ic Enchanted Species [IC]

[Gizmo]

Ghost Girl's face literally darkened with no regard for the actual lighting in the subterranean chamber, hair continuing to stream behind her wildly as faint wisps of fog began to float from the corners of her mouth as if she was chewing on dry ice. "Y'know, just about everybody says they're not afraid of ghosts," she retorted coldly as she rose slightly into the air, undeterred as Milliner gathered the enchantments about him. "Mostly I actually like that. But you want to know a secret?" The teenage apparition's eyes turned to flawless, luminous orbs of pale blue. "That's really, really stupid of them."

Without further warning her jaw widened impossibly and released a blinding steam of frost and fog along with a horrible sound of wind echoing in an great, empty nothingness. Swooping down behind it, she thrust her spectral arms through the poacher's vest, the supernatural chill of her unnatural presence draining the strength from his limbs.

[Fox]

"You will do nothing." Even as Ghost Girl unleashed the literal chill of the grave on Gregory, Wraith was scuttling his way - 'scuttling' being the operative term: as she moved, her relatively standard quadrupedal grew another set of limbs...and another, and another. By the time she'd reached the mythological poacher she was almost more tendrils and claws than body, an awful alien thing like a long-legged centipede with no mouth and an axe to grind.

The young manticore was kept carefully cradled in her 'tail' outside Gregory's immediate reach, but the rest of her body spiraled up around Gregory with its multitude of claws grasping at his limbs to bind them into place. "You will stop talking. Your birthright is terrible, and you should be able to see that."

[trollthumper]

Wraith's metal body lashed around Gregory, catching him and his arcane rifle in several ribbons of steely flesh. He pushed against the restraints, but the effects of Kimber's draining touch were obviously making that difficult. "I've seen plenty of things," he said, remarkably unperturbed for being wrapped up by a liquid metal alien. "Things you can't possibly imagine. To think you can come in here and lecture me... such hubris. And..."

A blast of pure cold caught Wraith in the stomach; Gregory had managed to discharge the rifle at close range. While it winged her, the shot did begin to creep over her form, bringing some degree of paralysis and causing her to break her hold. "...I've gotten out of my share of grapples before. You should know--"

Eldritch fire struck Gregory right in the head, cutting off his tirade. The blast sent the man reeling, clutching at his forehead, as Nick stared him down. "Why does everyone try to justify themselves endlessly at times like this?"

[Gizmo]

"Don't you hurt my friend!" Ghost Girl shouted at Milliner, her voice taking on a strange, echoing quality as if coming from an enraged chorus at the other end of a long tunnel. Atop Wraith's furthest appendage, the manticore cub stood upright, looking concerned but unsure what to do, mewling brassily. Kimber placed what little form she had between the poacher and the alien, shoving another hand through his warded defenses and draining more of the strength from his limbs. Milliner's arms and legs grew heavy as if from frigid exposure, sapped of warmth and vitality. "She's right, you need to shut your mouth! We gave you a chance to do the right thing but that doesn't mean we won't kick your butt now!"

[Fox]

Wraith reacted to the frostbitten paralysis with more ire than actual concern; the part of her that was frozen simply pulled up into her main body where it didn't have to move, the rest of her forming into a slower, heavier creature with large, gnarled claws. One of those claws wasted no time in reaching through Ghost Girl, the over-sized metal hand closing over the end of Gregory's weapon and easily yanking it sideways out of his grip. "A warrior's test is how they fare with no weapons. Your gun is unusual, but it is a crutch - and I am hungry. How will you do without it, I wonder?"

[trollthumper]

The gun went flying out of Gregory's grip, and there was a moment where mortal fear danced across his face - but only a moment. "I've faced worse," he said, "and I know the wisdom of withdrawal." The runes carved on his vest glowed silver for a second before fading out - along with the rest of him. Where he'd been standing a moment before, there was nothing but empty air.

"Oh, look," said Nick. "Some egotistical control freak has lost his big gun and decided to 'advance in reverse.' However shall we handle this?" He raised his hand, and a carpet of ectoplasm rose from the stones - Nick didn't want to think of where it had come from, or else he'd risk crossing a serious line. Hands rose from the floor, lashing out at everything within arm's reach - and somewhere near the door, a telltale grunt rose from close to the ground. "Ah. There we go."

[Gizmo]

Ghost Girl floated slowly toward the spot where Milliner's invisible form was revealed by the bonds of ectoplasm holding him in place, her eyes narrowed with a cold, calculating fury that looked out of place on her features. Once the phantom was close enough she wordlessly unhinged her jaw and loosed a blizzard of unnatural power and cold, snow and ice whipped so violently by wind that the space between her and the ensnared poached was completely obscured. She continued on, still floating closer, still pouring forth the inexhaustible fount of pure winter until she was literally on top of her foe. Finally she snapped her mouth shut and the howling gale died down to reveal a jagged glacier completely enveloping Milliner.

[Fox]

It took Wraith a moment to realize what happened; from her rather perplexed perspective, Gregory talked about retreating, activated a rune...and then changed color and tried to run away?

The alien teenager clearly had no problem tracking him, head turning rather bonelessly on her neck as she followed his progress right up until she realized that she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore - apparently he'd done something that passed for stealth, but by then Nick and Ghost Girl had him caught and frozen.

She picked up the manticore cub and carried him over, the still-frozen chunk of her torso slowly thawing. "How long do you believe he can survive in ice - can we keep him in there for only slightly less time than that?"

[trollthumper]

The frost swept over Milliner's invisible form - and a good ten feet all around him. When Kimber's gale was done, there was an iceberg the size of a small car sitting in the middle of the cave, and an invisible form sitting in the middle of it, cemented by smoky ice. One of the guards, heretofore paralyzed out of the conflict between love for Kimber and loyalty to his long-time employer, began to move for the iceberg, combat knife drawn. He paused, however, when he saw Nick glowering at him.

"You may want to print out a few copies of your resume," he said.

The guard wisely withdrew, and his compatriots followed with him. Nick looked around to the cages - the animals still around had been excited by the fray, and many were starting to bang at the bars, to say nothing of the cries. "Perhaps we should call Eldrich," he said. "I'm not exactly skilled in animal husbandry..."

[Gizmo]

Wraith's question, serious or not, seemed to snap Ghost Girl out of whatever darkness she'd wandered into, her eyes regaining their usual hue and widening with an aghast expression. "Oh jams, I didn't mean to-- I mean, I did, but, ooh!" The phantom wrung her hands as she floated about the poacher encased in ice, unsure now that her preternatural calm had faded away. "We better make sure he can at least breath, right? I've never actually completely covered a regular person like this before!"

[Fox]

Wraith - with apparent reluctance - formed her arms into a makeshift chisel and hammer and set about cutting Milliner's head free of the ice so that he could do meaty things like breathe. And, she realized, talk. Her eyes narrowed at the thought.

"I have excellent reflexes," she informed the man as she finally freed his mouth, bringing her face next to his and staring at him with her three, solid black eyes. "And I can see right through your invisibility. I also do not like you, at all, and believe you to be a very terrible person. If you attempt to cast a spell, or if you are annoying, I shall hit you on the head until you stop."

[trollthumper]

Gregory's invisibility dropped, so that he could impotently glare at Wraith all the more. "Fine, then," he snarled, "I suppose you think you've proven a point. Take what you will and get out of here. Perhaps that will give you the warm feeling of having accomplished something."

"You know," said Nick, "you're taking this awfully well for someone flash frozen. It's good to see there's some crook out there who isn't a sore loser." He paused, and when Gregory took no steps to fill the silence, he pushed forward. "But, no. You've been making a business of this. Odds are you'll probably pick up in some other city."

"And if so?"

"Well, you probably could. But, see... here's the thing..."

The walls behind Nick began to grow darker. Sigils in bright violet began to burn their way out of the shadow, coalescing into a swirling portal.

"...you screwed it up in Freedom. That has... consequences."

The darkness parted, and Adrian Eldrich, the Master Mage, stood at the far end of the cavern. "I heard your call. I hope this is some matter of --" Eldrich stopped talking when he noticed the cages full of legendary creatures in less-than-healthy conditions. "I take it there's some explanation for this..."

[Gizmo]

"Yeep!" Kimber gasped quietly, ducking down and scooping up the manticore cub in the folds of her reaper's cloak's sleeves. The tiny beast chirped happily and butted his head into her chest before settling down in a ball of spines and fur. "That's Eldrich!" the poltergeist hissed urgently under her breath to Indira, bobbing up and down in the air. "He's basically just the boss of magic stuff...!" Straightening out, she did her best to appear as professional as possible while holding a mythical kitten.

[Fox]

Wraith hummed thoughtfully, turning her head in an awfully boneless way to look at Eldrich as he appeared; she didn't have any magical abilities of her own (and wasn't very connected to the magic community, for that matter), so her reaction was somewhat more subdued than Kimber's, but she had to respect the man's air of authority and position.

She stopped menacing their frozen captive and politely stepped away, body pulling together into a less threatening and more humanoid form and self-consciously brushing a bit of remaining frost off her stomach. "Thank you," she whispered back, more than happy to let someone else talk to 'the boss'. "Perhaps that is who he called earlier, to take care of the basilisk?"

[trollthumper]

"Indeed," said Eldrich. "It started to rouse by the time I got there. But I've dealt with worse balefire in the past. It's currently back in its proper habitat, far from the hands of socialites and dilettantes." His gaze turned towards Gregory, still trapped in ice. "And speaking of which..."

"I've broken no laws, Master Mage," said Gregory, his voice somewhere between defiance and ass-covering. "These creatures have all been kept secure and contained. I'm not to blame for the actions of those who can't do the research into what they're buying --"

Eldrich waved his hand, and the words turned to nothing but empty air; the Master Mage had put him on mute. "You put basilisks and gryphons in the hands of the rich, bored, and untalented," he said, "and you honestly thought they'd be able to exert their will? If you're going to lie to me, at least let it have weight. I know your line, too, and I doubt a stern word will deter you. A geas, on the other hand..."

Gregory looked sick at the concept. It looked like he was yelling, but absolutely nothing was coming out. Eldrich turned to the others. "I may need some assistance with the cages. I have a feeling many of these creatures would do best in their home environments. Don't worry. I'll make sure they won't bite."

Nick went to work at the cages, calling up the same ectoplasmic claws that had bound Gregory to pick at locks and pull at bars. All the while, he watched Eldrich do his thing; while laying a geas on Gregory to keep him from pursuing or trafficking in magical beasts, he was also working a spell to make all the creatures in the cavern docile. Even the tiny manticore was curling up on Kimber's shoulder, as if to sleep. Once it was done, Gregory was staring daggers, and the creatures were gathered at Eldrich's feet like he was St. Francis.

"I have a feeling I've got a lot of stops to make," he said. "But first... I think I'll stop upstairs. This pageantry should send a proper message." He looked to the manticore cub. "I have a feeling that one's found its home. Take good care of it." With that, Eldrich vanished from the cavern, leaving the heroes and the rather angry tenant.

"I have a feeling we'd better clear out," Nick said. "Try and beat the rush, at least."