a flux of spiritual energy, there, centered on the handcuffed guy. Something potent and corrosive.
Steve Rogers	Steve Rogers is moving forward with the detective, though his attention more focused on the policeman and the suspect who left the house, and also on the two downed officers. "It's been confirmed they didn't make it?" Steve asks, though he expects they wouldn't be leaving the bodies there if they weren't fairly certain of their status. The scream brings Steve's alert level higher, but he just quickens his stride, while doing his best to stay out of the line of fire. Lacking any ability to sense what is going on specifically, "Son, calm down," Steve says to the handcuffed suspect as he approaches with the detective.
Corben Kelly	Corben takes a moment to actually pay more attention to his surroundings than to his arm hairs standing at attention. "Son of a bitch," he mutters under his breath when he sees Captain-freaking-America pull up on his motorcycle. This must be T-R-O-U-B-L-E if Captain America is showing up. Different time, different place, Corben might just ask for an autograph. In this time and place, he's taking the All American Hero's presence as Bad News. He glances back over his shoulder and then back in the direction he was heading. There's still time to head for the hills. A smart man would turn tail and run like a rabbit. No one has ever accused Corben of being smart. At least he's smart enough to not go into this with a distinct disadvantage. It takes only a matter of a beat or two for him to get his processors in place and let the noise rush back in. He reaches into his pocket. Fingertips left bare by his fingerless gloves, he lets them trail over the few vials in there. Not a damned thing fits this situation. With every step he takes toward destination weird, Corben mentally swears at himself for not walking the other direction. He tries to tell him self that Steve Rogers may need backup. Ha! "Uh, is there a Priest in the room?" Corben calls out. And he's only half joking. Just a beat and he adds, "Really, seriously guys, maybe back up a little in case what's in him comes out?" The damage an evil entity could do in the body of Captain America is ... somewhere no one wants to go.
Atrice Duckstein	"It's Cap." Ducky whispers to Tom as they walk. Act natural! "Is it another woman, Digi? Is that the problem?" she whispers again. She was clearly joking with the Digitabulum. Because Ducky didn't want to be a downer. The woman loses all sense of joy though when she gets closer and there is a sudden nauseau that hits her. Hands tingling. It just so happens to be when the man twists back. "Oh...that's..." she is absolutely confused. "I think something is definitely wrong." she whispers to Tom. Then she looks to Corben, "Are we going to need a young priest and an old priest?" she asks him.
Jason Blood	Heroes charge into danger. That's what heroes do. Wise men do the opposite. No, not race away. Just not charge. Jason Blood keeps his distance as he sees the writhing man, and knows that they are dealing with something malevolent. A rider. But what? And how can he pierce whatever it is that seems to be inhibiting magic? If he goes in there, he will hardly be able to cast any spells to eradicate the being that has taken over the man. Idly, he wonders how potent that magic field is. Would it be able to dispel Merlin's curse? Could anything? Seeing the Avenger arrive, Jason moves over to remain on the periphery for now. He casts magic on himself, not trying to pierce the field ahead, but to grant him perceptions in greater detail of the demons from beyond. Perhaps it is something he recognizes, after all. Or that his friend might.
Tom McCarthy	Tom doesn't even have a moment to respond to Ducky as they start getting closer to the man in custody, the officers, and Cap. He was in the process of formulating a response, when Digitabulum goes on alert. <<Evil, Tom.>> Hee's focused on the man wailing - even as his suit is shrededed, replaced by the Witchblade-esque armor. Sigh. "I think we're going to need to explain this - I don't think they will be great on me just assaulting the demon, especially as it's tied to a captive man." A curved blade morphs into his hand from the armor. "That one is potentially possessed." He calls over, taking short steps in that direction.
Loki	The handcuffed young man twisted on the ground, headed into another scream, but then he... registers that he's being talked to by Captain America. And it's confusing enough to derail the panic. If he was seeing a monster, but then... there's a hero there? Is there hope after all? So there's a weird pause. "It's behind you," the handcuffed man instead says, in a very pure, real way, to Steve. It's loud enough for others to hear. No lie in it: he believes this. "Enough games, get up," Detective Klein says, embarrassed that this is happening in front of Captain America, trying to pull the handcuffed guy to his feet. Still, it's all creepy. Which does mean some of the other officers back off, and there's confusion about the house being clear or not. A screaming person and heroes all rushing in does that. The police decide to fall back out of the way. The lawn now consists of the heroes that have gotten close, two downed police officers (with strange soft wisps of smoke rising from their bodies), the handcuffed screaming young guy, the officer that brought him outside, and Detective Klein. The two downed police officers are moving, just slightly, now: mouths open up, the last of that spirit mist twists towards the open front door of the house. It's like the house has a soft, quiet pull. Pulls things in, and they just ... disappear.
Steve Rogers	As his presence seems to calm the man, Steve adds a reassuring nod to him. "It's ok, you're out of there now," he says. He can't help but glance over his shoulder at the comment it about being behind him. That doesn't help him notice the others who have approached. A quick nod of familiarity is given to Atrice and Tom, along with a soft, "Agent Duckstein. Agent McCarthy. If you have expertise here..." Steve says, trailing off and leaving that open-ended. He looks back to the man. "What did you see? What was it that harmed the officers? Do you know what that black smoke is?" Steve asks, hoping to get more information out of the man.
Corben Kelly	Corben shrugs helplessly, "Fuck if I know." One step closer and then one more. "All I know is that there's some epic Bad Shit," somehow he even makes it sound capital B and S, "...happeing with that dude." He circles back to Ducky's question and asks, "Does age even matter?" It's a genuine question, not snark. "Pup, for once in your unlife, shut up," he grinds out in a whisper through clenched teeth. "Be useful, go check out the house, please?" ...and so begins the awkward appearance of talking to onself, "What do you /mean/ you're scared? You're already /dead/." There's another pause while Corben listens and then, "And that would actually be a bad thing?" That right there was definitely snark, but more fondly annoyed than angry. Never entirely certain how to go about explaining Pup, Corben just says, "So, uh..." he moves closer so he doesn't have to shout. "Here's the thing, my friend, he's kinda dead and he's afraid to go in there because he doesn't think he'll come back out. I don't know what's in there but my /dead/ friend is afraid of it." He swallows hard before adding, "There's a few cops, dead ones, spirits, heading inside now. Dead or not, it'd suck to get stuck wherever it is that my friend doesn't want to get stuck." Corben raises his voice, "Hey, yo! Dead dudes! Don't go in there!" But it's too late or they couldn't stop it.
Jason Blood	"GENTLEMEN!" The booming voice of Jason Blood echoes over towards the officers, the Avenger, Duckie and Pretty in Pink in a crisp British accent. "I would suggest that you do your best to keep anyone and everyone from approaching any closer." He strides forward with the sort of gait that sends his overcoat billowing behind him, as his fingers twist and turn through some sort of archaic gestures. He lifts his fingers up and incants a simple spell, blasting out from his fingers. It is not a powerful spell, nor even _particularly_ useful to him. It is what he calls a 'dusting' spell - it would illuminate, even if briefly, the silhouette of demonic energy. The goal is to show, not tell, the gathered forces of law and order that there is something present beyond their ken, so that they can get out of the way and allow the demonologist to do his job. "They are coming from inside, without question, and unless any of you have had experience closing a portal to the Netherworld upon your curriculum vitae, I advocate not electing to choose now to try to add it." If not stopped, he will stride up and attempt to enter the house.
Atrice Duckstein	Ducky is staring between the house and then the lawn. "Those are ghosts." she points to the house. Then she looks to the other side of the lawn, but not too much given she's freaking out internally, "What the fuck are those?" she questions eloquently. She has ZERO idea. But she reaches over to poke Tom, "Does Digi know what those...things are?" she points to a general direction. She is quiet though as Corben can also see the ghosts. Her mismatched gaze looks over the man and then to Cap, "On it boss." she chirps with a smile. When she sees that a ghost disappears there is a moment that she reacts without thinking. A green length of magic draws one of the ghosts away from the door, "That is a very bad idea." she tells the ghost. "Is it feeding off the ghosts?" she wonders. "Don't send anyone else in." she tells the cops. "Sir..." she looks to Corben, "Do you have any control over ghosts or can just see and speak with them?" she asks him.
Tom McCarthy	Tom McCarthy says, "There are two or three demonic presences here." Tom offers over to Cap, Ducky and anyone else listening. His eyes flick to Jason Blood. Even as he mentions it, another shorter blade appears in his other hand. "Digitabulum's purpose is to destroy demonic evil - so... she's really really looking to remove the beings that offend her. There's only so much I can do to slow her down." The otherworldly presence in his head is furious - seething with the rage of a purpose denied. "I can't speak to ghosts." He looks to Ducky and Corben. "I suspect they are the experts here..." His eyes narrow, peering at the house. "The stench is stronger from in there.""
Loki	"A horrible monster saw me inside. I was just there to buy drugs, honest. I'm sorry!" claims the handcuffed guy. "Now it's right there!" A pause. "No it... it's gone. I swear it was there. I'm not crazy." He's lifted to his feet by the Detective. "Who were you buying from?" Asks the detective, then. Something's not adding up here. "Officer Wallin, you said it is empty?" he asks, scowling. "Hang on, sir---" the detective says, trying to slow Jason Blood down, but he's got a handful of handcuffed guy. So that 'hang on' was pretty weak, and Jason can probably entirely ignore the detective, trying to hang onto some semblance of authority over this situation. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screams the guy in handcuffs again, suddenly writhing and attacking the detective, as if he saw the devil in the detective. "Sh----shoot," says the Detective, aware of Captain America there, censoring himself. "Yes," says Officer Wallin, drawing his gun. He doesn't point it anywhere, but he does get it out. The human spirits of the deceased police BOTH listen to Ducky. They pause, and turn to observe her, stopping... but they don't go anywhere. They do pause, and linger, questioning... -- The dust that Jason Blood casts swirls in mystic plumes, and creates... a hellish dust swirl all around the house. It's massive: a CYCLONE of energy, visible now. It's as if the windows are exhaling, dust fluxes across them and pulls in, and then out, like deep, ragged breaths. On the lawn, dust glows in sparks on the handcuffed man, but also lights up Officer Wallin intensely. Irritated, he moves away from the dust, brushing it off his arms with his gun-hand.
Steve Rogers	There's a lot going on, and Steve doesn't know who all of these people are. But he's comfortable enough with following a lead from the specialists. And agents from WAND would be the right ones for the moment. Steve doesn't know exactly what Jason Blood did, but the results are enough to give him concern with the way the office is glowing the same as the handcuffed man. The officer who has his weapon in hand. Moving over nearer to him, Steve reaches out as if being helpful, brushing at Officer Wallin as well as if to help him with dislodging the dust. As he does so though, he takes the officer's arm with one hand without warning, the other hand closing over the officer's gun and keeping it directed away from anyone. "While that's affecting you, probably best if I hold onto this, officer," Steve says. While he's not exactly breaking the man's fingers removing the gun from his hand, there's likely not a lot of hope of resisting Steve's grip, especially if he was taken by surprise.
Jason Blood	With an imperious gesture, Jason Blood hurls the door to the house open while still two feet away from it. "Manage the crowd, Captain Rogers, and do be sure to avoid the eddies of demonic energy as I have illustrated them to you." And with that, he disappears into the house.
Corben Kelly	Not accustomed to being called 'sir', it takes Corben a moment or two to figure out who Ducky is talking to. Oh! "Ummmm, not really control them. But I've talked a few off the ledge in my time and convinced them that they needed to move on to what's next. I'm not too sure those guys wanna go to what's next in there so... maybe?" He gives a glance to the two dead officers' spirits and then to the man in cuffs. "I can maybe, the Fates be willing, give you what happened inside if I can touch him or something he had on his person inside the house." The nod toward the cuffed man is accompanied by a wrinkled nose of disgust. Something on his person would be preferable, but with everything dusting up at the house, doesn't seem the time to go all picky about particulars. With one last shout at the dead officers, "You don't want to go in there! Fight it, you're not some pansy pussies, you're NYPD's finest! Fight it!" With a resigned sigh, dust and wrestling for guns be damned, Corben offers up a silent plea to the Fates to show him what he needs to know. And then he dives toward the cuffed stranger in an attempt to grasp him by the wrist. Body tense, teeth clenched, he waits for the answer or the silence that follows. It's never fun when his pleas are answered, it hurts a bit and he probably really loses street cred with the way he shakes and trembles, his head jerks back to stare vacantly at the sky and the way he always feels like he wants to vomit afterwards. He stumbles backwards when it's over and then sits to his hands and knees. He heaves a few breaths but doesn't hurl, not yet. "Jesus, clean your fucking house, dude," is the first thing he relays. As he settles back onto the balls of his feet, he adds, "He has a demon haunting him, he doesn't need to be in cuffs. He's just scared."
Loki	Officer Wallin didn't seem to expect to get grappled, and automatically fought. Steve will sense a strength, a weird inhuman resist, but then back to human. Perhaps Steve just startled him, made him make a little ..tiny... mistake. The gun squeezes, almmmmost fires, but then doesn't. "I don't know why I'm glowing, I think that guy's not on the up-and-up, I'm fine," Officer Wallin says, letting the gun be taken, and pointing after Jason Blood.
Atrice Duckstein	Ducky is looking a bit lost, but when the ghosts respond to her and stop she bids them to come back towards her, "If you go in there you'll be lost and I don't think it's anything good." the woman tells them. She gives a look to Corben and there is a gentle nod, "Just keep yourself safe!" she tells him as she wrangles the ghosts...and tries to stay away from the weird new things she can see... "You guys don't get shot!" she shouts to Cap and Tom. And then there is the British guy, she lets him do whatever, because he looks grumpy!
Tom McCarthy	Striding right up to the somewhat disarmed Officer Wallin, Tom comes face to face with the man. Inclining his head back towards where Jason was standing, he nods. "That's another conversation to be had. However, right now he's done a service and revealed a possession." Tom's mystic armor thrums and hums with arcane energy - ready for an impact, if not something else. "Release the officer and show yourself." Tom's voice has pitched oddly - likely the influence of the Digitabulum. The shorter of the two blades melds back into his armor, a holy looking nimbus encompassing his left hand. With it, he reaches towards the officer - as if to drive out what ever demon was troubling him.
Loki	The ghosts with Ducky are unsure what to do. Do they linger? Do they fade? They do approach her, though. And Corben's ghost Pup might also be reporting on them. They're confused, are they dead? Some kind of magic ripped them with such impact that it hurt them to their souls. They're concerned, right now, about the undertow from this house. It feels like they are being swept into hell, and they don't feel like they deserve it. That's why they want to talk with Ducky. "What do we do?" Officer Wallin ends up with Tom in his face, and attempts to twist back. "I have done nothing! Help me!" he appeals to Captain America, trying to use the hero to defend against being assaulted by the CLEARLY EVIL Tom McCarthy. The fear is real; holy weapon doesn't look good, nope! And then Officer Wallin opts for a ranged weapon.... sudden spray of ichor. Pea soup in a mottled black and greenish, intended to drive off Tom and his holy crusade. It's a lot, as only demons can muster .... a BIG splash zone. The detective gets some of it, and yelps in total disgust, backing away and tripping over the handcuffed man, who starts up on the screaming again.
Steve Rogers	Steve Rogers tightens his hold on Officer Wallin while looking towards the house. "I think he's trying to slow us down, Officer McCarthy. I don't know if you're able to shut down whatever is-" Cap manages to say, before suddenly the affected officer goes full projectile vomit. Jerking back around the officer, Steve grabs the back of his head and forces his head another direction, doing his best to limit how much of it can be gotten on the others, but likely not fast enough to keep the detective from being hit. The officer's cuffs are yanked from his belt and forcefully applied to Wallin's wrists behind his back. "I think maybe I should go in and try to help," Steve says, "Unless you think you can, Tom."
Corben Kelly	Corben has been seeing the dead since he was five, he got his first vision at age ten. One would think he'd be used to this shit by now. It's been a rough few days though. "I hate this city," he mumbles to no one, or maybe to Pup, hard to tell. "First it's Amityville Horror Face Sucking Lampry Demons and now, here we are on the set of Hoarders and the Demons That Love Them." He pushes himself to his feet and adds, "And what the FUCK is all that dust?" Not that anyone can hear him, but Pup just has to pipe in with the same old ambiguous bullshit, "Yer right where yer supposed to be, laddie." He's pacing and mumbling and looking a little green around the gills, but he stops and turns toward Tom with an incredulous look. "Shoulda pulled that trick out when I asked if there was a Priest in the room, huh?" He'll probably apologize later, but his head is killing him. He scrubs his hands over his scruffy face and then pushes them back through his spiky white blonde locks, taking care not to dislodge the cochlear processors. He can only stand there in disbelief when he finds himself in the splash zone and slimed. A string of French that will likely make even the demon's blush tumbles from his lips right before, "The one thing I could never stomach about living in New York City, all the damned demons." The rip off of the best vampire movie EVER is followed up with a potion from his pocket being downed. Just a little homebrew to settle the nerves. "Now I'm pissed. I love this coat. Who's coming with me?" Into the house of doom! Off he goes, thattway.
Atrice Duckstein	"Hey, don't go towards the light unless you've got all your business handled!" Ducky tells the ghosts. "I'm guessing that house was going to eat you...or you were going to haunt it together? I don't know." she shrugs. "But...the quick notes version, you're dead. I am sorry. If you want to know more I can speak with you at length after..." she looks over to see Tom has done his quick change, "That man needs a robe..." she sighs. Back to the ghosts, as the cop sprays green soup everywhere, "Oh noo.....is it in my hair?!" she looks a little green herself after that. She feels her head spin, like something takes over for her and then she looks to Demonic Wallin and spits out a sentence in some VERY foreign sounding resonating language. When she stops she looks very confused. OOC: She asked him what his name is and who sent him.
Jason Blood	Within the home, Jason Blood made it a few steps before he was buried - literally - in detritus. Cast offs of various types, some of minor value, some of none. He wades through whatever has brought such filth through until he gets past the barrier and into the sort of hoard that would render Midas and Smaug jealous. Riches beyond compare, seeming from various times and places. He frowns as his senses picks up the taint of demonic touch on them. As if they had all been summoned from their proper place and passed through the gullet of demonic portal to get here, and were coated in the leavings of such a thing. Which may very well be precisely what it was, Jason thinks to himself. He looks around to try to discern where the sphincter responsible for this pile of tainted riches may be. Until he can close that orifice, there is no telling what else might pour out.
Tom McCarthy	Fast as Cap is, Tom was expecting some sort of reaction. Honestly, demonic vomit isn't the weirdest he's faced. The armor shifts up, at least protecting his skin as he gets slimed from the assault. "Handcuffed or not, he might be trouble later - we'd likely want to get some restraints or binders from WAND or BPRD." He comments, looking to Ducky. A look of apology... then... a pause. What did she say? Digi is all but screaming in his head. A bolt of arcane energy washes over the captured detective - the intent is to stun and neutralize for the moment. Hopefully it sits. Then he's looking to the house, turning in that direction - ichor still dripping down his armor. "I can check it out. Hopefully Wallin is down for the count." Even as he's walking, he looks to Corben. "I'm not a priest."
Loki	(Because the party split) OUTSIDE: Officer Wallin isn't really fighting Captain America, he lets the cuffs go on. ...But he does flex against them, in a way that suggests he might not mind just breaking his own wrists. Demons often don't care for their host bodies too much, really. "What about poor Officer Wallin?" Officer Wallin asks, in weird third-person, of Steve. It's a little garbled, he still has goo in his mouth. Yuuuuck. Atrice though... talks a different language at him. That's WAY interesting, and the Officer looks right at her. He answers her in the same language, and makes a kiss-kiss smoochie at her. To those that know the hellish tongue, he offered to whisper it in her ear. He promised to tell her. But he won't, because the bolt lands from Tom, and Wallin ends up with his face in the concrete. He could be roused, but he seems down right now, stunned magically. --     (Because the party split) INSIDE: The front room is a hoarder situation, to the ceiling. Most of it is of value, but it depends if you find value in 38 flatscreen TVs or not. Some people may prefer the paintings, or the cardboard boxes of mexican money. Some other people value food, and there's a LOT of it here, including rotting. The deeper in, the more the tone changes from 'cash!' and into 'garbage'. There's a lot of expensive purses in a tower. The place has narrow corridors, and objects are want to fall, as well. Underfoot, just garbage. Boots with squelch into the mess below. There's multiple rooms to this house, and they are a similar situation. There doesn't seem to be anyone here, but there are signs of the kitchen just being used. They left, somehow. There is a dampening field of magic inside, that's keeping this place from attracting all manner of attention, which means most things are also subdued within. It cuts both ways. There are three bedrooms in the back, plus a bathroom. The one on the end is the easiest to enter, and contains a strange, giant black statue. It looks kind of like a chess piece of a bishop, with odd wings like a crow at the top of the obsidian carving. It's buried in more trash, though: almost exclusively garbage that's rotting. The walls have artful demonic ritual designs in... unknown substances of yellow, brown, black, maroon.
Corben Kelly	"Well, it had pretty much the same damned outcome, didn't it?" Corben replies. He marches his little punk ass right up to the front door. It all became personal as soon as his coat went from only slightly needing a wash to covered in demon spew. Behind him, Pup is being oh so helpful, "Corben, I can't go in there with you, maybe you should really, I mean, laddie, I don't think this is how you're supposed to die, but you never know..." And it goes on and on and on. Corben's only response before he crosses the threshold is to flip his ghostly buddy the middle finger. Once inside, he has to just stop for a second and stare in amazement at the mountains of garbage. A little of the bluster now gone from his self-righteous anger sails, he blows out a breath through slightly parted lips. "Well, coat's ruined already anyway." Then he starts noticing the good in the garbage. "That's a shame." The goosebumps aren't as bad this time as he approaches the epicenter of the mess. That's due to the potion he downed outside. It might also be due to the fact that his eyes landed on a shiny amid the garbage and other material items in which he has no interest. It could be the Hope Diamond or just a cheap bauble from a costume jewelry shop, doesn't matter, it's /shiny/, so into a pocket it goes. He continues in the same fashion until he stumbles on Jason. He's just picking up anything shiny along the way.
Atrice Duckstein	Ducky...poor naive Ducky. She was absolutely about to let that demon close enough to her ear to probably get Evander Holyfielded. It was a mystery she wanted to know! She was leaning in, but then the body hits the ground and she looks down to it slowly and then back to Tom. She stamps her foot at him, "If you weren't so hot!" she hisses at him and then goes to talk to the ghosts. Because she is currently in a confused state of what the hell is going on in her brain and they needed guidance, "Come on guys. You can hang at the funeral home until we get you sorted." she tells them.
Tom McCarthy	The comment from Ducky hits a chord in Tom. A look back to her, spikes, blades and other angry looking affixations sliding and morphing over his armor. "We need to have a chat later, yeah?" It's not meant to be ominous, and not said with malice - just a comment in passing. "I need to make sure this place gets salted, or cleansed - or whatever needs to happen." A tip of a non-existant hat to her, then he strides into the house - unafraid.
Jason Blood	Standing ankle deep in refuse is no way to go about solving a magical mystery. Jason Blood frowns as he looks around. He can sense that there is _something_ over...somewhere over there. But there are trashdrifts that are in the way, and frankly, he is not even sure that he wants to get close without seeing what it is. His lips quirk for a moment. He reaches out with his hands and begins casting a spell. It is a more detailed spell than the prior ones, but it invokes space, time, and zeroes in on magical energy. These things are foul, and need to be defouled. And if he had the time, he would do it himself. But lacking that time, he figured the next best thing was to send it someplace that had people that DID have that time. As he brings forth the primal forces of magic, he opens up a yawning portal just below the ceiling. It starts slow as he powers the spell, the lightest of the demon tainted refuse starting to rise. And then more, and more, as the portal starts to suck up all the ill-gotten rich goods. As he does so, an object begins to appear, and he narrows his gaze. A portal, it seems, with a statue at the center of it. Whatever magic this is, it is beyond anything that he can tackle on his own. But if any luck, he will acquire some aid very soon. Exterior: Hills outside of Kamar-Taj. A gaping red portal appears in the sky, and out pours the Mount Everest of demon tainted junk.
Loki	Ducky's offer is reasonable to the ghosts: Pamela and Gregory. They're dead, so first name basis now. They're starting to be more aware and focused. They request things like saying things to their families, wrapping up loose ends like that. They were good cops, and do have honest requests, fears, hopes, dreams, to resolve. Ducky may have good opportunity to really help and give them closure over this. ....Though they also really want whoever did this to be brought to justice. Corben is inside now, taking things out of the crime scene. There's probably plenty of things to sort though. Maybe he's doing the police a favor? He ends up with a mix of valuable nicknacks. -- Indoors, the dampening magic is squeezing... but it really doesn't have any impact on portal magic. So the portal springs easily to life. It's no problem to open a gate here. In fact, it's harder to CLOSE it. The portal stands open, pulling extra things. ... that portal may now just be a feature of this house, now. Magic aimed to close a portal? That's firmly dampened. Maybe there's a reason to leave the Door Open. The statue, black obsidian maybe, five feet tall... feels like a portal, but it isn't acting like one. Deeply connected, networked with demonic ritual circle, a radius of 3' out from it, all over the floor. The designs go up the walls, into the other pieces. It's not apprentice magic, this is some creative, demented thing. It's acting more like a container, a siphon than a true gate: like a water balloon on the end of a hose.
Corben Kelly	And all Corben can do is stand there and watch, in fascination, as the largest trash shoot he's ever seen opens in reverse. "You know, you..." He's certainly about to say something witty, but the end of one side of his coat begins to rise into the air as that portal tries to pull in his ill begotten treasures. He has to shove a hand in his pocket to keep it down. He's doing his best at being nonchalant and pretending that didn't just happen. "So, uh, looks like you got this." He beats feet and makes a hasty retreat back through Mt. Trashpile to diappear into the night.
Jason Blood	Looking up at the portal, and then down at the ritual portal, Jason Blood sighs. "Well then." he murmurs to himself. "At least no one knows it was..." He turns to look over at Corben, frowning. "It was like this when I got here." And then reaching up to snap his fingers to the left, to the right, and then to the lift again, Jason invokes his home ritual, and blinks back to his sanctum. Nothing to see here.
Tom McCarthy	Well, power-dampening is truly a bitch. As Tom makes it in to see this portal open, his armor dissappears. Now, clothed only in demon-ichor, he stares slack-jawed at the portal. "What in the hell did you do?" Even Digi's presense in his mind is muted - this is so surreal to the man. The naked man. Eyes dart from Jason to Corben and back. He doesn't even have his service-sidearm. "Can we close it?"