ic Never Did Run Smooth

[horngeek]

And Stronghold touched down on the ground, noting Fast-Forward and... another hero she didn't recognise.  Someone new, perhaps?  In any case, she turned to Cobalt Templar.  "Sorry I didn't answer my phone, I was in a different room when the call came in."

 

She listened to Temperance talking about the creature, before she spoke up.  "Um... well, maybe Medea is controlling it?  She's a powerful sorcress, after all..."

 

The young woman looked around.  "Um.  I caught what you were saying, Templar... well, we're trying to restore Tonya, aren't we?  And bring Unferth and Medea to justice."

 

Thinking, she suddenly looked up.  "...if we don't have any other leads... thinking about it, I'm in the age range of the victims so far, aren't I?"

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade sketched a quick bow to the other heroes.  "Tis good to meet thee all.  I am called Shadowblade.  The Templar here hath acquainted me with the particulars, and I shalt offer my aid in any small way that I can."

 

She turned to the young woman Cobalt Templar had called Stronghold.  "I admire thy bravery, milady, but mayhap thy plan risks too much unless no other recourse is left to us.  I say we examine other options, ere we assay it."  She sighed heavily.  "Unfortunately, I fear I have no better suggestion to put to it; the hour of desperate action may well be nigh."

[Avenger Assembled]

Richard's attention had wandered off while the kids were talking about magic and monsters, thinking idly about how young they all were. Jeez, when I was their age, all I wanted out of life was a place to crash, some nachos and weed, and Paige to relax a little. While the conversation shifted, he started flipping through the small magical tome he'd brought, finding what he wanted after just a few seconds. "Hey, kids, I'm going to try something," he said confidently. Zipping to his feet from where he'd reclined beneath a dead tree, he suddenly began zipping back and forth in an geometric pattern instantly recognizable as a summoning ritual. He waved his hands fast, and from the outside his frantic gesticulations looked like a sorcerer's gestures put through a high speed filter, his chanting a high-pitched buzzing sound like a bandsaw in the second or two before the last few words resolved into "Scip-steorra! Send forth your champion!" 

 

And then right in the middle of the park, dead center of the now-glowing summoning circle Fast-Forward had traced on the dead grass, stood a Hraesvelgr, big as life! As people nearby shouted in alarm, Fast-Forward waved confidently, "Don't worry, folks, it's all part of the show! Catch us next week on Channel 34!" The great winged giant roared an icy roar and pointed at the speedster with one clawed paw. 

 

"Foolish mortal, the spirits of wind and frost are not tools to fill your bedchamber or your altar! My brothers and I will no longer be used as your pimps and procurers." The giant crossed its arms and glared at Fast-Forward. "You are not even the one who made the bargain in the first place! Did...did he _sell_ our words of power for gold?" 

"No, no, these were written down a long time ago, Tall Cold and Fuzzy," said Richard reassuringly as he held up the book. "We're not with that person anyway." He turned and gave an expectant look to the younger heroes. 

[KnightDisciple]

And then just as suddenly, there was a knight, in shining blue armor, a noble cape of dark red flapping in the breeze, a face seemingly made of blue fire, standing just in front of the summoning sigile. He was huge, nearly 10 feet tall. His arms were crossed over his chest, and his voice was firm. It carried authority in it.

 

"No, we call you forth to find what your tasks have been, and who has called you for these tasks. We do not seek to enslave you or use you. But we will have the knowledge we seek."

 

There was a rather strong implication behind the blue giant's words. It wasn't so much a threat, though, as a statement of intent.

 

"If you deal honorably with us, my inclination would be to return you to the place from whence you came and ensure you are not called to this world or plane. Ever again."

[horngeek]

Haukea's head whipped around when the giant was summoned... then her expression quickly grew... stony... as it started to talk.  After a few moments, she started to mutter in Hawaiian, with the exact word unintelligible to the rest of the heroes, but Medea's name- and Unferth's- were both audible, as her ranting grew louder in volume.  Eventually, however, the ranting grew to a close, and Haukea looked up.  "Especially not for what... those people... summoned you for.  No one should be forced into that."

 

After giving a nods of thanks to Fast-Forward, Stronghold settled down to listen to the dealings, readying herself in case the giant turned hostile.  At the moment, he seemed to have been an unwilling participant in what Medea and Unferth were doing, but it was always good to be sure. 

[trollthumper]

"Pimps and procurers."

 

The girl Temperance had seen had been changed. Worked over inside and out, physically and metaphysically. And according to this being's words, it had been done to fulfill some sort of beauty standard. 

 

"Pimps." And "procurers."

 

The words kept turning over in her head. She really hoped the Hraesvelgr was exaggerating, that he'd just been observing events from the outside. But after what she'd seen last night, she knew that hope was a fleeting possibility.

 

If it was even possible, the ambient temperature dropped lower as she took a few steps forward. "You had best explain that statement," she said. "Before people get the wrong ideas." 

[Avenger Assembled]

The giant gave a deep, frigid sigh that killed all the grass inside his summoning circle in a vivid brown transformation from the half-life of winter to the pure cold doom of the north. "Good. It has been a difficult two days." He turned and bit his wings in frustration, pulling out a few great eagle feathers and sending them fluttering to the ground. "The child-killer summoned my brother on behalf of Unferth, He-Who-Lives-In-Death, so that he might find a bride-in-death. He caught a witch-in-embryo who was not suitable for Unferth's ways, then was defeated by a water-witch too powerful to contain. I had feared it would be _my_ turn to be sent out into the world as his lackey." 

 

"So, what, this is just some weird rape gang thing?" said Fast-Forward, looking disgusted. "Man, that is nasty! And not really Medea's style." 

"No, no violation of the body," explained the giant seriously. "Unferth plans to blot out the body's soul and then summon forth his bride to fill the shell." 

[horngeek]

Stronghold scowled.  "That's... not better at all.  Um, sorry.  I suppose you're as angry about this as we are, Mr... what's your name?  Anyway, I've got a question.  What do you mean by witch-in-embryo?  And do you know what Unferth considers..."

 

She paused, as if she had to swallow a bad taste in her mouth.  "Suitable for his ways.  Anything that might help us catch them."

 

And there were the other questions to consider, of course.  What, exactly, Medea herself got out of this.  Haukea fell silent, a frown clear across her face as she thought.  "...um.  How likely is Medea to double-cross other villains she works with?  I... don't know that much about her, but I can't figure out what she gets out of this whole thing."

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade had kept silent so far, letting the others take the lead in questioning the surprisingly helpful Hraesvelgr, but her knuckles were white as she gripper the hilt of her rapier.  Her face beneath her mask and hood was stony, her amber eyes hard with barely suppressed anger.  The way these... people were using their powers to destroy the innocent made her blood boil.  But she kept her voice cold and dispassionate as she murmured, "Certain I am that Medea maneuvers for her own advantage, if her past be any guide."  She also wondered how Saknussem's murder fit into all of this - did he know something and had to be silenced?

 

She looked up at the trapped giant and followed up Stronghold's question by adding, "If thou wouldst be free of these sorcerers summoning thee up to serve as their lackey, Spirit, I entreat thee to help us find them."

[KnightDisciple]

Suddenly the giant is...well, not small, but not of a size with the Hraesvelgr. He floated there, eyes level with the otherworldly being.

 

"Have to agree with the ladies, the whole soul-blotting isn't exactly nice either. But. You're not the one doing it. You're just reporting things. Which we do appreciate.

Though, we found one other woman, changed like the one you said got away, but dead. Was she also caught by your brother but found...wanting?

 

Either way, two things that I think are most important to know. Where can we find Medea, Unferth, and your sibling, if he is still in their service? And if he is still in their service how can we easily break that bind so he can leave, and reduce the number of enemies we face in battle?"

[trollthumper]

Temperance bit her tongue at the "water witch" bit; she considered herself capable of humility, especially when it meant avoiding an ass-kicking at the hands of something from the distant ends of the world. If this guy hadn't put the pieces together, she wasn't exactly going to help him with the puzzle. But hearing his account did little to fill her with confidence. 

 

"Medea's shown she's capable of maintaining a long-term arrangement with a minimum of backstabbing," she said, "but in that case, she would have gotten a good deal of knives in the back. When it's one-on-one... there may be a chance of betrayal. But it's a matter of finding the right cracks..."

 

"Blotting out the soul." She really didn't want to think about those terms. Right now, she wanted to go stop this ritual before it could begin. And, hopefully, beat Medea until she couldn't spit out a single "Abracadabra." 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Unferth's fell bride-in-death was The Volvur." The giant put capital letters on the words, even in his accented human speech. "When the Geat gave him his first death, her dark magics could not heal his wounds. So she called upon the fallen star of the Christians, pledging her soul to his realm forever if he would give her the power to let Unferth walk again when the centuries had passed. He seeks to end her eternal damnation. He seeks one whose body could accommodate her fell magics." 

Fast-Forward snapped his fingers. "Hey, that ghost-thing! Paige mentioned that, the memories she tapped into from that poor kid who got tagged by the spell. I bet that was this volver lady. Damnedest thing." This was a little much for Richard to absorb, but luckily he thought fast. "Medea was kind of my crazy aunt growing up," he offered, "and yeah, if she thought she'd have something to gain from it, and hadn't sworn an oath, she'd betray anybody for the right reasons." 

 

"The childkiller and Unferth are not allies," agreed the giant gravely. "They are...collaborators. I would see this spell end. This night Unferth lairs on the ancient hill at-argh!" Suddenly, a doorway seemed to open above the giant, and he cried, "I am summoned! I will be made your enemy when next we-" And with that, seconds before Fast-Forward could find a counter-spell, the giant vanished!

[horngeek]

Stronghold gulped slightly, before looking to the side.  "...they're just as much victims in this as the girls are.  Forced against their will.  It...

 

It's not right.  None of it.  It needs to end."

 

She looked up, determined.  "We just need to figure out what the ancient hill is, and we've got them.  It has to be near the city..."

 

Her mind started ticking into gear.  "But... any hill's ancient, they're geological features.  He must mean due to a feature of the hill in particular... argh!  If I'd just read more about the city's history!"

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar barely managed not to facepalm when he was told about Unferth's wife selling her soul to Satan to try and bring Unferth back to death.
 
'And OF COURSE, it backfired on them both. Total shock. Except not.'
 
He was glad there was potential for dissension in the ranks...But then their information source disappeared. He managed to resist the urge to swear.
 
"Right, we've got a good picture of what's going on now. More importantly, I think I have an idea about where they are. It can't be out in the middle of the city, and I have a feeling that holy ground wouldn't work, which rules out a lot of Lantern Hill. But, there is one hill out in the Forest that fits the bill, and has some bits of history attached. Happanuk Hill is most likely the site for it. But, uh."

 

The man in blue looked embarrassed.

 

"I can't remember where the actual location of that Hill is. I just remember a bunch of references to it in literature that make me think it fits the criteria."

[Corsecjedi]

Shadowblade gave a mental nod - Happanuk Hill seemed a likely fit to her, as well, from the reading she'd done of the area's history.  And, what's more, she could picture the hill's location fairly well, thanks to her study of a few maps.

 

"Happily, my friends, I believe that I can guide us hence.  The hill in question doth indeed lie beyond the rim of our fair city in the forest of Wharton."  She looked at the other heroes gathered about her.  "I fear that my teleportation canst be somewhat difficult to track.  I alone lack the ability to take wing, save for you, honored Fast Forward, and I know that merely keeping pace wilt present thee with no difficulty."  She turned to Cobalt Templar and added, "If thou wouldst be so kind as to assist me once more, I shalt guide us to our destination."

[trollthumper]

This wasn't the kind of thing Temperance was used to dealing with. Oh, yes, she'd sorted out a few contracts that people with more daring than sense had made with spirits all too willing to fulfill the bargains - but that had usually been by beating the everloving snot out of the spirits, then delivering a stern lecture to the mortal party. Breaking an oath with Satan himself might be a bit outside of her wheelhouse. Medea might have more expertise in that area... but if she did, her current tactics left a lot to be desired. 

 

"If you need a more frontal assault," she said, "I could lead a party through the air. Rain death from above as the rear guard moves in. Otherwise, I am fine with cover of darkness." 

[Avenger Assembled]

Fast-Forward had wandered off when the kids started talking; but microseconds after Temperance had finished speaking he zipped back into the park, eyes narrow and all business. "We have to get over there right now. Everybody, take my hand!" he barked in the same tone he might have used to get his own kids' attention in an emergency. "Time to fast-forward!" And when they did; suddenly the park around them seemed to stand stock-still for an instant before they were all rushing through the city at fantastic supersonic speed! 

 

---

 

Zipping up to the foot of Happanuk Hill, the heroes found a scene of unspeakable pagan sacrifice already in the process of beginning! Their friend the eagle-giant was standing a glowering guard over Medea as she stood, dressed in deerskin robes still dripping the blood of a faun, holding high a black-bound book and arguing with a wraith - a spectral phantom of a woman in similar garb, her ghostly body seared at the edges as if by a powerful flame. "No, you don't understand the proper meaning of this use of mugwort! Go bother your-oh, thank Hades, supers are here!" At Medea's words, Unferth rose from his position at the foot of the sacred circle and hefted a mighty axe in his hands, the brown-bearded, muscular warrior looking ready to do battle. 

 

"You won't cheat Volvur of her liberation! Not after all these centuries!" he called in accented English, the ghost flying down to join him as a ghostly, flame-licked companion. "Her suffering ends now!" 

 

"AN ETERNITY IN HELL COMES TO AN END TONIGHT!" The witch-ghost hissed menacingly. "My power has never been greater than it is on this, fifteen hundred years since I took my life!" 

 

For her part, Medea went back to chanting over the woman strapped to the flatrock on the hilltop, her park ranger's uniform showing her profession even as the gag over her mouth muffled her screams! "What are you complaining about? You should be thanking me!" Medea was heard to sneer at the captured ranger. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hey! Medea, this is low even for you!" Fast-Forward zipped right past Unferth and his ghostly gal, both of whom seemed to be standing still, and belted Medea right in the mouth, knocking the immortal witch back a step. "Since when do you hire yourself out to crazy Vikings with girlfriends from Hell?" 

 

"Damn it, Dickie!" she whispered, "I am paying back a very large debt right now, so if you know what's good for you, you'll back off!" She waved the knife at the park ranger, then at Richard for emphasis. "Do you know how grotty this town has gotten since Sebastian went malakas? Trust me, I'm just here for the light show!" 
 

"You've got a woman tied down and you're going to cut out her heart!" Richard pointed out as he zipped past, the world resuming its normal speed as his powers slipped things back to normal. Can't hold down the Pause button for long, or the tape starts to slip. "I'm not gonna just let you walk away from this!" 

 

-

 

"If you wish to be a hero, _save her!_" taunted Unferth, who suddenly hefted his mighty axe and hurled it - not at Cobalt Templar or Temperance, but at Stronghold! The glowing blade smashed into the orange-energy-armored heroine, sending her hurtling backwards out of sight and into the forest beyond, knocking her cold with a single mighty blow. As the ax returned to his hand, glowing with fell necromantic energies, he shouted, "Who's next!" 

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar was already moving forward even as Unferth was taunting them. He yelled to Shadowblade as he began to step off for his short flight.

 

"I'm freeing the hostage I need you to evac her to a safe distance ASAP!"

 

There was a flash of blue fire and he was suddenly there beside the alter, his considerable bulk between Medea and the frightened woman. He gave the woman a smile as an antique-style revolver manifested, and he aimed it at one of the ropes around her legs.

 

"Try not to flinch too much."

 

Four shots rang out, and suddenly the woman's bindings were severed, with the ends a bit charred.

 

And then Cobalt Templar looked up to see Stronghold, the eager young girl who'd approached him about becoming a hero, fly off into the woods. His face twisted into a snarl of rage as his gun arm and head swiveled to face Unferth. 

 

"Hey! You Schafe liebevollen Haufen von Kuh verweigern! You want to go? I'll punt your virilité ratatiné et arrière all the way down to Hell so you can keep your lady friend company!"

 

And there was a loud *crack* as he fired a single shot that struck Unferth head-on, the semi-ethereal gun never wavering.

[Avenger Assembled]

And there was a voice in Temperance's head, one that said in a warm, patient voice 

 

Be a dear and take some of the hits the boys are dishing out for me, would you? Mamma's got a lot invested in this evening turning out the right way, and I can't afford to get beaten up on behalf of this two-timing lowlife and his stupid little shamaness. I mean really, making deals with the Christian Devil, what did she think was going to happen? Anyway, just go ahead  and let them beat you savagely for a while, and then I can do what I came here to do. Ta-ta! 

 

She was actually in position guarding Medea before she realized what had happened, and luckily was able to pull herself free from that so-persuasive voice before any real harm could come to her. 

[Corsecjedi]

"Canst count on me, Templar," Shadowblade replied.  The big man made an EXCELLENT distraction as he opened up with that construct weapon against Unferth.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Temperance's odd behavior, but she ignored it as she shadowjumped forward.  She appeared for bare moments next to the freed park ranger, just long enough to say, "Allow me to aid thee, dear lady," and then Shadowblade and the ranger vanished once more with a slight sound and a puff of shadowy smoke.

 

Shadowblade reappeared several hundred feet from the hilltop, back in the treeline.  "Lady, I urge thee to conceal thyself 'til this battle be decided."  She gave the woman as reassuring a smile as she could in the circumstances.  "I swear I shalt return and render thee further aid."

[trollthumper]

Temperance shook her head, as if trying to dislodge some annoying insect from her ear. The words tried to carve themselves on her brain with a hot dagger, but they ended up having all the impact of a lukewarm butter knife. Still, the last thing she wanted was some sorcerer trying to get her to turn traitor. Especially someone who'd already been keen to use her as an object. 

 

She locked eyes with Medea. "You just love the idea of locking people up, don't you?" she said. "In spells, in oaths, in forms they don't even want. I'd like to see how you do when confined." The frost flew from her fingers, streaming towards Medea, and she willed it to wrap around her in an icy cocoon... but even then, she felt as if the shot might go wild. 

 

Mind you, the emphasis there is on "like"...

[Avenger Assembled]

"No! NOOOOOO!" When the ranger was teleported out of the circle, suddenly Volvur's hell-scorched ghost began to writhe and howl - smoking from her spectral limbs as reddish phantom chains rose out of the Earth and wrapped themselves around her shuddering frame. "Not back to the pit! UNFERTH!" She screamed her lover's name in despair as the chains suddenly dragged her beneath the soil, Unferth howling in despair as he reached for her - her ghostly fingers passing right through his as she was dragged below into the realm that awaited her. Howling with a grief that knew no bottom, Unferth clawed desperately at the grassy soil as if to drag her back by main force. And then Medea's smartphone snapped a picture. 

 

"Ha! Did you see the looks on their faces?" She laughed and took another picture, looking very pleased with herself. "All that tormented true love and all it got them was an eternity of agony! People are idiots. All right, I have to admit, Devil Ray was right, these things really do come in handy!" She put the phone away and grinned at Fast-Forward, offering her wrists to him as if they were chained up. "All right, Dickie, I'm feeling charitable after that, and you got me fair and square. Take me away!" 

[Avenger Assembled]

Fast-Forward's jaw dropped. "Hey, that's...that's not kosher! You helped them murder that girl the other day just for this? That's low, even for you!" 

 

"No, no," said Medea with an airy wave, "those two did that one themselves," she said, pointing to where a now-weeping Unferth was futilely beating at the Earth. "That big lummox there, who evidently just forgot about that evening we shared on the banks of the Spree, hmm?" Unferth wasn't listening. "thought he could just shanghai me into doing him a favor. Feh, as if I'd bring that hell-witch back to the Earth. Anyway, Dickie, about that jail?" 

 

Fast-Forward smacked her across the face, his backhand swat freezing time solid around the immortal witch and making her as much a statue as the monuments scattered here and there through the park. "You are the _worst_," he informed her. 

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar's aim dropped as the "drama" played out. He held no real sympathy for the spirit of a woman who had been planning to rip another woman's soul out to ride around in her meat suit. And part of him expected Unferth's reaction.

 

But Medeas petty cruelty was shocking. And the revelation that the dead victim had died in a botched ritual...it was too much. His face locked into a snarl of anger, and he tossed his gun-construct aside, where it disappeared in a flash of flame.

 

Fast-Forward had delivered a grand insult to Medea; a slap to the face, freezing her in time. Unferth required something more direct. Direct enough that Templar's second step was twice the size of the first. He was now a giant version of himself, sans cap, with the helmet covering everything but two eyes the burned like pits of blue fire. 

 

One great hand reached down and wrapped around Unferth's unmoving legs, even as the man continued his futile protests.

 

"You do not get to mourn!"

 

He yanked the demigod mercenary into the air so that for a moment so they locked eyes...and then began slamming him into the ground like a rag doll. He spoke as he slammed, the strikes emphasizing his booming words.

 

"An innocent is dead because of you! You don't get to mourn your idiot lover girl! You don't get to mourn not ripping out another woman's soul! YOU DO NOT GET TO CRY! YOU DO NOT DESERVE THE CHANCE FOR TEARS!"

 

It would seem the blue-clad hero was a bit upset.