There Wolf, There Castle [IC]

[Quinn]

"Yours ain't much better, bidse"

Crow grinned beneath his hood as he somehow appeared from thin air right below her arms, his clenched fist glowing with a rumbling power as he struck right into the villain's gut. A second rune flared along with the first as he drove the fist deep, the earthen glow changing abruptly to something grim and ethereal. The twin energies lashed into Marinette's form, and Crow gave the exact same mocking laugh, tweaking her nose insolently as he vanished before her eyes. His voice echoed through the room yet again...

"Póg mo thóin, bidse! Hah! Is that the best y'got? Tearin' apart some poor helpless banister? Y're as scary as a lil' puppy, Mar-Mar!"

Alright, keep her off-balance, she's easy to hit, but she'll take a hell of a lot more than that. Damn, feels like I just punched bloody sheet metal...

[trollthumper]

Marinette snarled to the heavens, her eyes darting around the room. "If you would have the courage to stay your feet..." Her eyes locked on Dead Head, and a wicked smile crossed her face. Moving with an unnatural grace, she crossed the room, her unnatural talons glinting in the firelight. With a screech like an owl hunting prey, she drove the claws into the revenant's chest, dragging deep. "Or perhaps you would like to see me cut your friends to pieces. My children are hungry, after all..."

[Ecalsneerg]

Scholar bounded towards Marinette with ferocious speed, clawed feet scrabbling as her lips drew back over scaly gums to reveal the jagged, knife-like teeth in her maw. "I think it's time you just gave in. A bunch of overgrown canines can't hope to stand up to me." She leapt at the goddess, hurling her full body mass into a powerful body slam, inaccurate but with a lot of momentum behind it.

"GnnnnaaaaAAAAAAAAAARGHSSSSSSSSSSSH"

[trollthumper]

Marinette nimbly ducked under Scholar's mass, bringing her claws up once more with a flourish. "You're no regular dead man, are you?" she said to Dead Head. "You have Legba's hound. And I can smell Papa Ghede on you." She clicked the talons together with a sound like darning needles. "I never did have much love for those two..."

Her reverie was interrupted, however, by a flying piano. Nick Cimitiere had rushed into the room and found Marinette aiming to strike at Dead Head. He suffused the area with his will, drawing up spectral hands that fought against his influence, dripping with silver blood -- what the hell happened here? -- and picked up the ruined piano and hurled it towards Marinette. The strange history of the place was a stronger obstacle than Nick had expected, however, and the rebellious hands caused the piano to miss the loa and take out a stray werewolf.

"Impressive trick, bokor," she said, her words dripping venom. "Whatever will you do for an encore?"

"Well, I'm good at card tricks, sawing lovely assistants in half--" The stray ectoplasm in the room slowly began to coalesce on his hands. "...and brute force exorcisms."

[Aoiroo]

"Hey Marny, you shouldn't forget about the other preformers."

Running straight at the loa she held her pale hand out which was flattened like a blade extending from her arm. She sliced it at the loa but missed her completely in an exaguarrated motion that was just a foot or so from the target. This didn't surprise Sil at all as her hand returned to it's normal form and joined the other into a cartwheel that propelled Sil forward cover the last bit of distance to have a bladed foot right down the wolf patrons dehydrated form. Sil smiled as she felt the hit connect and followed through until she was on her feet once more,

"Though I don't have as many tricks, my acrobatics are absolutely killer."

[Dr Archeville]

Marinette's hands, up almost to her elbow, were covered in gore from the revenant she'd struck, but he seemed no worse for wear, despite now having a large hole in him.

Alright, if'n that's how it's gonna be...

The organs spilling out of his rent stomach began to twitch, then reared up! The zombie's own intestines danced and writhed like swaying cobras, and seemed focused on the withered werewolf woman!

"'Ey, Marinette!," Dead Head called as he leaped towards her, arms -- and intestines -- stretching out for her, "give us a hug!"

[Quinn]

As Marinette struggled against Dead Head's winding arms and intestines, she felt a presence behind her...which was abruptly followed by her head being placed in a very, very painful sleeper hold. Crow's voice hissed in her ear as he carefully applied pressure, cutting off the loa's circulation.

"Hello, beastie."

A quick exertion, and he pulled upwards, gritting his teeth with the effort to both hold her down and knock her out.

"This is our town, bidse. And you just lost. Call off your dogs, and get the hell out of here."

[trollthumper]

Marinette turned to Crow. "You think you can hold the mother of freedom in these simple bonds?" she spat. "Never! I'm the beast who stalks the night, children. And I know exactly what picks at human hearts." She opened her mouth, and a terrifying scream echoed through the hall. Nick had a brief vision of an owl letting loose a cry of victory as it descended on a mouse, talons bared. In a few seconds, the vision passed.

"Don't think screaming's gonna help much," Nick said to the bound loa. "But you're welcome to try."

[Ecalsneerg]

Snarling over the screech, Scholar banked around, rearing up on her rear talons to bring her huge red front paws to bear, moving with unearthly speed. "Give up," came the guttural sound through clenched fangs. "Or I will hit you again. On reflection..." She swung her whole upper body around, powerful front paws hitting Marinette in the side, like a club of bone and muscle.

The Loa wasn't even scratched. "... On reflection, that wasn't a good idea."

[trollthumper]

Marinette stared down Scholar. "And where are you from, little beastie?" she said. "Beyond the moon and the stars? I know everything that shrieks, screams, and hungers on this side of creation; you think I ain't ever seen the likes of you?"

"Kinda doubt it." The loa looked up as Nick bore down on her, giant claws wrought from the stuff of death glinting in the firelight. "But it kept you interested long enough." The claws found home, plunging through the flesh of Marinette's host -- leaving no scar or wound, but causing Marinette to let out a terrible screech that caused some of her werewolf troops to cringe in pain, opening them up for attack by Lukos's pack. The scream soon cut off, and Marinette flashed a maniacal grin at Nick. "You know how to use those."

"What can I say? Lots of practice."

[Aoiroo]

Sil gave a light and invisible scowl to the bound and battered beastly witch,

"You're surrounded, bound, and we've pretty much been playing ping pong with your mummified hide since we got here. It is over, you're not going to win, heck any chance of you being rescued by your pack of patsies is being taken care of by some 'real' werewolves outside. So I'd like to formally ask,"

Raising her leg as she did so she dropped a sharp axe kick down on the loa's back,

"That you shut up, and stay the hell down."

[Dr Archeville]

"G'awn t'sleep now," Dead Head cooed as he wrapped his arms and intestines around her tighter... tighter... tighter... until at last the loa-ridden woman passed out.

Woo! She's a tough one!

"Hey, Nick," the zombie called to the necromancer, "ya think ya can unhook these two?"

[trollthumper]

The possessed woman let out a strangled, owl-like screech before slumping to the ground. The spectacle was like seeing a puppet with its strings cut; the woman's eyes were clearly open, and Marinette was fighting for control from behind them. But she was also trying to fight her host body's natural functions, and its natural functions desperately wanted the body to pass out.

"Well, usually it ain't so easy," Nick said. "The cheval invites the loa within, and creates a binding that ties the spirit to its very soul. 'Course, given the battering the host's taken, her general inclinations, and the fact that I already raked a few of those ties with my claws... a little bit of trimming, and..." Nick drove the palm of his hand to the woman's side. "Begone, Marinette Bwa Chech! Begone from this host, from this world, and from this piece-of-crap hotel! And take your walking throw rugs with you!"

The host jolted, her head shooting backwards. A horrific screech filled the room as a spiritual maelstrom kicked up. It blended with a terrible howl, as the red-eyed werewolves fell to the ground, clawing at the rug and struggling to retain control. There was a feeling of something unseen tearing, and the wolves collapsed to the ground, slowly returning to human form. The cry cut off, and the host fell to the ground, unconscious.

"See? It's just a matter of asking nicely."

[Quinn]

Crow gently lowered the woman down, closing her eyes with his hand as he placed her on the ground. He stayed kneeling briefly, checking her pulse and forehead, before moving to his feet and cracking his neck.

"Well, I'll have to remember that. When faced with a ugly ancient spirit who wants to rip off my face, I'll just ask them nicely not to."

His brogue disappeared, and his tone was jocular as he chucked Nick's shoulder with his fist, grinning.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Huh," said Scholar, melting upwards and back into a humanoid form again. "You've got some tough supers in these parts. I thought she'd never stop." She blinked her bulging yellow eyes shut then re-opened them as her usual green ones.

"So... what do we do with the host? She's going to have to awaken eventually, so we've only got so much time to deal with her. Call the authorities to take her into custody?"

[Aoiroo]

"That's a good question,"

Glancing over at Scholar as she returned to a more humaniod form before looking back at the woman they just beat the living tar out of.

"If she was invited, that means that the woman could be held responsible, but only if the woman herself was the one who invited her in. Someone else might of used her as a substitute and forced the werewolf chick in against her will. Either way, would the regular police be able to deal if this is actually a magic user who can channel gods, or even a victum who would need serious therapy. Maybe we should let her over to the Freedom League so that they can investigate this more thoroughly."

[Dr Archeville]

Dead Head lowered the now unridden woman to the ground, then stuffed his intestines back into his body. Once back in, the large gash she'd torn in him moments before healed back up.

I'll have t'remember that trick! Hrm, wonder who'd be best t'ask, Nick or Phantom?

"Hrm, Siren's on the League, so she'd know a thing or two about this. Nick an' me know a few other folks we can turn the gal over to, too, folks who'll know what t'do with her, in case we cain't get in touch with Siren."

"So, uh, not t'sound ungrateful for yer help, but... " the super-zombie looked at Crow, Scholar, and Silhouette, "who are you people? You," he nodded to wards Sil, "seem vaguely familiar, but I think y'other two are new t'Freedom. "

[Aoiroo]

Sil looked away while Dead Head put himself back together she only glanced back when he addressed them directly. Or the general them, she hadn't met him before today after all.

"I go by Silhouette and I'm not surprised I haven't really met you before now since I'm usually beating down the drug scene over in the Fens. I've been active for the last ten months or so."

Reaching into her pocket she suddenly remembered she was missing her gloves because of the distraction from earlier and let out a sigh. She doubted she'd find them again, if they weren't just ripped appart by whatever wolves went after them.

"I'd have to ask the same, I know you're Dead Head, and Nick Cimitere, don't think I've heard of anybody fitting either of your discriptions."

She pointed over at the other woman and the youngest member of the group respectively.

[Quinn]

Crow stood over Marinette and gave Dead Head a thumbs-up, his eyes smiling over the bandanna. Oddly, he seemed unconcerned by Dead Head's zombie status, in fact, he seemed quite at ease around everyone.

"Name's Crow, my slightly-decomposed friend. The one and only. If spirits are in trouble, I'll be there. If Fomorians are raising heck, I'll be there. If walking furballs are squatting in your run-down hotel...well, I kind of stumbled into this one by accident, but I'll still be there! Eventually!"

Morgan was tempted to strike a pose, but he stuffed it down and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. This is so cool! Just like my dad and the League way back when! Man, wait 'till I send a letter home about this, eat your heart out, mom...

[Ecalsneerg]

"I'm Je- the Scholar," said Scholar, momentarily forgetting the codename convention was more strongly adhered to on Earth. Damn, damn, damn... "I'm a xenobiologist, studying alien life, to catalogue it, and well..."

She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "Being able to turn into it is generally a nice perk too." She examined her costume, to make sure it had morphed back properly from her canine form. Thus far, it seemed to have.

[quotemyname]

Just then, the wood in the floor where they were standing exploded in a shower of splinters. Through the gaping hole in the floor, two large bodies tumbled. Fur and claws were flying everywhere. At the stairs was a din of scratching and thumping as nearly an entire pack of wolves burst out onto the floor where the heroes were standing.

The wolf pack reached the scene of the fight, and stood looking on hackles raised and jaws slathering. One last roll, and one of the two large semi-humanoid shapes was on top. It slashed with it's claws twice at the chest of the other, then leaned over and bit down near the neck. The other howled, and went limp. The wolf that was on top suddenly started shrinking back to the size of a man. Lukos sat atop his prey and watched as it too turned back into humanoid shape. The wolves of the pack visibly and audibly calmed down.

"He was like their Alpha. His connection to the spirits were stronger. The rest changed back when you dealt with source of the problem. He remained. Though the spirit should plague him no longer." Lukos stood. His leather jacket was nowhere to be seen. His pants were shredded, and his gas-mask was nearly torn in two. As he ripped it from his face, the assemble heroes could see a number of very deep gashes across his chest, arms, neck, back, and legs. They were unnoticeable in his wolf form, but now instead of being covered in fur, he was covered in blood. He was breathing heavily as well. The fight had taken a lot out of him. He leaned forward, releasing a growl. Then arched his back and howled, "HrrrraaAHHWOOOOOOOhh!" The other wolves in his pack joined in. Right before their eyes, the heroes saw every cut, scrape, and gash on his body heal nearly instantly. The flesh and broken bones knitting themselves back together without a complaint. He would have looked good as new if he were not still covered in both his blood, and the blood of the wolves he'd been fighting. Fixing his gaze on the heroes in the room, he addressed them. "You have been a great help to me today. Though you can never be true members of our pack, you may all consider yourselves friends. If you ever deal with another such threat, or need help tracking someone or something down, please do not hesitate to seek me out." Lukos seemed like he wished to leave, but was patient enough to wait and field any conversations the heroes might wish to direct at him.

[Quinn]

The second the floor burst underneath them, Crow had vanished and reappeared above, hanging from the chandelier. A ball of flame erupted above his hand, and he was poised to throw, until Lukos transformed again and spoke. The rune on his coat winked out along with the fireball, and he gripped the chain of the chandelier hard enough that his knuckles turned white.

"Ok, dude? Never do that again. Seriously. And you're welcome. Yeesh..."

He vanished from the chandelier and reappeared in one of the busted-up yet still squashy armchairs, waiting for his heart to stop beating a mile a minute.

[Dr Archeville]

"Whoa!" Dead Head was quite surprised at the eruption of werewolves, but that was largely due to their sudden appearance from an unexpected angle, less from what they were.

He glanced up at Crow, tried (and failed) to suppress a smirk, then looked up to the pack. "Much appreciated; an' if'n I do ever call on y'all, I'm bettin' I won't be hard fer y'all to sniff out!," he said with a laugh.

The zombie turned back to Scholar, "Xenobiologist?," he repeated enthusiastically. "Neat! Whoa, waitasec -- when you say 'alien life,' d'ya mean us, too? Is you from 'round these parts?"

Could it be? An alien what ain't tryin' to kill us? I hope so!

[trollthumper]

"Hrm, Siren's on the League, so she'd know a thing or two about this. Nick an' me know a few other folks we can turn the gal over to, too, folks who'll know what t'do with her, in case we cain't get in touch with Siren."

"Dead Head's right," Nick said. "Siren'll probably be able to handle this. If she's out of town... well, the summoning of a loa is usually a long-and-involved process. You've gotta draw the veve, prepare the offerings, carry out the ritual. It's not the kind of thing you can get done with a magic word. Put her on something like suicide watch, and have the officers ready to go if she tries the summoning." He took another look over her emaciated form. "Then again, been a while since I've seen a loa influence its mount like this... may be the tie's deeper. Siren would probably know best."

"You have been a great help to me today. Though you can never be true members of our pack, you may all consider yourselves friends. If you ever deal with another such threat, or need help tracking someone or something down, please do not hesitate to seek me out."

Nick had raised his eyebrows when Lukos and his pack engaged in a little unscheduled demolition, but he really couldn't fault the results. "Thanks muchly, Lukos," he said. "I'll keep you in mind next time the lupine element crops up."

[Ecalsneerg]

Jeni turned, raising an eyebrow at the sudden overdramatic appearance of a bunch of werewolves. "Well... thanks for the offer?" she tried, unsure what to say in the face of another lot of strange wolf-humans.

The zombie turned back to Scholar, "Xenobiologist?," he repeated enthusiastically. "Neat! Whoa, waitasec -- when you say 'alien life,' d'ya mean us, too? Is you from 'round these parts?"

"Weeeeeell," said Jeni with a pained expression. "No, I'm not from around here, no. I crashed in this city not too long ago, and seem to be stuck here for a while, so I figured, why not help out where I can?"