2013.10.22 - Rot of the Soul

Somewhere near the south pole, deep beneath the water, and then even deeper beneath the ice and rock, miles and miles below, there is a fortress and a palace and a weapon all rolled into one. It is still under construction, but one of the areas of the vast structure that was completed long ago, the Restricted Vaults, has been compromised. Is is the respository for a vast array of magical items, tools, weapons, and artifacts; tomes of forbidden knowledge, scrolls detailing the dark history of Earth and other worlds, and detailed records of pasts and futures that might have been or might still be; enemies, monsters, and BEINGS imprisoned, sealed, or otherwise contained; raw materials of immense potential, enormous risk, or even both; and even more.

While there are many beings older than the ruler of the Palace of Bone, many of whom have had eons longer to gather such tools and treasures, Empress Necro has a few significant advantages that have allowed her to fill her Restricted Vault. Among these are the fact that she has achieved immortality through undeath and thus never tires, never sleeps, never ceases to pursue, to contemplate, to plan, and to work towards her goals. Another is that she has a significant work-force of similarly dead minions who also work around the clock, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, now and forever. A third is that fortune seems to favor her. Sometimes things seem to just fall into her lap, like they were destined to be there.

But the vault is as dangerous as it is rich, and a recent attempt to contact and draw power directly from the despised Death Realms wound up breaking open a different plane. Necro had touched that which must not be touched. She had disturbed that which should have remained undisturbed. And now a realm of pure corruption and terror has begun to bleed through the Walls between worlds, and the Things in that place that hunger for magic almost as much as they do fear are drawn to the vault. And with their poisonous touch, their very existences toxic to reality itself, they are unravelling the laws of magic... Corroding the forces that keep the vault hidden and 'restricted'.

And that means that those with the knowledge, the skill, and the power have the potential to -- with the right methods -- access the Restricted Vault, and make off with some of its contents.

Somewhere in that vault is a shard of a black crystal that contains the former Angel of Vengeance, now known as Eclipso.

The lady of the house is aware of the breach. She is going to the Uncanny Valley to try to fix the breach with a little something -- or rather someONE -- that she left behind. A girl named Sasha.

Her minions are just busy trying to stabilize the protective magic and keep the Things of that awful plane from slipping through.

There are already enough nightmares walking the halls as it is.

Right now, the Defenders are likely preparing to employ a group magic, ritual or otherwise, that can convey them to their desired destination.

Only Doctor Strange really knows how many rooms are in the Sanctum Sanctorum, and even he forgets a few from time to time.

Case in point: the cavernous, barely-used sub-basement where he has gathered the Defenders. Prior learning of the black diamond's location from his apprentice, he had no memory of it or its sickly, greenish-grey stone walls and floors; since then, preparing the space for tonight has been chief among his priorities, Glyphs meticulously drawn in black chalk frame a sizable square of empty floor, and bright red candles sit at the corners of the diagram, dripping a sticky, foul-smelling substance that probably isn't wax. Strange himself is standing at the 'head' of the diagram, facing the rickety, bookcase-disguised stairway that led here and ever so gently drawing a ceremonial metal dagger across his gloved palm.

"One day," he murmurs as his blood drips down onto the chalk, "I hope to have the privilege of bringing allies to a place that doesn't stink of death." As he closes his palm, he holds the blade out to the next person over and continues, "Once we've all added our blood to the pattern, the way forward will be shown to us; the trip will be chilly, and the destination colder still." He opens his hand and shakes it out; the tear in his glove is gone, leaving just a few small stains dotting his palm.

"If you cannot withstand such extremes, simply say so; the proper enchantments can be provided."

Once the ritual is completed, the stone blocks in the un-chalked square of the floor will drop away, revealing a stairway spiralling down to--

--well, something. Hopefully; the only thing that'll be visible from the top is darkness, and the only sounds rising from the abyss will be howling winds; the trip won't be a long one, but it may well feel that way once it's underway.

"We could air the room out," Amethyst suggests mildly. "Ask Wong to pick up some Febreze."

The princess stands at the next point in the circle, to the right hand of Doctor Strange. She had called her friends once more, by note and by phone and by herself. It was not anyone's fault if they declined. This would be dangerous. There may be death.

That doesn't seem real. Amethyst has seen people die; she has killed countless in the past year. Maybe she should stop twisting her mind around to recontextualize it into something sane. Maybe that's why she's not afraid right now, and why she so easily asked other people to risk their lives.

Thoughts for another time. The princess nicks her thumb with a conjured needle, dripping enough for her place in the pattern. She is very careful to stare at the circle and no one else.

Booster Gold runs into a little trouble when it comes to drawing blood. Due to the way his super suit interface works, he ends up removing not only his bracers and gloves, but the top half of his suit; as it turns out, it's not a one-piece outfit. While he is standing there in gold pants and piercing his finger for its blood, he says, "I don't want to hear any smart remarks about this." Once he has bled in the appropriate place, he starts pulling the rest of his costume back on.

Raven is here, hood up, cloak drawn about her. It really is a multi-functional piece of equipment, helping her look suitably ominous whilst also prepared to help her combat the cold of the journey. When she's asked to shed blood, the daughter of Trigon pauses momentarily... but, she figures, if there's one man on Earth who knows what he is asking, it is the Sorcerer Supreme.

So she gives her blood without a word, and the grey-skinned girl observes the others from underneath her hood. She's tense, and that tension radiates from her despite her effort to control it. For the second time in a horribly short period, she's having to thrust herself into an impossibly dangerous situation. But this is what she came to Earth to do. She won't turn away. She also won't be very chatty, though. And she'll mostly hover in the background awkwardly.

Once Gilad had feared death.

THat had been thousands of years ago, however. And then he died, and was brought back after the Great Cataclysm.

Now death held no fears.

A dagger is drawn from its shealth on his body, and then plunged into his hand. Holding out a dripping palm, the Eternal Warrior's blood joins the rest.

And that is why Vorpal quickly shuts his mouth, just as Booster says that. So he simply draws his own blood to contribute to the hemoglobin potluck. He wasn't very concerned about the cold, by virtue of both the fact that his body was covered in fur, and that Edna's costume had been designed to withstand extreme temperatures.

Or that's what he hoped for. This was going to be a test run.

"It's alright, I know how to wash the stench of death from my fur." He had, after all, plunged into the eye of the Loa of the Dead and rattled around for a while in there. Why? Because it seemed like a good idea at the time. The concept was a work in progress for the young greenhorn.

Wisdom's not saying anything at all; he's taken the point next to the Princess, and every once in a while, there's an involuntary violent shiver. This ritual is altogether too much like one that went very wrong, a very long time ago.

But he gave his word. When he's passed the dagger Strange used, eventually -- 'sharp things' -- he hesitates as if looking for the least damaging place to cut himself like an emo kid, then expressionlessly does so: there's no flinch when he makes the incision, but there is when his blood joins the rest. Every experience he's ever had with magic involving blood screams alarm at his idiocy. He passes the dagger along.

GOD, she's late - luckily where she was isn't too far from Strange's townhouse as the hero flies, but Ali is still feeling really rushed and therefore more ridiculous than usual. Landing hard outside and then beating feet through the corridors in enough time to be pointed annoyedly in the right direction by Wong, Alison shows up in enough time to see everyone drawing their own blood and staring at a thing on the floor.

"Are we going to Hell now?" Ali asks, not QUITE panting from the exertion but nearly, cutting the palm of her hand with the dagger from Pete, giving the grim Brit a sheepish half smile and the lousy joke coming to her even as she bleeds into the pattern because everyone else is doing it. "Is this our handbasket?" Anyone else need a pointy thing?

The Defenders arrive in a considerably spacious frozen cavern. It is dimly-lit with some ambience without apparent source. Enough to glean the gist of the surroundings by, but liable to induce eye-strain if one were to spend a few months peering around in the demi-murk. Thankfully they are not going to stay here for a few months. They are alone for the moment, apparently. Icicles descend from the ceiling like fangs and claws, stabbing murderously from above. Snow lies piled around the frozen floor, and mounded up along the walls. There are various passages evident, the tunnels beyond in some cases having been closed off when they collapsed and hundreds of tons of ice, snow, and rock simply rushed to fill the empty space from the ceiling. A worrisome thought, that. This place is not necessarily stable.

Oh, and then there's the whole fact that there is a pervasive aura of death magic, like a miasma that is not entirely invisible in some places. Slithering lines of decay trace the very rocks, as though being inorganic is no defense against this level of necromancy.

Even the earth can rot.

At least the smell of dead things is minimal. The cold seems to be preserving any dead bodies in the area. On the one hand, that is good for the olfactory senses. On the other hand, it means one can't determine if there's some ghoul nearby based on proximity to its putrid form.

Also it is REALLY COLD. Over-all, though unpleasant, and likely dangerous, there are a lot of worse places they could have arrived and under a lot worse conditions. And they even have a magical key to get past any barriers in their way.

Save for an early warning not to leave the path, Strange is silent during the group's descent, and focused on the way forward; there are no rails, no walls, and certainly no safety net(or anything else that could be termed 'a bottom'), so stable footing is key. There's no real sense of getting closer to anything during the climb; the wind never gets any louder or quieter, and after the first minute of walking, there are nearly as many stairs behind as there are in front. The Eye of Agamotto provides some illumination, but it can't - at least on its own - make much more than a dent in the ubiquitous darkness; there's certainly no light at the end of this tunnel.

There is, however, a rush of cold air after a certain point, like stepping out of an air conditioned house into a blizzard; as it breezes by the group, an exit - an icy cave mouth - is visible at the bottom of the endless stairway. A shiver passes through the Sorceror Supreme's body as he draws his cloak tight around himself and quickens his pace down the last few steps. He isn't precisely eager to take point on the group's expedition through the vault, but he does, at least, want to let the Eye learn what it can about the dangers that might be lurking. He won't move more than a couple of feet away from the stairway.

"Gilad, Booster," he distantly murmurs, his own eyes lidded as Agamotto's pans around the cavern, "perhaps you two would like to take the lead from here...?"

Amethyst is the second to enter the ghastly stairwell. She looks over her shoulder, trying to find Pete's gaze, but quickly looks away and continues down.

While the Eye illuminates their path, the princess provides lighting for the party behind her. With a gesture, she crafts a ball of bouncing purple fire. It bounces back and forth behind her back, casting a constant light despite its jaunty pace.

At the bottom, Amethyst dutifully remains next to her master, hands loose and fingers spread. No glitter sword, because Gilad's probably going to vomit scimitars on the first thing that moves and then everything after that. When Raven appears, she gestures, and again at Vorpal. She looks worried, but she looked vaguely worried upstairs, too.

"Put Booster between you and whatever's shooting at us, if you can. Stay out of Ali and Pete's way, they're... artillery. If you need help, tell someone. Even if you can't talk, just think really loud. It'll probably work."

Booster is also silent during the brief journey, mostly tweaking his powersuit to ensure everything is settled back into place. The inundation of cold does move him to say, "Yikes. Brr." Immediately, a faint, body-hugging aura of gold light blinks into life around him. "Sure thing, Doctor Strange. I'm always up for taking point." Booster gives a thumbs-up and a bright smile, as he drifts forward. "And yeah, like Princess Amethyst says, if anyone needs cover feel free to get behind me."

Raven, for her part, floats down the steps. She doesn't want to take the risk that she'll lose her footing, and whilst she concentrates on ensuring she stays on the path, she's also keeping an alert eye out in case someone else should slip or stumble and she needs to move quickly to catch them.

When she makes it to the cave, the cold, and the pervading sense of death, a faint shiver runs down the girl's spine. "Disgusting." She murmurs, largely to herself. When Amethyst offers the advice, though, the half-demon nods her head. Just a slight incline.

"Understood." She says, "I'll concentrate on support, then. I can conjure barriers and if we need a quick exit back here... I may be able to provide one, if everyone is close."

Nodding a calm acknowledgment of Dr. Strange's observation, Gilad sets off to take point, but not before taking a moment to put a hand on Amethyst's shoulder, Gilad whispers, "Watch our rear guard very well. It is vulnerable." And then he moves.

And if Booster happened to be slightly ahead, that was of no consequence to Gilad. After all, Booster would bear the brunt of things with the force field, and buy time for Gilad to stab things with his sword.

And if Booster were knocked unconscious?

Well, the man of gold would make an excellent shillelagh.

He can walk on a wire without missinga beat, so the risky descent isn't as much of a worry for the feline as what is at the bottom. Plus, he can always levitate if things get too tricky.

When Raven replies to Amaya, Keith doesn't add anything else.

~You're certainly unerpowered in this endeavor, aren't you, old chap?~ ~Yeah, well, everybody's underpowered in the long term~ ~Nice, did you read that one on a hallmark card?~ ~How about stopping it with the snark and paying attention? Major evil here about to be unleashed, or some such.~

The cat draws his claws. He and Raven were in the middle, and he didn't know much about what the enigmatic young woman could do, but she must be more of the hand-wavy type of magicians than the in-your-face-here's-a-fireball kind. Whereas he, on the other hand...

Well, he was still working on figuring that out. His ears twitched as they moved, alert for any warnings thanks to his extremely sensitive hearing.

He was also glad that smell was the one sense his transformation did not make comparable to a cat's. This place smelled like what an archeologist from Booster's time might get hit with upon unearthing a buried locker room.

Pete's got kind of a thousand-yard stare going on by the time Amethyst tries to find his gaze; he'd been looking at her until probably three seconds before that. Since, you know, she's ahead of him. Despite the fact that he's in his business gear-- a plain black suit and tie, SHIELD uniform safely hidden underneath where no one (most of all his own self) can be subjected to the image of him in it-- the cold doesn't seem to bother him at all. Once they get there, and roles are being established, Pete says-- pure business-voice-- "Blaire and I can take the rear; we're both good at aiming around people, and no sense in keeping our backs exposed. Doctor, Highness-- would one of you mind setting up that link thing?"

It's a terrible instinct, to natter endlessly while they descend headlong to what could very well be their imminent doom - so instead of chatter, Alison composes. Every so often on their trip down she can be heard humming a few notes; anything to keep from thinking about the smell, the gloom, or why the fact that hell is so damned cold. As plans begun to be made around her - the mention of 'artillery' and 'rear guard' drifts to her ears, and Ali straightens up and reflexively looks behind her. She gives Pete and Amy a silent thumbs-up, but comforts herself with letting the people who know what's going on do the planning.

A tracking spell has already been devised by Strange and Amethyst that will allow them to determine the right path for the group to take. Once employed, it should indicate the path to take. Just one of many ice-rimmed tunnels, no different from the others (or at least not the ones that are still intact, rather than collapsed). It is, unlike the cavern they arrived in, without the sourceless ambient light. They brought their own, of course, so that should not be an issue. Heading down the passage should take them through a cramped tunnel, seemingly more crumbling snow than anything reliably solid. Too much noise might bring down who-knows-how-many-tons of ice and rock on their heads. Some of them might be able to survive that, but probably not all, and it would prove an issue for either retreating under such weight or advancing -- to say nothing of the trip back.

Thankfully, though the tunnel narrows to a claustrophobic degree at some points, the ceiling even lowering at times until they have to practically crawl, eventually it opens up again with only a few drizzles of disrupted snow upon their heads and backs and forcefields. What it opens up into is another matter entirely on the unpleasantness scale. It's an actual hallway, clearly artificial, with walls of mostly smooth ice to either side. Room for the group to walk two-abreast on a floor that transitions from completely snow-covered to partially-snow-covered black tiles.

There is illumination here in the form of large, formless blobs of ghostly-blue light that seem to be floating past somewhere within the thick ice walls, behind several feet of frozen water. Some move slowly, others darting by quickly, but there is no indication of what they are exactly and they don't seem to react if the group approaches or passes them. It's somewhat beautiful in a haunting, supernatural sort of way.

All-in-all, for the lair of a necromancer it has been fairly undefended so far.

"Gentle flame," the Doctor intones, turning to hold a hand near the purple fire that trailed his student here, "who has guided us this far: light our way through this house of death."

The bouncing fire jolts to a sharp stop, hovering before Strange's palm for several seconds before eventually jetting down one of the tunnels with a soft *fwoosh!*. Spindly streaks of purple shoot through the ice in its wake, glowing just beneath the surface as if frozen in the architecture of this dreary place; it'll be gone by the time it rounds its first corner, but those guiding lights continue well past that point.

"Thank you," he murmurs to Amethyst before setting off after Gilad and Booster. The Eye will, as in the stairway, provide some light for the advance guard once the deathly ambience fades away--though when they come to point of having to crawl their way through this necromantic stronghold, he douses that light rather than, say, making everyone hate him by blinding them. At least he doesn't seem to be in any danger of slowing the trek down; despite the grey at his temples, he's reasonably capable of keeping up.

When they finally emerge into the blob-lit hallway, the Eye snaps open again; rather than provide illumination, it just observes as Strange takes a moment to stretch his limbs.

Amethyst opens her mouth to respond to Gilad, but decides against it, merely nodding. She looks meaningfully at Raven. She heard the man, too. "Barriers are good. We might need a lot."

The princess moves away from the rear section, just in time to see Strange turn her cheery little fireball into a trailblazer dashing to the dark heart of the place. She watches it go, with only a wiggle of her fingers to send it off.


 * "Alright. Vishanti Decoder Rings, engaged."|

Or she was casting a spell. Amethyst proceeds after her teacher, her silence enforced by the ominous threat of this place.

Booster was flying slowly at the front of the group, initially. When they reach the hallway, he lands and walks, instead; it has occured to him that if there are any pressure plates or things that might pick up the sound or vibration of walking, it'd be a good idea if they targetted -him- rather than anyone walking behind him. The blobs of light within the walls seem to interest him. |"There aren't any ice fish on this planet, in this era, are there?"| It's a passing thought, but 'loud' enough to get detected through the link.

Raven, having confirmed her job in the group, remains quiet throughout the journey. Picking up on the nerves, the fear and the doubt of her team has not done much to improve her mood, and the crushing claustrophobia that threatens sudden, icy death has the dour girl even more dour than she usually is. Her lips remain pressed together, and when, at points, she's forced to make contact with the floor rather than float above it, she narrows her eyes. There isn't a single thing about the feel of this place that she actually likes. It is starting to get to her.

Emerging is a small mercy, but one she seizes gladly. Moving at a careful pace so as to maintain the formation they'd decided on, the girl keeps her wits about her, and just trusts that the Princess and the Doctor will be able to find what they need. Perhaps, the lack of resistance is a good thing. But there's a part of her which is just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and something terrible to happen.

It wasn't as though Gilad had a flaming sword. Just good old steel. Although where magic was concerned, iron might be better. Or silver.

Then again, considering this was Eclipso, well... flash-bangs and flashlights would work just as well.

The observation of the walls has Gilad creeping silently after securing all his equipment to make as little noise as possible.

It's when they emerge that Gilad brings his head up to study the ghostly-blue lights all the more closely. Such things reminded him of the magical encounters he had, and it seemed rather odd that Eclipso's lair would have such things about. A quick glance towards Doctor Strange, an arched eyebrow asking an unspoken question.

The cat maintains formation for a while, until an idea comes to his mind. If something decided to attack them unexpectedly, it would do well to have an unexpected line of defense. Casting a quick illusion so that it appears that he is still there, the cat becomes invisible and leaves his illusory self behind, marching in line as he hovers into the air, invisible above the group of his peers with his illusory double in place. He doesn't try to communicate just yet- because, in his paranoid thought, he wonders if maybe whatever evil is in here can hear their thoughts as they try to communicate?

If that was the case, his camouflage might give the team just a little advantage. Or maybe he was being unnecessarily paranoid.

The Eye of Agamotto snaps to a spot on the floor ahead of them, then scans up to stare at the left-hand wall; the Doctor's own eyes slide fully open, and after sharing a concerned look with Gilad, he turns his gaze towards the rest of the group.


 * "There are wards,"| he announces. |"One that resonantes with earth magic here--"| He turns to point to the floor, |"--and another with water magic here."| He gestures towards the wall, then cups both hands around the Eye. |"They will trigger if we move by them; if one of you could kindly do something about the surfaces the wards are inscribed upon, the Princess and I can keep their effects at bay."|

There's not a whole lot of sound or thought coming from Pete-- mostly he's trying to suppress his own usual warmth enough not to actually leave handprints in the tunnel as they crawl. When they get out, he's not got much in the way of snow to dust off. |"Fire and air aren't an issue at the moment?"| Wisdom's mental voice, clipped and clear, comes through. |"If not, I'll get the water; Blaire can get the earth. Counters."|


 * "Depends on if they need countering or matching, Wiz,"| Alison responds in kind. |"But I'm game for either, just let me know which and what to do - obliterate, inscribe, whatevs."| Lacing her knuckles together and then extending her arms in a crackling stretch, Ali stretches her neck to one side and then the other. Action time soon.


 * "There are no fire or air wards within the range of my senses,"| the Doctor thinks in time with the steady pulse of the Eye in its Amulet, |"I would not, that said, put much past our host."|

Secret Agent Englishman crouches and sends a handful of furnace-hot shards of plasma skipping across the surface of the wards that resonate with water. If they're engraved in ice, they'll be gone that much faster. |"Not a lot of choice in the matter. To infinity and beyond."|

Arms outstretched, Ali just nods - lances of light skip out from her fingertips and dance across the earth wards in splashes of brilliant color. |"Hopefully there's no falling with style involved."|

The circle in the wall flickers with mystical energy briefly, exposing the previously concealed design on the ice's surface when Pete damages the edge. Assuming Strange and Amethyst actually can, as-advertised, contain the effects or channel the released magic away so it doesn't actually activate, the walls of ice do not suddenly turn to liquid and flood the hallway with a large lake's worth of water. Likewise, when Dazzler takes out the circle on the floor, hidden by the snow, that magic is released and if it is channeled away before it can activate, the obsidian tiles that comprise the floor do not suddenly rise up in a nest of sharpened stone spears that turn and twist at various angles incase someone is capable of fast dodging. No, it just flickers and dies.

Yep. No other traps here. Definitely nothing invisible or hidden.

The big glowing things behind the ice walls continue swimming/floating/flying around without any attention paid to the disruption of the defenses.

Amethyst will, ultimately, have to handle whatever magic is unleashed on her own, because Strange ends up being too preoccupied with staring at the ground a ways ahead of the already-indicated ice ward; hopefully, she's been keeping up with her homework. The cause of Strange's distraction is unclear--until, that is, the two wards begin to break down, and a third gradually fades into view down the hall, hovering just above the ground.


 * "An alarm,"| he remarks, almost as an after-thought.

The sigils composing it are, like the Eye of Agamotto, pulsating as they come into view, as if alive; unlike the Eye of Agamotto, the rate of these palpitations ramps up rather steadily until the ward eventually shatters, at which point the Eye snaps shut and the Doctor exhales heavily. Rather than rest, though, he keeps his hands raised--just in case his student needs an assist.


 * "Alright, I'm ready on my end--"|

Amethyst raises her hands, fingers slightly curled, ready to grapple with the titanic arcane forces that the Sorcerer Supreme is asking for help with. The first sigil begins to melt, and the princess steps forward, thrusting out a hand wreathed in fairy-lights. |"Got it!"|

Everything stays frosty. She grins, feeling the mystical energy flowing into a clever essence trap lifted from one of Strange's old tomes. Dazzler pierces the second.


 * "--doc? DOC."|

Several tiles shudder and twist. Spears shoot up, ringing the group, advancing inward. "Really?!"

The princess raises her other hand, looking between the two--signified only by the sparkles dancing around them, she controls a magical essence designed to melt and has no space to hold the magical essence designed to change. Her purple eyes widen, glimmering in the light. Wordlessly, she makes an arcing gesturing to the floor.

The spears thrust closer--and then melt into a giant puddle of liquid tile. Amethyst stares at it, then glances around for reactions. |"Um. That nearly sucked."|

When Doctor Strange made his warning, Booster stopped moving forward. As the sigils are dealt with, he remains just where he is and does not even flinch--apparently he -really- trusts the abilities of the people he is with. Is this kind of faith a good thing or a bad thing?


 * "Well, sooner or later someone was going to know we were here"| Booster thinks, in a philosophical manner. He takes a few steps forward, before he wonders, |"We -are- still pressing on, right?"|

Raven feels like something isn't quite right, and it takes her a few moments to realize exactly what it is. The girl's eyes narrow as they turn on the glowing points of light. Her voice - even in telepathy - is strikingly controlled. Her emotions held firmly in check, there's no fear in her when she notes |"Those lights are full of hunger. The alarm may be a dinner bell."| just mild interest, as though discussing the fact they are surrounded by strange, dangerous, hungry spirits is completely normal.

When the tiles start to rise, Raven raises one hand from her cloak, her eyes flash, and black energy swirls around her hand... and then Amethyst gets on top of it, and the black energy dies away as quickly as it had begun to form. Her hand falls back to her side, and she exhales. |"Good catch."|

Traps. Of course.

Eclipso's name is taken in vain, as Gilad thinks ancient curses against motherless spawn of vengeance, the meaning of which is probably all too clear to the party. Apparently drawing and quartering was -too- good for Eclipso.

With some traps apparently disabled, Gilad does exactly what Booster was suggesting, pressing on, keeping an eye out for other traps. Floor, walls, ceilings... any signs of strange depressions that conceals springs or such. Sigils long hidden, something that might be triggered.

And if there's something that looks even possibly a physical trap in origin, well... |"Gold. Come here."|

Yeah, okay, at this point, Pete's also staying shut up again: his eyes are glowing a dull orange, his hands matching, the fingertips lightening to a brighter yellow. He just watches, clearly on edge; when the heart attacks seem to be over, he continues to follow, generally keeping his attention on what's behind the group. Making sure the way they used to get in hasn't visibly collapsed, or at least, isn't progressively collapsing behind them as far as he can see when there're corners; he's keeping an eye on the bluish ghost-lights. There's really-- not a lot else he's equipped to do until the shit really hits the fan.

Immediate dangers - or at least obvious ones for which she is equipped to deal with - out of sight, Dazzler stays close enough to Pete to shield him if she needs to, but he's keeping enough of an eye out to cue for danger and everyone else is taking their turns at searching out and dealing with traps.... Dazzler goes back to her composing. The humming is a little louder now, bars of a tune becoming more solid while she works out a 'hook.'

Now that the spectre of traps has been raised, Booster allows Gilad to lead; while Booster can spot general anomalies, one needs more than this to recogize deathtraps. When the ancient warrior finds the more physical examples and calls to him, he flies forward and purposely triggers them--withstanding brute force trauma is probably one of Booster Gold's foremost powers. Even when he gets seemingly crushed or stabbed or knocked around, he gets up and shakes it off.

When Booster triggers the trap, something unexpected happens. The icy ceiling shatters under the weight of a crushing object of some kind, true, but the object in question is like a ricketty iron-wrought platform on a cable, giving it an almost elevator-like appearance. When this hits Booster on the head, a trio of half-frozen corpses standing on the platform also topple from it onto the floor, and scramble to their feet, champing their blackened teeth, hissing with their gumless mouths, eyes coated in frost staring blankly from faces partiallye-erroded, and simply attempt to leap upon Booster and slash at him with long, sharp claws. If they can penetrate his force field or not is yet to be determined, but the three ghouls clearly have the intent to tear him apart and at least the strength to possibly knock him down -- by surprise if nothing else -- and the determination to keep trying to eliminate the intruder.

If attacked, they take damage like any other dead human being. They just don't necessarily stop moving right away, their reanimating magics keeping them twitching for several minutes afterwards.

It seems even the conventional traps in this place are unconventional.

Also the hall that the corner turns into appears to be unoccupied presently, and to lead into another large open space of some kind like the cavern they arrived in, only much darker.

"My apologies," the Doctor quietly says, touching one hand to Amethyst's shoulder as the other falls to his side. "The alarm--disabling it was more troublesome than I anticipated." After a quick glance down at the black pools at their feet, he adds, "Thank you for carrying my slack," then presses forward.


 * "Let us hope that the walls hold,"| he muses after a few steps, glancing from them to Raven. |"Hungry spirits are dang--"| *KRSH-THOOM!*


 * "Booster--Gilad!"|

The Doctor takes off down the hallway, hands aglow with eldritch might. He holds off on actually lobbing any bolts or hexes, however, at least for the moment, due to a mixture of confidence in his teammates and the pragmatic desire to hold off on expending more energy on Sasha Alkaev's defenses if he doesn't need to.

"It's cool, doc," Amethyst nodding briskly, coming down from the adrenaline. "I--I didn't even see the alarm."

She resumes her place as Strange's understudy, flinching each time Booster eats a giant mace or gets slammed between animated pillars. Repetition is the herald of inattention, because all she does is flinch when the next trap disgorges honest to god necromantic minions.

Strange's call snaps her out of it--the princess gestures grandly before her, weaving the beginnings of a spell to pluck the animating impulse from the corpses. |"I got it--"| she's not worried about Booster being eaten, especially with Gilad right there, |"--I'm the one with infinite mana."|

As soon as the ghouls are disentangled from their target, she strikes at their mystical centers, a blast of spring wind rushing over their bodies.

When Booster initially gets clobbered by the cage-like thing dropping out of the ceiling, it knocks him down flat. He is lifting it off and on one knee when the animate corpses tackle him. That knocks him over again, although he is trying to not send the cage flying, lest it hit a teammate or crack a wall. It thumps down, further along the hall. |"I'm okay"| he communicates, shoving at the corpses that are clawing and pulling at him, managing to get to one knee and finally having to fly just a little in order to stand up under the assault.

Raven's expression as she watches Booster trigger the traps is, well, pretty much the exact same expression she's worn through most of the exploration so far. She can't deny it was effective, but it does seem... reckless, and there's a faint noise of disapproval at that. She does not like people putting themselves in harms way needlessly; the eternal healer's lament.

She is keeping her attention on the surroundings, rather than the immediate danger, trusting that Amethyst, Booster and Gilead will be able to look after that threat, she is concerned either the noise or another trap may alert something else... perhaps from that yawning darkness... so her attention is focused elsewhere.

This, on the other hand, was an eternal warrior's battle cry.

Gilad, on the other hand, doesn't seem fazed at all by the ghouls.

Steel flashes as Gilad cleaves, hacks, and slashes his way towards Booster. Halves of ghouls are essentially flung -behind- him so that he can concentrate on just making the path clear, leaving the others to deal with still-moving parts as he hacks his way through towards Booster.

And when he gets close, a spiked fist is driven in through blackened teeth, all the way through and clashing off Booster's force field, blood and brains splashing off.

Another ghoul's limbs are cleanly hacked off, and a kick delivered to the torso to keep far and away, until at last the path is clear, although Booster might well be pretty drenched in indescripable remains.

And Gilad's teeth flashes bright white in the middle of ghoul-soaked ichor. "BRING ME MORE!"


 * "Gold! You still all right?"| Wisdom sends through the magical mental linkup, glancing behind him at Ali, he gestures up in the air. |"You want to disintegrate the outliers? This feels like a distraction."|

Having absolutely zero interest in being covered in anything gory or disgusting, even in Hell, Dazzler gets right to work: |"Love to."| Finger-guns raised, a flurry of laser-blasts strikes out in a barrage of rainbow colors to zap the gooey remains into atoms.

Once the ghouls are dealt with, there appear to be no more traps, mundane or otherwise, either in the hall they just passed through or the next one (considerably shorter and with an identifiable end in sight). Travel proceeds. The next section appears to be more than just walls of ice. It is really big, and really dark, and truly cavernous, and just as cold as the rest thus far, but much of the ground is made up of more obsidian tiles. No pressure plates, no wards, no magic circles. At some point the obsidian floor ends and turns to slippery ice. It's too dark and large to light up the entire room without a very powerful light source. And maybe one or more people have such immediately available. But is it really a good idea to light up the place and basically yell, 'HERE WE ARE'? On the other hand, undead guardians don't necessarily need light to see by (though they might). Maybe they even rely on other senses, like sound and smell. That would mean not using ANY light to traverse the big cavern would leave the Defenders at a disadvantage -- not only for dealing with attackers but also for spotting more traps and threats.

So there it is. Risk discovery by sight, or use a controlled light source to navigate across an unidentifiably large ice surface. Maybe they can fly over?

Infact, that idea may become much more likely to be chosen if any light source is brought out. Because it seems that though their outlines are merely shadows -- silhouettes of human-like bodies, with hands trailing out like some exotic fish's fins -- it is clear there are things swimming under the ice. They probably will react if someone attempts to cross the ice on foot.

Regardless of what method is attempted, there is another non-ice floor across this frozen lake. And that floor is attached to a wall as black as the darkness all around, meant to blend in into the shadows and not show up unless someone is close enough. A free-standing section of wall on an island of black marble, in the middle of a frozen lake... A wall with a door in it. There's nothing on the other side of the wall, but the door is clearly magical. The skull-shaped lock in place of a doorknob has a keyhole too. So getting across safely would allow for people to leave this place behind and move on.

How fortunate they have a magic key to open doors with.

The power of the ineffable Vishanti is put to good use in cleaning up any stray bits of ichor that may have ended up stuck on some Defender or another during Gilad's rampage: a a beseechment here, a weird, glowy hand gesture there, and any potentially infectuous remnants are transmuted into harmless sparkles.


 * "Is everyone well?"| the Doctor wonders, looking the group over briskly after the last ghoul has been felled. Once he's satisfied that they are, he'll continue onwards with a tacked on, |"Good."|

The Eye cracks once or twice as they proceed, remaining open just long enough to confirm that there's nothing to see before snapping shut again--until, that is, the obsidian tiles give way to slippery ice and the hungry ghosts to--well, nothing. The mystical trinket doesn't - can't? - provide much more light than what is necessary to cast a spooky glow across Strange's features, but even that is enough to provide a glimpse of the monsters underfoot. Which is why his feet leave the ice once he sees what's swimming down there. Rather than simply fly onwards, however, he gestures beneath himself, then raises his hands and warns, |"Trying to walk over these--creatures--would be unwise; for those of you who can't fly..."| before letting his eyes slide most of the way shut and beginning to murmur a supplication to a Babylonian wind god.

It's a rather long prayer, but it will - given time - get the job of giving flight to the flightless.

The party continues. Amethyst keeps up the pace. This seems way too easy. Easy enough that her mind is starting to wander, anyway. Maybe they brought enough people, and it's just that simple. As a compromise between her conscious desire to stay alert and unconscious desire to start meticulously analyzing last night's disastrous walk home with Pete, she settles on getting Dazzle Me stuck in her head. It's kinda related.

The tune goes off track as the princess realizes just how big this cavern is. No flame right now, no light, not even the traveler's light that only she can see. Not unless Strange says. Strange says fly, so Amethyst brushes a hand through the air and is buoyed into the sky by a gentle breeze.

She turns around, hair whirling above her, watching the others and also inspecting the dark shapes below. The princess shivers. |"Anyone else feel like we're due for something terrible?"|

Maybe jinxes don't exist as a concept in Gemworld.


 * "Ugh. I'm still fine"| Booster assures the others. |"Just grossed out."| Gilad may be asking for more, but Booster clearly has had more than enough. He is almost completely covered with gore, although his hair still seems unruffled, thanks to that force field. Opening his arms a bit, he turns and gives Dazzler a pleading look, and then 'bathes' in the searing light of one of her blasts, letting it burn away the remains clinging to him. |"I am -so glad- I can't smell any of that, right now."|

When the team reaches the large cavern, Booster hovers into the air, and even damps down the faint glow that surrounds him into nothing; the force field is still there, but in its most invisible form. |"I go through life thinking I'm due for something terrible, it saves time"| Booster explains, sounding cheerful even through this link. He floats forward, then, clearly ready and willing to take point once more.

Raven's voice is level as ever, as the obstacles become more clear. |"I can take across anyone who needs it. It will be quicker, Sorcerer Supreme. Gather round. Don't be afraid."| A moment's pause before she adds, and it is so difficult to tell if she's joking, curse her deadpan voice. |"And don't, throw up."|

If anyone does take her up on the offer, they are in for an interesting experience. From the outside, Raven is surrounded by dark tendrils which form over a few seconds into a black bird made of indistinct energy, an eight foot wingspan with eyes of white lightning. Her soul made manifest, it is entirely intangible, and makes not even a whisper of noise as it glides silently through the air, high above the lake, to touch down in front of the door. If anyone took her up on the offer, they are swallowed in the darkness that surrounds Raven as it forms, a sudden, lurching sensation of falling...

And from the inside, the few seconds it takes to make the journey are spent in an entirely different place. From the outside, she's black. On the inside? Blue. There a sense of immense space, much of which is empty bar floating rocks and debris in a yawning star-strewn void. She was at least kind enough to ensure there's solid rock underfoot. As her mind is clear and without fear, it is a relatively calm few moments... a sense of immense inner peace, rather than the gnawing presence of death which has suffused the journey so far. There's just long enough for people to start to catch a glimpse of /shapes/, darkness somehow thicker than the rest, which doesn't seem quite so peaceful...

And then that reality would melt away as well, leaving them - and Raven, as the energy solidifies into a solid, and much smaller, shape once again - in front of the door. The girl's hood up, her back to the lake, and any passengers comfortably set down around her.

Continuing to drip little bits of ghoul as he tromps along, Gilad seems reluctant to accept Raven's offer, but does so, anyway.

And then darkness, an unpleasant sensation, immense space...

And when Gilad emerges from the Raven's shadow, there's a grunt of acknowledgement, and then the eternal warrior steers farther away from the demoness, and much more closer towards the Princess.

Once the mass teleport's over, Pete-- doesn't throw up. He looks a little green, maybe, and almost staggers, but hey there are way more interesting things to look at right now than the skinny guy in the suit. Right? Right. So instead, he pretty much automatically takes out and lights a cigarette. |"Murphy's Law,"| he thinks at the rest of them in response to Amethyst's jinxing. |"Smoke 'em if you got 'em. If you don't, I got spares."|

Everyone lands safely on the small island of black marble with the wall section and the imbedded door. Whatever is under the ice isn't going to get to them. No, everything seems to be going as-planned, jinxes or not.

Then the empty sockets in the skull-lock light up, and its mouth opens, and it screams the loudest, most high-pitched scream anyone here has likely heard from an animated skull in their lives. It keeps yelling and howling and SCREECHING. And the ice all around splinters, cracks, and then shatters. It's not from the sound though. As hideous black things like a hybrid of a human wraith and a fish start to crawl and slither their way up out of the water and onto the ice, converging on the source of the sound, the island LURCHES. Something else is underneath the island they stand upon (except perhaps for those who can fly and take off quickly enough).

A dense pillar of hundreds of drowned faces stitched together, with long, black, smoke-and-hate tendrils like a cross between shadow and vapor. The Defenders are standing on its head.

It doesn't seem to be happy about this.