Profanum Profanorum (IC)

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

10:20am

Sunday the 15th of September

~1 hour drive South-West of Freedom City

 

Two days ago, in a small abandoned church a short ways out from Freedom City, something was caught on camera by a pair of hikers. A gout of fire and smoke, stinking of ash and brimstone appeared in the center of the old building, while the sky turned red. The event lasted for a few minutes, shadows twisting into macabre shapes in the firelight. Eventually the flames died down, revealing a stone staircase, descending into the earth, dimly lit by flickering candles.

 

The pair, Freedom City natives both, finished their hike as if nothing particularly interesting had happened before informing the police.

 

The area was then condoned off, the perimeter catching one of the first escapees from the earth, a small red demon that threw insults and small motes of fire at the officers of the law, who, used to such occurrences, took the wee beast into custody. Questioning the imp revealed that the newly opened stairway led to a structure known as the 'Profanum Profanorum', and that he was merely the first of many invaders, larger and more powerful, with better insults too. 

 

Initial attempts to search the structure with drones quickly met fierce resistance, and so the police put forth the call to their fair city: Plumb the depths of this malevolent edifice, and stop the plans of whatever villain had created it.

[Supercape]

Pitch

 

"FIRE ME UP!"

 

Carmen Canto applied the mental thumbscrews to Tazel, the demon residing in her belly, who mentally spat back but complied. Tazel was not in the best of moods since he had been swallowed up again by Carmen. He had - so nearly - broken free. Broken the Canto Cane that bound him. Where was it now? In the hands of some half tiger youngling. 

 

But he was forced to comply, and comply he did, stretching his infernal smoke through Carmen, turning her into the one and only Pitch!

 

She tore down the motorway at reckless speed, atop her motorcycle, shotgun holstered one side, black metal chain the other, the exhaust pluming out black, livid smoke. Her eyes blazed. 

 

With an elegant and dramatic screech, she pulled up to the church, looking every inch the infernalist superhero. Smoking hot. Boots, torn t shirt, gothic rings on fisted fingers. 

 

"Demon's beware!" she yelled, wisps of smoke coming from smiling mouth. 

 

Perhaps she should have looked up the church, the Profanorum, in some dusty library. But Pitch wasn't the patient type. 

 

The church - a slight problem, perhaps? Tazel couldn't enter churches. He would be ejected from her body, and not in a nice way, if she entered. But, by the looks of it, this church wasn't really a place of worship. Not any more. She had seen more gambling dens that were more holy than this place. 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

The twins had faced quite a few threats since they came to Freedom City, but for the most part their foes have been somewhat grounded, or at least science fiction in nature, so this was something new. As soon as Daniel and Iris heard about the church, Daniel could not help but beg his twin to let him go there. Not just to save the people nearby, but also because he wanted to see something more mystical up close. After an hour of begging, Iris relented....on the condition that she went with him!

 

So Cerebral and Cerebellum, in their purple superhero outfits, flew towards the abandoned church. On the way, the two young superheroes noticed what seemed like a firey bike speeding towards it and the duo followed out of curiousity and concern. 
Then they reached the church, they would land and look around the entrance. 

"Alright brother, let's make sure....ok wait, who is that?" Iris glanced over at Pitch with a raised eyebrow.

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

 

"When I popped here on a whim I didn't expect to have to take a ticket!" with a grin Betsy lept from her convertible "Or we darlings about to have an impromptu team-up?" her British accent might be more cut glass than normal

 

She'd been making her way to New York to catch up with an old friend, after business in Freedom City, when she'd caught news of this strange event only a few miles from this church. And she'd figured she could pop in and have a quick peek and still be in town in time for cocktails! Not all demons were demonic, it was like most things complicated, and it never hurt to see if everyone was getting a fair shake at justice. And churches didn't bother her despite her half-vampire heritage, much to the chagrin of several Nun at catholic schools she'd been sent to! 

 

"I'm the Immutable Betsy Brooks, a pleasure to meet you all!"

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

The quartet was greeted at the approach to the church by a police officer. His face showed the signs of a good many years in the outdoors, and his hair was greying at the temples. His eyes scan over the group, examining them each in turn. Whatever he finds there he seems to approve, smiling easily at the group.

 

"Thank you four for-"

 

"Wait! I'm here too!" The person who interrupted had just come round the corner, breathing hard like she had just ran most of the way to the church. Her costume, such as it is, is a simple white dress shirt and black dress pants with a white feathered domino mask. The professional look is broken by a pair of running shoes and wild brown hair, from which a feather that must have escaped the mask is pokes at an odd angle. "Sorry, tried to get here earlier but my car had some trouble..."

 

The policeman smiled indulgently, apparently used to this sort of thing. "Well, as I was saying, thank you five for coming so quickly. If there are any preparations you want to make, do them now, and if you have any questions before you head in I'll do my best to answer." The man's face turns serious before he continues, "The drones that we sent in didn't get very far, the structure has both creatures and traps to keep intruders out. In addition, one of the drone's cameras spotted a woman through a doorway who seems to be a positive ID for a missing person. We aren't sure if she's the villain behind this or a victim, but please keep an eye out." He matches the last statement by handing over a small file, before stepping back.

 

The church looms over the five, dark despite the bright sun in the sky. 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

The twins, though mostly Daniel, jumped when Betsy arrived. They had been distracted by the flaming motorcycle and had not noticed her. It crossed Iris' mind that the duo were way out of their depth here. But heroes they were, even if in training, so this would make for a great experience. 

 

There were little time for introductions, so Daniel stepped forward and smiled at the others here. "Greetings, my name is Cerebellum, and this is my sister Cerebral, I hope we can work well together." With that he bowed and turned to the new(er) person and the policeman with a winning smile. comically Iris was facepalming in the background. After a few seconds, Iris just straight up pushed past her brother to speak to the officer. "Yes. How many creatures left the church?" 

[Supercape]

Pitch

 

"Betsy Brooks, huh?" said Carmen, smoke pouring from her mouth with every word. With the demon in her veins, her throat had a resonant, projectile quality. "I think I heard of you..." she said with a smile. The name did ring a bell - Pitch had locked horns and drunk whiskey with plenty of urban magicians and the like. Names got spoken. Betsy Brooks was one of them. 

 

"I'm Pitch," she said to the others. "I may look like a devil. I may act like a devil, but I'm not..." she said, with a smile, bringing out her shotgun and pumping it. A rocksalt cartridge fell into the chamber. Of course, Pitch did it too look cool. She could be far more deadly than any shotgun. "I'm here to kick demon ass. Or any other ass, if it needs kicking!"

 

She gave a little chuckle and lay the tip of the shotgun over her shoulder. 

 

"Who are you guys?" she asked the twins, and the out-of-breath woman in the feather mask. 

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

 

Betsy gave a little mock bow "Good to know I'm making an impression, obviously darling I've heard of you too! Beware the devil woman, they say, She's gonna get you, they wail..." She looked pleased for a few seconds before with a sigh adding

 

"No, I guess that's really before your time, and terrible music to boot!" with barely a pause she added

 

"Though before we throw rock salt or silver sixpences or whatever, even when making that oh-so-cool kah-chunk sound, let at least try and find a less violent solution! After all, there'll be, however so competent, children watching!" she made a sweeping gesture to finish up her less than-serious comment.

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

The twins paused and looked at each other then the others. Where they in out of their depth here? Completely. Was this going to be interesting? Most likely. Was Daniel going to have fun? One hundred percent. Iris would keep talking to the officer. The fact that they were clearly the youngest people here was not lost on her. It was also extremely likely that they were on the weaker side in comparasion to most, still Iris had a sharp mind. She could still be of some use here, and Daniel was no slouch either.

 

Speaking of Daniel. His attention was on Pitch and his grin was wide. "Oh my god. You're so COOL!" It took the quite audiable clearing of Iris' throat to snap him out of his hero worship moment. "Oh umm....yeah, I'm Cerebellum, that's my sister Cerebral." He gestured to Iris. "We're ummm....Claremont Students." 

[Supercape]

Pitch

 

Pitch couldn't help but give a little laugh. It was tainted by Tazel, his wicked tongue tickling her vocal cords. 

 

"Students?"

 

She caught Daniel's eyes on her. He was too young, of course, but something of Carmen Canto's own wickedness made her smile. Who didn't adore being adored?

 

"Hi!" she said, giving a friendly wave, and blowing a smoky kiss at Daniel. "Welcome to hell... and all help welcome. I should probably tell you kids to stay away from this kind of danger. But I was riding with bikers and drinking cheep beer by the time I was your age, so who am I to tell you what to do. Just one piece of advice, get a tattoo of a skull, or a gun, or a rose. Don't, I repeat, don't get a tattoo of your lover."

 

She chewed her tongue. It had taken a lot of needlework to scrub off her first lovers name. And her second. She learned her lesson after that. 

 

"As for a non violent approach..." she said, turning smoking eyes to Betsy. "Be my guest. You look like the kinda gal who sticks her nose in books. What do you make of all of this?"

 

 

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

 

"At their age I was sneaking out of school for a couple of pints, a few ciggies and a boop down the local club! A few times with their current Headmistress as I recall!" she looked at the two teen heroes "And Claremont's a good place, I'm sure they're more than capable! And obviously don't follow our example kids, stay in school and don't cause trouble!" she gave them a little wink

 

"And trust me I can look after myself if trouble breaks out..." She gave a very toothy smile showing her sharp incisors, before turning her attention back to the officers on-site "Sorry about all that, we needed to get introductions out of the way! Could you answer tell us how many were involved, as asked by my young colleagues, along with just what transpired before this horde of potential hell started showing up?" 

[Supercape]

Pitch

 

"I like your style," said Pitch giving Betsy a wink. "Yes kids, its very important you stay in school and don't cause trouble. And not sneak out to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol and listen to death metal in a stolen car driving above the speed limit in a desert highway."

 

Pitch got off her motorcycle. Not fast. It was evident, despite all the smoke and bombastic ripped jeans, black converse, that she had a limp. When she turned, the twins caught sight of a intricate tattoo up and down her spine, up the nape of her neck to her sacrum, peeking out from the top and tail of her t shirt. A tattoo of demons and angels dancing and fighting, and possibly something else. 

 

"You kids... Claremont, right? If we are going to go blasting demons and ghouls, best know what you two can do. I'm guessing its not levitating citrus fruit or growing twenty extra fingers. I head there was a kid who did that. She's a great guitar player but not much use in a scrap..."

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

The twins looked at each other. Daniel was grinning, obviously finding all of this really cool, meanwhile Iris was growing more and more concerned. Both twins had done worse then sneaking out and drinking in their past and both knew that. So they would be perfectly safe...most likely. 
The students would turn to Pitch and Daniel stepped foreward.

"Well we have simple abilities but useful ones." He explained...in her mind.

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

The officer smiled indulgently as the heroes introduced themselves, staying quiet for the moment. The feathered stranger meanwhile smiled sheepishly. "I'm still workshopping a name, new to the hero stuff sorry. I can store items I touch in a pocket dimension. I can throw them and stuff by ejecting them from it while swinging my arms and the like." She shrugged before letting the attention fall back to the policeman. He waited for a moment for the twins to respond to the last question, before shrugging as they decided to keep mysteriously silent.

 

"To answer the questions about the creatures exfiltrating from this 'Profanum Profanorum' so far six creatures have attempted to escape, the first imp as it identified itself, followed by another pair, and then a trio of creatures. Two were small green humanoid creatures that called themselves goblins, while the third was a human sized suit of armour that moved under it's own power." He shrugged. "My son would probably be over the moon about all these things, but I'm not super aware of these sorts of things. Word of warning, the armour tried opening up to swallow a man. Don't know what it'd do after that but be careful." He supplies a handful of shaky pictures clearly taken from bodycam footage that reveals the creatures described, a trio of demonic imps, a pair of fae goblins, and an animated suit of armour, its plates warping open to try swallowing the person in the footage.

[Supercape]

Pitch

 

"Sounds cool. Real cool for smuggling in contraband to schools. Not that that ever happened at my school. And it would have been a bad thing if it happened, which it didn't."

 

A thought struck her. 

 

"Hey, I'm going to call you Featherweight. That sounds cool, right? The feathers, and you hurly heavy things? At least, till you come up with something cooler!"

 

Pitch turned her attention to the six attempted escapees. "That doesn't sound good. I wonder what they want? Did they say? I mean, apart from escaping and swallowing men into their body. Which is very not cool..."

 

She turned to Featherweight (as she had named the hero) and Betsy. "What do we know about this Profanorum? Anything? I mean, other than it has a cool latin name..."

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brooks

 

"Well, I never got the hang of Latin, though I'd guess it's The Profane of the Profane, which is usually used as the opposite of the Holy of Holies. At I guess this church was probably built to seal something away from the world, and it probably worked too until the place stopped being sanctified. Though that's not something that I can detect either way, is it one anyone else can tell?" she pointedly didn't look at Pitch when asking such things, wasn't nice to suggest such things

 

"Either way I vote we go have a poke around, sooner rather than later so it's not past some of our bedtimes!"

[Supercape]

Pitch

 

"Absolutely," said Pitch, cracking a shell of rocksalt into the chamber of her pump action shotgun. 

 

She didn't need a shotgun. At all. But it looked super cool. She gave a wink at Daniel. 

 

"Ready for action, ma'am! Lets go in and poke around."

 

She turned her eyes to the church and squinted, eyes glowing red. 

 

Long experience of devilry and demonology... and having one in her stomach... these gave her insights beyond most mortals. She had learned to see the profane, even if it was hidden...

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

The twins would overhear the new hero, Featherweight...seems legit, they had nothing else to call her yet, unless she introduced herself, so they would go with that for now. However after that the twin's attentions were naturally divided. Iris was listening to the officer and nodding her head in understanding. It seems as though the two adult heroes with them knew what they were doing...for the most part. They were both clearly heroes from the supernatural side of things so that made a lot of sense. 

 

Daniel, on the other hand, was inraptured with Pitch, he thought she was so cool! Now Daniel was a fan of many things, when it came to superheroes however, he enjoyed them a lot and wanted to become one. But there was never just one specific hero that he latched on to. More the idea of them...and while that last part was still true, the former had changed. Pitch had a fanboy now...oh no. 

"So cool...." He muttered when he saw the shotgun. 

Iris had to slap him upside the head to get him to focus, which to his credit, he would do so. Still both twins seemed to be of one mind. Let the adults handle this. They'll stay as backup.

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

Their questions asked and introductions made, the quintet of heroes entered the ruined church with the officer's best wishes. The infernal magics had begun to twist the locale- the wood blackening, the plants that had taken root during the church's abandonment lay withered and dying, while a thin pall of smoke circled the roof, staining the light an ominous fiery red.

 

In the chancel where the altar usually lay there instead was a staircase of dull grey stones that led into the earth. The smoke was thicker near it, emanating from it's mouth and obscuring how deep the stairs went. The stench of brimstone hung in the air, and an indistinct, flickering light could be seen down the stairway, the product of torches lighting the space below. 

 

Descending into the earth, the heroes found that despite the eery lighting and smell the passage was quite easy, the stairs well made, and any cracks seeming more decorative than actually hazardous, although the air was uncomfortably hot and dry. They descended quite far into the ground before the stairway levelled out into a short hallway that led to a circular chamber maybe thirty feet across. The ceiling arched dramatically up with an iron chandelier hanging from the apex, covered in spikes. Across the room stands a door, made of stone and marked with a grinning skull, but the heroes are not the only beings in the room.

 

Near the door a large blubbery red demon slumps back in a chair, a massive cleaver in one hand and a goblet shaped like a skull in the other. The monster is snoring like an industrial woodchipper, but has a thick cord wrapped around it's big toe and attached to the far door, clearly with the idea that anything passing through would wake it.

[Supercape]

Pitch

 

"What a fat bastard," said Pitch, nose wrinkling into a snort. "I've seen some pudgy demons in my time but this one has been eating too many infernal pies."

 

The whole place streamed with infernal power. This was a hellscape, no mistake. The smell of brimstone certainly added to the flavour of the place. 

 

She looked up at the iron chandelier. "Now that looks like a trap. It couldn't look more like a trap if it had a PhD in trap studies and was walking down Trap street dressed as a Venus flytrap holding an illuminated sign saying I am a trap."

 

"And that door. That skull is going to blurt out something occult and wicked, or maybe it will sprout out a poison coated tongue whilst cackling."

 

"And this lump of lard?" she said, pointing to the fat demon. "Is going to fart and stink out the place with the stench of the lowest level of hell."

 

"Which trap do we spring first?" she asked her chums, her own smile wicked and glowing with orange fiery smoke. 

[Dracostern]

Cerebral and Cerebellum

 

The twins floated down after the other heroes. They felt as though people with more experience with the supernatural should go first just in case there was a magic trap of sorts. But this place was extremely creepy. It even gave Iris the shivers. Likely it was not supposed to be like this, but evil infestations tended to change things. When they finally got into the room with the fat demon, the twins stared at it wide eyed for a second before shaking their head. An actual, stereotypical, demon! Maybe coming here was worth it for the experience.

 

Iris listened to Pitch before turning to her, Besty and Featherweight.  "Ok..." She spoke in each of their heads, desplaying her and her brother's psychic abilities. "...how about we try to sneak past them...if that doesn't work. Maybe you three can lure him closer...my brother and I could drop the chandelier on top of them."

[Tiffany Korta]

The Immutable Betsy Brookes

 

Betsy looked at the situation, and as the other said, it was obvious that it was a setup. Unless something sneaky was going on, it suggested something about the demon involved. A plan was formed, it was potentially risky but what was life without a few risks?

 

"I think I should talk to it! Doubt I'll convince him of anything, but at least it was allow the rest of you to sneak away."

 

She figured she'd give them a moment to raise all the relevant concerns before just doing it anyway. It was nice to let others think they had a choice in all this! 

[Supercape]

Pitch

 

"Talk to it? Well, why the hell not!"

 

She reached out with her shotgun, mindful of the spiked chandelier above - that she should would fall or spin or something - and gave the demon's corpulent belly a poke. 

 

"Hey, piggy! Wake up! Wake up! Rise and shine!" she shouted, at the top of her voice. 

 

Her shotgun, she realised, was nowhere near as effective as throwing a searing hot stream of metal blades. But, she acknowledged, it looked pretty cool poking people with it. 

 

"Tell us what's going on, or else! Big time else! Featuring salt and limes and, if you are really unlucky, clowns and balloons!"

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

The newly dubbed Featherweight looked around curiously at the room, deferring to the clear experts in the realms of magic and heroism, although she did punctuate her silence with an emphatic nod of agreement at the room being a trap.

 

She did not appear to expect Pitch to decide to just walk up to the demon and poke it awake. And based on it's response, neither did the demon as it awoke with a snort and a slightly panicked look, "I'm awake! Was just pretending to be asleep to catch-" The demon squinted at Pitch, if he was standing his stature would probably be quite impressive, as he was still above eye level for the heroine. The chair groaned as he leaned forward during her threats, and although he looked somewhat perturbed at the woman's words, he seemed to be trying to puzzle something out. He

 

"You’re in the Profanum Profanorum. Would the five of you be... heroes?" The beast looked between the members of the group while Featherweight spoke up. "That's the basic idea yeah. Here to... stop your evil schemes?" The last part became a question as she looked to the others for support as she seems to realize she had spoken for the whole group.

 

"Great! I'm supposed to stop you guys, eat you bones and all and stuff." He tried to push forward before noticing Pitch's Shotgun sticking into his gut. "Normally you poke like that with swords, not clubs. It's not really threatening if the tip isn't pointy."

[Supercape]

Pitch

 

"Heroes? Not exactly. Close, but...."

 

Pitch pulled out a cigar from her back pocket, and set it alight with a lick of flame from her finger. 

 

"...no cigar."

 

She glanced at the other four. "Well, for my part anyway. These guys might be nice. I'm nasty with a little bit of nice sprinkled on the top. But I'm still here to stop your evil schemes. And you aren't going to be eating anything than a barrel full of rocksalt. And thats I'm feeling real nice. Which I probably won't be."

 

She waved at the room and all its potential traps. 

 

"What's all this? And what's with your toe? It's all out of some B-grade horror film, right?"