Owner	Pose
Morrigan MacIntyre	Location: Kharga Oasis It's approaching three in the morning in Egypt. There is nothing at all ominous about that. Except for the tremors of magic that run under the sand, shifting the ruins in a way that will make archaeologists either faint or rage given this place is a staple of so many tourist stops and student stops when learning about the ruins that lie in Egypt. It draws more than a few of the security that is around the place to go and investigate. They decide that it is WELL above their paygrade and abandon the site. The tremors do reach other places though. Spewing forth enough magical resonance to trigger the senses of of sorcerors, magicians and others in the states and beyond that.
Lara Croft	Lara had a stop in Cairo that lead her to being in the right place at the right time, or is it the wrong place and wrong time? That may be yet seen... As it hapened, Lara had a magical inclined relic in her belongings, a crystal skull, that has been acting as a beacon for spikes in the arcane, the magical sphere, and even the paranormal. This skull had lead Lara to many such rises in the realm of the odd, and unexplained. She'd been returning to her hotel room, when she found the skull glowing brightly inside of one of her travel bags. Now, some time later, Lara sits in a rented vehicle, the skull resting in the passenger seat beside her, its eyes glowing brighter the closer she got to the magical situation, beams of light bursting from the sockets of the shining skull, directing the archaeologist toward whatever was happening nearby. In the dark of her vehicle, Lara glances at the skull, then down at her phone which rests between her thighs on her lap, her hands on the wheel of the truck, as she drives ever closer to the mystery ahead. She gathered up her phone, for but a moment, to thumb-tap a response to a colleague she was communicating with, before she set her phone down upon her lap once more, her hand moving to adjust the stick shift, while the glowing white light from within the crystal skull casts a ambient glow around the interior of the truck, and across the side of Lara's face.
Corben Kelly	Egypt? Corben's been getting little glimpses of for a few days, nothing very informative. Sometimes he gets just enough for his visions to be a nuisance. Well, it's /Egypt/ not much he can do from New York, right? So, with nothing better to do with his time, he's working on mixing up more this and that into something else and another. These's days, with all the slug issues, he's focusing on demon related potions and powders. Particularly the closing portals variety. Exactly 2.2 seconds ago, he was sitting in his shop and had just tossed the finishing ingredient into, what he believes, will be his best 'door to Hell' closer yet. Wait. That didn't turn the right color. Wait. Why is everything getting bigger? Wait. Why am I shrinking? Corben ponders all of this in those 2.2 seconds before the magic resonance from Egypt caused that potion to /cause/ a portal instead. Or maybe it's just fate fucking with him again. Regardless, here comes Corben tumbling out of a portal in the middle of the air about four feet from the ground. He hits the sandy ground, face first, with a *thud* followed by a groan. From beneath him, a small irritated voice grouses, "Corbs! Get offa me!"
Belinda Gutierrez	It began the way so many things often do: Tarot Cards. Careful not to touch, dare not to interrupt when in use, and trying not to even look at them too funny--! Belinda was doing her shop chores, shutting things down for the evening, humming her own quiet tune while Nettie made her readings and marked her time and drank her totally-not-whiskey laced with tea when the Call came. One moment, readying for the evening and a long jog to wind down (and perhaps catch a mugger); the next-- Given a package for a certain residence on Bleeker Street in Greenwich. Sent with order to hustle! And so, one Belinda Gutierrez was dispatched (not deployed!) on-loan and as courtesy to one strange doctor of the interesting, curious, bizzare, and occasionally neurological. After the delivery of green tea, straight from India.
Stephen Strange	Stephen Strange doesn't need a crystal skull to sense something is amiss....or any other artifact that could be found by adventuring archeologists with a penchant for fedoras and whips. It comes with the whole Sorcerer Supreme title. Especially when the tremors travel along the ley lines and hit a certain mansion on Bleecker Street. Not that Strange is actually at the Santorum. Or, at least, not at *that* particular Santorum. A portal opens, but it does not have the same sort of arcane energy that Strange usually throws into his efforts. No circling of sparks. No golden lines. This portal is very distinctive of a certain *other* Sorcerer Supreme. A stepping disk, with the image briefly visible that of no Earthly environs. But, nonetheless, the figures that emerge through are most certainly of this particular plane of existence. And, one of them is most certainly the good Doctor. If anything, the flowing cloak is a dead giveaway. "Thank you very much, my dear. It would seem that the vibrations emanated from here...and strong enough to be felt in Limbo. Highly unusual." His conversation to the blonde companion at his side is interrupted with a dawning of a realization. "Oh, forgive me. I have a charge to take care of." With that, Strange does perform the quick roll of his fingers, formulating his very own portal, replete with the shower of sparks. But...rather than wait for one to walk into it, the quick flick of the fingers sends the portal around Belinda, from where ever she was, to Egypt with the rest of the motley crew. No warning....one step in New York and the next into sand. One magical Uber, courtesy of Doctor Strange.
Illyana Rasputina	"What, no camels and endless seas of dust?" Illyana's statement may prove to be as dry as the sands swallowing ancient Cyrenaica and the western reaches of Egypt, long outside the secure hold of pharaohs, emperors, and sultans. The brutal elegance of desert stretching for the horizon remains a counterpoint in the background of a bustling community, ripe with colours and technological extravagance where civilization tries to press its thumb down. Modernity claims even the archaic caravanserai routes for itself, curse that it is. A swift look about aims to decipher what constitutes a relatively ancient ruin; something that predates the Ottomans, Mamluks if fortune favours the Demon Queen. "Ruins of a temple to Amun-Ra or the Ennead built in the area once. I remember reading it from..." Where does not matter as reality collapses behind her, a chorus of chants singing a horrific farewell song fit to cause anyone unfortunate enough to hear the ballad to hear /nothing/ but that ballad for hours. Earwyrms of Limbo are nasty little spirits, their sonic mayhem not to be laughed at. It only happens their serenade for the queen and consort is extra exciting until properly silenced. Her clothing -- a punk band t-shirt over ripped jeans and boots -- probably marks her as a tourist from a northern realm if a shock of white-gold hair and her pale complexion don't do it. Russians in Egypt -- been happening since Aswan was a twinkle in a dictator's eye. The difference tends to be not standing atop someone's random car. Whoops! She glances at Strange as he pulls another into being and promptly steps down exactly like she meant to do that instead of surveying from on high.
Morrigan MacIntyre	Everyone is aboard! They are close to the Temple of Hibis, it was devoted to a syncretism of two local forms of the deity Amun: "Amun of Hibis" and "Amun-Ra of Karnak who dwells in Hibis. But that is enough of the history lessons! There seem to be far greater concerns, like the sound of Hell incoming. The sound of huge beetles flapping their wings as they chase two figures and the two in front look like the are indeed running for their lives. One is tall and armored in a greyish armor that is reminiscent of linen bandages that would have been used in mummification. There are two golden half crescents that form a full moon at the center of their chest. The others is a tall figure that is draped in black and gold regalia, the mask resembling that of Anubis with intricate heiroglyphs that flow over the mask and down into the cowl. At the tail end of the swarm of beetles there are two figures that actually /might/ be mummies that are gaining quick ground and shooting bolts of greenish black magic at the two they are after. But most of the shots don't hit. Beneath them, the ground heaves. Like something else might be coming.
Lara Croft	<You shouldn't travel through that area alone, Lara> <I'll be fine, Gerald> <Stop off in the town I told you about, I have a trust worthy colleague who can meet you and guide you to where you need to go> <It's too late, I've already arrived, I think. I will touch base with them afterward> Lara dropped her phone in to a bag beside her on the center console of her truck. She grabbed up the glowing crystal skull, and tucked it too in to the same bag before she popped the door on the vehicle, and exited in to the warm desert night. A few moments were spent at the back of the truck, gathering up some of her gear, and cinching it around her form, before she set off. Lara's arrival on a dusty pathway might be unsettling, considering she has a crystal skull in a net sack hanging from her right hip, with its socketed eyes glowing beams of white light from within its shining spherical form, but... giant bugs may outdo even that oddity. Lara presses onward, however, her eyes scanning over the situation up ahead, the skull giving her location away, a bright torch in the dark, but her attention is more on whatever the hell is happening here tonight. She drops a hand down to the gun holstered on her thigh, as she creeps around an outcropping of long broken pillars, and the remains of a crumbled structure.
Corben Kelly	He shoves himself to his feet, spits the sand from his mouth and quickly plucks - what is that? Is that a slug? A bat? Both? Whatever it is, Corben's dusting sand from it and picking off the little bits that are sticking. Fortunately, it's not only potion bottles he carries in the many pockets of his, now sandy, coat, but sometimes a bottle of vitamin water too. It's the latter he uses to further clean off the - whatever that thing is. "Where are we Corbs?," the 'so ugly it's cute' foot or so long demon sprog asks. "Not in Kansas, huh?" Kib'Kir lets out a snotty sounding snort at his own joke. "You need to hide and stay quiet," Corben tells his little friend. The rest of the vitamin water gets dumped into an inside pocket of his trench coat, just to moisten it all up for Kib. He then holds his coat open for the little creature to crawl inside the pocket. "Don't come out, no matter what." "But what if Corbs is in danger." - "Don't come out, Kibs." - "What if hungry?" - "Don't come out Kibs, no matter what." "What if have to pass gass?" - - - "Come out and point your backside at whatever's trying to kill me, Kibs." Why did the little demonling have to be on his shoulder when whatever caused this mess caused it? It's only after that's all out of the way that Corben really takes any notice of his surroundings. Well, there's Strange again, Corben's under dressed and probably screwed. He opens his coat back up just a little to whisper, "Hey, Kibs, you eat bugs?" The little thing does have a voracious appetite for being so small. He finds a hiding place to just wait this thing out and hope he can catch a ride home after. As if that first thing will ever happen.
Belinda Gutierrez	One moment-- Los Estados Unidos! The next-- Egipto! The shock of the translocative exchange startled Belinda, eyes widening as evening jumps straight into the latest portions of night and the wee hours of morning. "...Dios!" she exclaims, marvelling with a quick bite of her lip. Do *not* giggle before los Hechiceros Supremos. She glances around in surprised delight, basking in the desert oasis beneath the nearly full moon's light. Blissful, tranquil... rumbly? The sound reaches her ears before the scents, the buzzing and skittering and clicking of a million tiny pincers. Breath draws sharp as she sees the two fleeing from the insectile horde; she blushes briefly as she shrugs out of her jacket, wrapping it around the packet in her hand, shoving the whole beneath her arm. Knowing in a sudden, instant heartbeat why she is come. The two are running for the Temple, and-- convenient place to hide! Or to hide things. It is a *really* quick plan, but hopefully Mr. Stadler would understand. She takes off for the temple environ, springing into action-- rapidamente!
Stephen Strange	"Oh look. Scarabs in Egypt. How droll." Really, it seems almost expected for Stephen to see giant beetles in the desert. And certainly not the musical kind, though seeing Sir Paul would be a shock even for the Master of the Mystic Arts. Grey eyes flicker forward to take a peek at the pair of figures leading the charge....or, rather, running away from said swarm. And yes...there doesn't seem to be a big surprise to see the fist of Khonshu in the lead. However, towards the end is a surprise...an actual pair of revenants. "Well...that is not something you see everyday." A pause..."Well...not unless you're watching a Brendan Fraser movie, at least." The glib comment is followed by a sigh, then a glance to Illyana. "I suppose we need to take the time to put things to rights. Shall we?" There really isn't a need for a response....Stephen is already poised to take flight to the temple.
Illyana Rasputina	Something is coming. When isn't it? Something comes from the aforementioned temple Illyana spoke of, seeking from the rooftop of a vehicle. She might have wished to stand atop the car a little longer considering something as large as an SUV, maybe bigger, plows through the modern streets of the oasis. Lara with her swinging skull in a bag radiates enough power to tilt the blonde sorceress' head in that direction, briefly acknowledging the adventuress before things truly become problematic. She turns to the direction of the rumbling commotion and looks down at her Siouxsie t-shirt, then back up. "How apt. All their cities lie in dust." The declaration comes as she smoothly extends her arm to the side, the long unbroken line starting to manifest a carapace equally as smooth and armoured as the skittering scarabs. Only fair the dung beetles show up when shit meets oscillating fan blades. Former glories washed away under concrete and electrical wires stand behind the little cluster of arrivals, Belinda's burst of speed towards the hypostyle open to the sky certain to draw a reaction. "You owe me two dates. Fruit and the other kind," she warns Stephen. The spill of tarnished gold and lapis forms around her shoulder and runs down to her wrist, winding in elegiac plates and bands. When the flowing gold touches her spread fingertips, the twilight explodes. Magik, she's called; magic, that artifact is. A fragment of pure radiance engulfed in light somewhere between sun, moon, and star takes the slightly curved form of a scimitar, rather than a khopesh. Its wielder may be infernally corrupt, but the Soulsword ought to give the risen dead distinct pause.
Morrigan MacIntyre	Those with magical senses...or common sense, would be able to see that the direction everyone was heading was the Temple. It helps that Moon Knight is screaming about bugs as he slashes through some of the beetles with whoever that is beside him. There are cracks starting to form in the stones that lead to the inside of the Temple. Cracks that so helpfully lead to where there is one robed and hooded figure that is trying to something. Probably some ultra mummy, lets be honest. It's Egypt and it's the desert. There is a lot hidden here. The figure doesn't seem to be tuned into the arrival of anyone else. A bit too focused on what they are currently doing. A rookie mistake. Moon Knight and Company are trying to fend off the beetles and the mummies. And the one wearing the Anubis mask is distracted along with the mummies. Maybe they are rethinking life. This is why you keep your eye on the enemy. Because one of them delivers a cheap shot that cuts through the armor, leaving them dead before they hit the ground. That causes the beetles to swarm the corpse. At least one threat has been neutralized via providing it dinner!
Lara Croft	When one finds themselves in an archaeological treasure trove, and it happens to be their natural passion, it can be a challenge to remain entirely focused. Lara had not been to this site before, but she had read about it, and recalled even it coming up in some of her university classes. But here in person, even if it is the dead of night, was a grand experience all its own. Ignore it though, Lara, focus! She spotted two figures standing together that she recognized, Strange and Illyana. "What is happening here?" Lara calls out to them, her magical skull shining from her hip like a high powered flashlight, as she rushes toward the horde of bugs seeming to converge on the great temple site. "It's breaking apart." Lara notes aloud, seeing the structure cracking. With one pistol drawn, Lara lets out a heavy exhale, before she dashes forward, her left hand snapping down to her leg to draw out a second handgun. She nimbly hops upon a stone ledge, a clear crack in the base of a pillar up ahead, and with all her might she rushes toward it, slamming her shoulder in to it to cause the pillar to shake, but not quite yet fall. Placing her back against a niche beside the pillar, Lara places one foot upon it, her dust covered boot being pushed against the cracking structure, before it is joined by her other. With all her might, Lara pushes the pillar until it gives way, crumbling and toppling over toward a rush of those skittering bugs!
Corben Kelly	From his hiding space, Corben watches everyone go running /toward/ the creepy temple where the army of beetles and the four - were those last two mummies? He leans back against a particularly large bit of rubble he's tucked in behind, closes his eyes, sucks in a deep breath and lets it out again with a drawn out, "Fuuuuuuck me." "Corbs?" - "Kibs, be /quiet/." - "But.." - "Quiet, Kibs!" - "It smells funny in here." - "You eat /garbage/!" On that note, Corben shoves himself out of his hiding place and runs to the next. He's pretty quick and very agile and also not crazy enough to make a full on charge toward death and destruction. He'll dart from cover to cover instead. His desire is to stay out of all of it, but how horrible would he feel of he wasn't there to save Dr. Strange? - or at least lend a hand? Mentally he's going over the stock of magic filled little bottles in his pockets. Without proper notice to prepare, most of what he has is pretty useless. He might just have to improvise. Or maybe he'll just eat popcorn and watch the show, they /got/ this. Wow, that skull is so shiny. So. Very. Shiny.
Belinda Gutierrez	One threat neutralized in a most horrific fashion. Belinda skitters to a stop, staring in abject shock as the Anu-masked individual goes down. Cut, slashed, blade. Devoured by a thousand-thousand sharp skitterings. Tea package and jacket are tossed aside; grief flares, anger at senseless death, frustration at a life saved now no longer possible. Frustration and fury, and the idea of being something frosty... Goes straight out the window. Cloth rips, tears, bursts. Shoes strain, quiver, burst-- surrounding digits they are no longer made to contain. Blue jeans rend and shred, cotton threads shatter apart. And then it is skin that rips, tears, bone shattering and reforming and remelding, tooth and nail and bone, muscle and flesh and sinew. A girl's scream of despair becomes a howl of anger, of rage-- a throaty roar born of monstrous, promised fury. Tugging the remnants of her civilian clothing aside, Belinda-- Silverdane --stalks forward, striding towards the Moon Knight with increasing, ground-eating lopes. One down, perhaps one to save as she surges forth!
Stephen Strange	Is this a mission or is this already the date that Ms. Rasputina-Strange has decreed the good Doctor is to provide? Is there a difference? Usually...no. Stephen knows Illyana. A fight with mystical beasts is enough to be considered a good time. And this is simply an unexpected, but welcomed opportunity to hunt. Stephen himself joins into the fray. Though, unlike his partner, he does not go for a sword. Instead, perhaps the scenery has inspired him, but the fingers dance in the desert night, weaving a weapon of mystical light. A whip. Alas, no fedora, but a light whip is more than enough to give adventurer vibes. A flick of the wrist and a beetle disappears in a spark of light. And another. And another. "You did say you wanted a date. It would seem I found us a proper hunt. Or, do you want a date beyond this?" A tip of a wink before Stephen continues fighting. Though, he is certainly not straining himself by any means. Perhaps he is ensuring that the others that made their way to the temple get their turn. Such a thoughtful gesture.
Illyana Rasputina	Indeed, who is crazy enough to make a full-on headlong charge toward death and destruction? Nobody here. Edit. Belinda, for one. Surely an anomaly. Illyana takes a running dash for the temple, thrusting her open palm ahead of her. "Cursed insects. They can die." A thin lens appears etched in blue fire and the scimitar-shaped Soulsword sweeps up in a backhanded swing as she runs through. See, already leaving based on Stephen's bad jokes. A breath later she manifests in the thick of it, her armoured boots rising to her thighs and the black crown of Limbo fully present. The portal briefly gives respite for any scrambling scarabs who think that offers a safe space. Demonic birds hiding behind coral-brachiated trees in psychotic colours certainly blend well with their landscape. She unleashes a flurry of slashes and stabs upon hitting the field, bringing the Soulsword to bear to hack a path open for herself and any others. The cracks of Strange's mystic whip keep taking out crawling monsters, and that leaves her to pick up her fair share of the tally. She laughs as she aims for a mummy, reeling back from a solid smack to her torso and presenting the blade in a swerving flourish.
Morrigan MacIntyre	Everyone is focused outside, but there is too much danger close now. The robed figure inside ceases the ritual, reaching out to take up a carved stone tablet from the top of a pedestal. The gloved hand motions in their own little wiggle waggle of fingers to open a portal to step through and flee the scene while the heroes deal with the chaos outside. The ground stops heaving, the magical power flowing underneath of them flares out and the sands grow still. They had thwarted whatever was going on here. Even if there was a lose. But given they are wearing Anubis type garb who knows, they might be back! Moon Knight helps to finish off a swath of the bugs and they scatter or die on the spot. Once that is down he takes a breath and then leaps up to the top of one of the pillars before bounding off into the night. Because who answers questions?!
Lara Croft	After Lara's toppled pillar crushed a number of the skittering creatures, she dropped down to her booted feet again, and charged ahead upon the side of the fallen pillar. With her double pistols pulled and readied, Lara begins to open fire with liberal freedom. Bullets pour out from the barrels of her twin pistols, popping the shells of the rapidly moving creatures surrounding the edges of the pillar she stands upon. A noteworthy moment is taken to take in the sight of what had been Belinda, now turned in to something else... but Lara's instincts tell her she is friend and not foe, at least for now. When Strange - and his whip - come through the horde of fallen creatures, and Illyana helps cut forth a pathway further in to the temple, Lara leaps from her vantage point, landing upon the dust covered floor that preceeds the interior of the impressive structure. One gun pointed to the right, the other to the left, Lara traces her eyes across the horizon, spotting a pair of bugs leaping over a broken supporting wall. Once more her pistols open fire as she walks backward with Strange and Illyana leading the way, she covering the rear with her weapons. When things cool down, Lara's eyes dart around, and for a moment she catches a glimpse of the fleeing Moon Knight. "What in the Hell has gone on here?" The exasperated Briton asks to all within ear shot.
Corben Kelly	Corben watches Belinda with rapt fascination. Oddly enough, his first thought is to wonder if she'll end up naked like Nude Dude always does at the end of a death match with Hell Spawn. What was his name again? Jim, John, Tim? TOM! Focus, Corben. "Corbs?" - "What?" - He's still moving from dark cubby to dark cubby. A few times he strays off path and closer to Lara. So. Shiny. Pretty skull. But he holds it together and charges on! Toward what? He has no idea. "Corbs?" - What?!" - "Knock-knock." - "I'm not saying it, Kibs." - "Corbs?" - "Not saying it, Kibs." - "What do witches get when their shoes are too tight?" ----- "What Kibs?" - "Candy corns." "Uuuuggggh!" Now he's truly wishing he had popcorn. He feels a little like he's seen this movie before. But as the movie comes closer to an end, the bad guys are dying and the credits are about to roll? A sudden realization hits Corben right upside the head. He's in /Egypt/. Flying back from Baltimore after figuring out where those portal pumping pricks that were looting the SHIELD Warehouse of Bad Things were taking the stuff on the wings of a Raven was one thing, this is entirely another. "Hey! Can I get a ride home?!" he calls out as he stands from his most recent hiding place.
Belinda Gutierrez	Silverdane bares her teeth in frustration as the Knight commits his last slash, sweeping away again without a word. Not even close enough to howl out a question! Yet the beetles die all around, the mass of storming, surging, scuttling creatures... Falling. Dropping like dessicated corpses, husks, falling leaves. Only the strangely garbed man left behind. Ears slanted back against her head, the wolf-woman whimpers softly, moving forward towards the fallen Anu with a ginger touch. Scent, breath, hearing... already knowing what she will find. Bitterness.
Illyana Rasputina	That's just typical, cause some kind of profound headache and then scamper off without so much as a by your leave. Illyana is in no position to comment given her habit ingrained in her DNA to just jump out of trouble. For the present, she swivels and stabs a scarab beetle. The Soulsword seems to pass through the insect's heavy external chitin and then emerges, a gout of goo sizzling in contact with the magical blade. Yuck on so many levels. Double the yuck. She hardly cares that she's coated in the disgusting goo and sand sticking to her, wading onward to encourage other bugs to get the hell out of dodge. Teetering pillars are recognized in a peripheral sense, avoid and not get crushed way, but she doesn't slow until the last of the nasty things lies convulsing on the ground thanks to Lara's shots or got turned into alternative meal products by Belinda-Silverdane's ferocious claws. Corben probably hasn't been turned into a mess the same way that the other ones have. However, shouting from that hiding spot brings her wheeling around. She almost casts magic missile at the darkness. Almost. Stephen is busy, he wouldn't know... "Someone playing hard to get," she offers, much cheerier sounding than before. Victory or a date? Either could be responsible. "The person in there fled by teleportation. Used magic. Should not be hard for us to trace the spell and determine the source. May be somewhere horrible and dangerous, or very boring like the tax office."