everyonelives | i'm leaving you my last curse

( The magic is powerful, and it's taken hold of whomever this is. The most she'll be able to do next turn is ... well, she can do one more roll. That's two successes.

Ruth is British, Davina. And not super posh British either. Working class, Brit. )

Go on, I'll cover you.

( And so, Davina, then Scott, then Sam with Allison's coaxing and finally Allison who closes the door behind them.

Ruth moves over to the fireplace, turning away, when she turns back she's smoking a pipe.

"It's no cigarette, but it plays its part nicely. Plus, I like the flavor of the kinnikinnick. Hate the texture though," she sniffs, shrugs, leaning against the cobblestone fireplace.

Scott moves to the stairs up.

"I don't know where Mary is, or," she starts, taking a drag from her pipe. "What her deal is. Whole thing's pretty backward. You ask me, their magic should've been tweaked once this century, yeah? Still, it mixes up names. Faces. Usually takes more than day one for you to even know who you are. Guessing that's all our last drop-in's doing. Anyway, let's get this over with. You know why you're here, but I need to hear it."

"She" hates the antiquated form these rituals take. Specifics must be shared. She was not made to be the middle man and frustration in her voice is evident, along with the complete and utter nonchalance. )

Edited 2025-07-18 04:23 (UTC)

[Well, that third roll was not great (6), so whatever information she could gain slips through her fingers as she moves from one venue to the next. Instead, she steps inside, trying to follow that ramble and try to make sense of it.]

So, what? The Muir Woods just kidnap people on occasion and dump them into a ... really elaborate chambre de chasse? Based on old stories?

[Sam walks in behind her, hanging back by the door, and also scanning the room for anything that he might be able to use as a weapon (14) should the need arise.]

( It's one big room with one bedroom off of the main room, a bedroom up the stairs. Probably their daughter's. There's a candlestick, a bucket stew might be made in, rocks on a hearth toward the back he could wedge loose. A firepoker. Plates.

Taking her pipe, she points to Davina.

"Don't know what one of those are, but, yeah, for the most part?Usually something derived from what you know, you read, you like. Last bloke made the world go Working Girl, but - Shakespearean. Real tense. And real, real crass. Things shifted when you lot dropped in. And, I'm your minder." )

Minder?

( "That's the word they use, but feels more like a babysitter explaining the rules to a game you never asked to play. All because you thought you got the drop on some ancient meanies, yeah?" )

[Got it. Trapped in a magic trap with someone who doesn't know much about magic. How useful.]

We weren't trying to get the drop on anyone. We were on a hike.

[She crosses her arms in front of her chest.]

There's a lot of magic in those trees. My fault, maybe, that we wandered too far, but we didn't mean any harm.

[A fairly solid bluff (18), especially since Davina is one of the newer add-ons to this little adventure.]

( "I may have recently gone to the Pilgrims, but I wasn't born yesterday and I know why I'm here." (16), because of how she's been built into this, has her doubting but believing Davina. "She" doesn't quite know how she's here, but, she's used to new leases on her life. She misses people not named Ben, but listens to the little witch.

Looks to Scott, to Sam. )

My girlfriend's a witch.

( a nice (7) to bluff with her, but he sticks to the truth at least.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a right clever girl. Stumbling into a mystery." It's an easy explanation. "You play the game, you survive. 'Cept when dad and dad come home. Check in on the untimelies. You last long enough, someone else drops in, everything shifts. Or you perish. Medieval if you ask me." )

[This sounds familiar. Sam fights the urge to roll his eyes, considering they're playing off a much better playbook.]

Let me guess. Playing the game means playing our roles?

[Sam could do self-righteous man with too much pride, he's been there before. But he doesn't want to waste his time playing a game that Gabriel already put him and Dean through years ago.]

( "Play your parts good enough and even WC won't see through your charade. Muck up and draw the town's ire, well, there are the stocks. And worse."

Allison has had enough of this game and it hasn't even started.

"Contrary to what the others do, they like you nice and alive."

How else can they inhabit you if you're dead. )

We're vessels now?

( "Way it works. You volunteered to be tributes. Guessing you left your friends behind. They're either mulch by now or in their grubby little hands," she says, clearly not on one side or the other.

"But don't listen to little old me, what do I know? I opened my eyes and I was in Wuthering Heights."

But, here she is, aware of what's going on, and transferring with the world shifts. That must mean something. )

I refuse to believe there's a way out.

( "They trapped a god. Well, demigod, but I've tussled with gods before and they should not be trapped anywhere. Barring massive cosmic comeuppance." )

What do you - you just talk to hear yourself, don't you? Slow down, or actually help. Because we've all done this before in one way or another. And there's always a way out. God or no god.

( Scott steps forward.

"Caroline mentioned the gods when I was touring the school, but only in passing."

"It's not mine to mention," Mary says. )

You just mentioned it. You call it babysitting, but I call it being a smart-ass. What if we can help you?

( Mary's about to scoff, turns away, takes a long puff from her pipe. "It's okay, Spike," a voice comes from up the stairs. He comes down in colonial garb, dressed quite like Mary might be dressed, but looking very much like a timeless blonde - in a dress.

He stops on the bottom step.

"He's right. I shouldn't be contained." Ben says. )

[Davina doesn't know Ben, exactly. She hasn't met him personally. But he feels familiar (11), magically speaking. Her eyes study him curiously as he moves into the room.]

You came to New Orleans once, didn't you?

[But that's not the important thing. Sam on the other hand, is not in the mood to be someone else's vessel.

"Sorry. Lucifer already has dibs on me as a meat suit and he doesn't share."

So if the witches were expecting to jump into him, they're about to be very disappointed. Never mind the fact that Lucifer is dead. Though that does give him an idea.

Cas, if you could hear me, we could really use a hand right now.]

Jed and I both did. He's not here. Davina?

( absolute (natural 20) recognition, both of the power she possessed as regent of New Orleans, and that one vampire's friend. she was at rousseau's after they visited the bayou. he can see the power she wields, and how it should be stifled but isn't.

could she be a solution?

allison makes a face that can't be described, because, she's very thrown, and then confused, but one thing at a time.

"You're the demigod?" )

I prefer Ben.

( Cas, wherever he is, definitely hears Sam. And he can pinpoint a general Muir Woods location, though it's muddy, like the signal is brighter than it should be and it's not clear where in them Sam is. But, the source of that power is a building about a mile out from the great bank of magic. )

[That's okay, he'll go be someone else's problem.

That being said, Davina nods, and that puts some of the complications that they've experienced into context (16). If this isn't behaving the way it should, it could mean a number of things, but she's willing to bet that Ben isn't something it was designed to hold.]

What was the date when you fell through?

[She figures he doesn't know how much real-world time has passed, but he might be able to at least tell her the month.]

August.

( It was right before school was starting for Jed, in the midst of him still deciding if he's going to follow through with the New Orleans pack. He'd been leaning in that direction.

Ben is definitely a major complication to the structure of this cage. And, depending on what Davina knows about Spike, that could give her a little more knowledge of how it might work and treat certain people some ways. Also, if she knows Spike should be dead. But, I don't know how aware Davina is of slightly famous older vampires with a better reputation than they used to have. )

[Yeah, Davina has enough famous older vampires in her life, she doesn't have room for any more. Sam's not really familiar with the name either.]

It's November now.

[She glances around the spell, before taking a step towards Ben.]

This spell was probably not designed to hold a god, especially not for this long. There's a chance if we combine our efforts we can find a way out.

( Maybe she could channel him. He doesn't have magic himself, but he has everything a god is afforded that he possesses underneath. )

I don't feel as limitless as I should. I think the spell is using me. Taking advantage of what I am, siphoning me enough to keep me here, but not keep everything together.

So there's two ways we could do this. We could overload it, or we could cut it off.

[Cutting it off would be more complicated, overloading it could be more dangerous. But they're stuck here, and Davina would very much prefer to not be. She turns back to Spike.]

Are we sure there isn't some other way out of here? Some kind of puzzle to solve?

( Allison would also prefer not to be stuck, especially if the "dads (Wallace and Corsair)" could join them at any time. And they wouldn't know who they were possessing. Men, probably? Based on Spike's assessment? )

There's always something off about it. A name is wrong. A place. I was in Succession, ( Jed was taking him through it ) but, Logan and Kendall were swapped. I wondered if there was something in that, an exploit I could take advantage of. But, they mean it, here. I've died a few times. You step out of place, the entire thing turns on you. And, maybe, they were there, too. I suspected. Once.

( And it never sticks, does it?

Spike feels at least a little better they know he isn't some little tattletale of a girl called Mary. But, he still looks and sounds like her.

"Last I knew, I was taking my last non-breath in London. Then I was here. Only, like I said. Heatchliff. Catherine. Anyway, funny story. I killed my minder and all that did was transfer the power to me. I call it a power, but really it's a stain. One I'd like to rid myself of, along with my third chance at life. Just saying, you find a way out of here, I'm hitching my trailer to yours." )

[Davina weighs her options. Layers and layers of illusions could take some time to work through, before if it's this constantly renewing process. She rolls her shoulders, before turning back to the rest of the group.]

If Ben and I combine our magic, I could brute force our way out of here. But it could be risky, depending on how they built this portal world. It also could summon them down here to deal with us in order to get us to stop.

[So it's up to the group if they want to take said risk, but Davina would like to get her eyes on their captors, if nothing else.]

Not magic. ( He points out. ) But, I do carry it. ( Literally carried it, in order to empower the mortals. ) Divine blood.

( "Oh, none of us are vampires," Scott says with a recognition of (4).

Allison, probably still stuck on 'Lucifer's meatsuit,' gets a (2) and no commentary whatsoever, because - right. Next moves.

"If they're summoned down here, then odds are that makes them vulnerable up there. But, we don't know the rules. If you have their magic, they probably do, too," she reasons. )

Divine blood may not be super helpful to you, but it is channelable by me. In fact, I think the witches who made this place may have tried to tap into that power, and that's already too much magic for it to sustain itself. It's probably why it's getting so confused.

[Sam rolls his shoulders before grabbing the iron poker from the fireplace and testing the weight. "Sometimes the subtle route doesn't get you anywhere. Let's see how breaking things goes."

Davina nods before holding her hands out to Ben.]

Only if you're okay with it.

( He's been used and abused, what's another go-round. He steps closer and holds out his hand, palm upward.

He's not going to waste time and say his divine blood isn't helpful to him, as it usually eliminates and surpasses magic.

Allison finds the frying pan.

Scott tests that he can't wolf out, but he does move to the back of the room, in case he can get the drop on them.

Spike drops his pipe and stomps on it ceremoniously.

"Let's get this over with," he says, jumping from foot to foot, shaking his hands out. )

[Davina closes her eyes, pulling gently on the magic offered to her, and then feeding back in some of her own (16). She pushes her own magic into the equation, and begins to chant, trying to see if she can push back enough to see the skeletons of the spell itself.

The first faltering seems to be the revelation of Spike: Not a little girl after all, but a full grown vampire.]

Hey now. ( he looks down at himself, dressed how he was when he'd disintegrated into dust. ) Any of the witches want to tell me how I got Little House on the Prairie'd, I wouldn't say no to the explanation. Keep it going, Davina.

( That (16) is amplified by it being Ben's divine blood she's pulling from. Ben's not weakened, only used, tilting a head at Spike. He does not look like a Mary.

The others, stand at the ready.

There's a knock at the front door.

"John, Abigail, are you alright in there?" a male voice asks.

"Don't. Stop," Ben winces out.

"John! Proctors!" From the back, a pounding starts on that door. )

Think it's fighting back!

[Davina doesn't stop. She doesn't lose her focus (15), and continues to keep the flow of magic, let's it batter through the walls, push against the seams, trying to break it apart as much as she can.

Sam moves to the closest window to the door, trying to peer out to see what's happening outside, before raising his voice.]

We're fine! Nothing to worry about.

[He figures that probably won't work, but worth a shot.]

( No amount of persuasion is going to help, no, there's a sudden crowd outside, a cacophony of voices. Very crazy mob storming the Beast's castle. A rock is thrown through the one window, Sam make a dex check to dodge it.

Davina is tearing apart at the magic trying to hold them in, trying to tether everyone together. Spike reverts back for a second. )

Bollocks. Bloody this again?

( Before being restored. )

Not. Funny.

( Glass shatters outside, the sky darkens, the sun turning a shade of red. Scott smells smoke - and then a fire. Not in their hearth, but right outside. Flames are visible from the opposite window.

"Does it count as smoking us out if it's not real?" )

Edited 2025-07-21 18:10 (UTC)

[Sam jerks to the side at the flung rock (18), feeling it whiz past him. He grits his teeth, before glancing back over his shoulder. "Davina? Move a little faster please."

The chanting trails off as the wind picks up, lifting her hair and letting it flail around her. Just as she hits the most narrow edges of the spell (16), she opens her eyes and speaks to those trying to contain her, rather than the rest of the room.]

I am the regent of New Orleans. I am the last of the Harvest Girls. I've stood against immortals much scarier than you. So if you're going to try and hold me, you're going to have to come down here and face me first.

[And then she slams a final wave of magic into the spell, hoping that she will feel it shatter.]

( In an instant, everyone's eyes open as they gasp for breath. In a cavern, they dangle with their hands chained above their heads, a tube connecting through their noses. Sam would recognize it as a Djinn-like outfit. There are runes all over the cave walls, Sam and Davina can make an arcane check to see if they recognize them.

Scott's (nat 20) has him breaking his chains immediately with a wolfy growl as he drops to his feet.

Ben's (10) is less successful, but he's been kept down here longer. He's back in his body and god or no god, his body's atrophied.

Spike (also nat 20) yanks his hands free, while Allison's (14), brings dirty and branches down with hers, but she is still chained. )

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