( 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. )
[Davina is winded from the spellwork it took to get them there (7) and is unable to break herself free, but she does try to scan the walls to see if she can make sense of them (5). Unfortunately it seems to be a bit out of scope of knowledge - or maybe it's just the way her vision is blurring.]
Okay, may have overdid it on the last one.
[Sam also stays put (3), but that's more likely because he got distracted by the runes and is trying to decipher them (12). He can't make out all of them, but there's a few he does recognize.]
( Some are ancient Sumerian, others Viking and one other rune is Celtic. The spell combines different elements. Some are about locking them in, others lock the spell in place. It's beautifully overlayed.
Scott goes to Davina (19), yanking her free and bringing her down to the ground. He lets her down lightly, nose to nose. "Hi," he says. Sam gets help from Spike (14), he has to yank a little harder, and a big patch of dirty and vines falls down on top of his head. Sorry, Sam.
Ben's second attempt (unnatural 20) has him breaking his shackles altogether with his restoring God strength.
[She smiles at him as she finds her footing again, before glancing around the rest of the room as things begin to solidify. She frowns, before pointing at one of the sigils:]
This looks like Old Norse. I think I remember it from the Mikaelson grimmoire.
["Not all of it. This is Sumerian and this is Celtic." Sam frowns as he looks it over. "It looks like they layered a lot of different spell work to make this hold." He then crouches towards the bottom and frowns. "And this might be Enochian. Might be why Cas couldn't come right to us."]
("No, we prefer angels stay out of our business," a voice comes from behind them. The woman in a camo vest speaks, standing next to one of the gunman who has his gun up and trained on all of them.
"Years and layers down the drain, thanks to the Regent of New Orleans, Sam Winchester, a god, a vampire, and two nobodies," he says.
Both voices have a second voice accompanying, as if someone is speaking through them - because they are.
"I wouldn't move if I were you. Witch-killing bullets. You understand."
He points with the gun, gesturing everyone to get closer, stay together.
"Calling us out, directly? You've got big, brass balls.")
[But beyond that, she doesn't make a sign of fighting back, moving closer to Scott accordingly, but she doesn't seem any less defiant.
Sam shrugs as he moves to stand in front of Allison instinctively, eyes narrowed with a glare. "And if you know my name, you know that calling things out is kind of what we do. Wallace and Corsair, I presume?"
He can feel the weight of his gun in his pocket still but he doesn't reach for it just yet, wanting to see how this is going to go.]
( It's no skin off Spike's back, he called himself middle management. He shrugs, eyeing the two fashion rejects.
"What is with you and possessing people?" Allison asks, fingers wanting to grab her knife and gun, but she knows better than to do that yet. She's not going to mention the 'nobodies,' comment. Scott isn't nobody. And if they knew who she was, they might look at her differently. "Allison Argent," she says, "since we're sharing names."
"That must make you, Scott McCall?," Corsair says, the lady in the vest smirking as she tilts her head. "I thought you'd be taller."
"And I thought you'd fight your own battles," he bites back. "They're people."
"They're our people. They know what they signed up for. Some people like the legacy they leave behind. And they like to name drop," Wallace says, trailing his gun across them, as if he's going to eeny, meany, miney moe. "Spike, good to meet you in person," he continues.
"Yeah. Great to be in my own skin again. Are you who I should thank for reconstituting my big pile of dust?"
She gestures. The very two.
"Unlike your two meat puppets here, I didn't sign up to uphold your legacy."
Allison observes the two figures in front of them, trying to see how they operate. Will he pull the trigger?
"Do you leave your bodies when you possess your followers?")
["Usually. You can't really manage two perceptions at once," Davina tips her head to the side as she considers. "They've probably got their real bodies tucked away somewhere safe until they're ready to go back to them."
Sam raises an eyebrow, trying to figure out how close to the chest they want to play this.]
But those aren't really your real bodies, are they? Isn't that your whole thing? Body hopping every fifty years to get a new fresh model?
("Maybe," Wallace says, 'what's it to you?' her eyebrows say. "Who wants to live forever in the same body? Why not change it up for a few decades."
"Variety is the spice of life," Corsair adds.
"Except, the bodies you take over are your own children. Their spouses. Why stay that close to home?" Allison asks, crossing her arms, careful to stay half behind Sam - for now.
"Oh, I get it. Family," Spike says, understanding.
Ben, too, narrows his eyes. "Because they gain power. Power they've always had, but their sons and daughters have their own. You've been growing in power since the seventeenth century."
"Oh, Ben. What were the chances we would land such a big fish. Sorry we couldn't keep you occupied, we know you prefer when history repeats itself. Really, we were going to curse you just how you like it. We still might," she says, smirking. )
[Sam can't help but tease things just a little bit, quietly slipping his gun from his jacket while they're focused on Ben, tucking it behind his leg (15).]
Because we're not exactly working alone. Those bodies stashed neatly away - they wouldn't happen to be on the Riverboat, would they?
[Just enough, just a tease. Just an itch that maybe their focus is in the wrong place.]
( Wallace misses the gun (10), but Corsair catches it (17) and quickly points his gun at Sam.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he says, eyes cold.
Allison, tries, too, to pull hers out (8), trembling more than she wants to.
"It's not a secret where we spend our free time, Sam," Wallace counters. And gets a two, missing Allison's arming. Again, Corsair catches her movement and cocks his gun.
"You two. Toss your guns away," he turns the gun and points it at Davina, "or New Orleans will be down one regent." Scott growls, stepping fully in front of her. "True Alpha Scott McCall, you do not want to know what this bullet would do to you, and there are more where it came from. Back. Off.")
[Sam doesn't release his gun, staring her down, until he sees the flicker of movement in the hall behind them. He holds up his free hand, before slowly crouching to place he gun on the ground.]
Took you long enough.
[Castiel's face appears between the two witch's shoulders, eyebrow raising. "There was interference."]
( Corsair turns to train his gun on Castiel, but Castiel gets the drop on him if he wants to make an attack right away.
"Spike, join us, won't you," Wallace says, her hand forming a fist.
"Wha -" Without meaning to, his game face forms, growling, as he lunges for Davina. (14)
Scott's attack of opportunity, sends Spike sailing against the wall.
"She's doing this!" he says, getting back to his feet.
Chris levels his own gun, pointing it down at Wallace's hand - with an unnatural (21), the pullet sails straight through that fist and she cries out in pain. Something shifts, and only one scream sounds from the girl.
[Castiel reaches for the gun hand, before slamming one hand towards Corsair's face (5), but he's trying to be conscious of Jed standing behind him, so at most all he does is send the bullet in another direction.
Sam's hand comes up with the gun and aims a shot at Corsair himself (14). Corsair also isn't the only one with witch-killing bullets, and if that hits he might find himself forcibly ejected as well.]
Ben.
[There's a large measure of relief in his voice as he peers over Castiel's shoulder at his boyfriend. He's not stupid enough to get in the way of all that gunfire though, so he's just going to hang back until things settle.
Davina stumbles back closer to Ben, trying to stay out of Spike's way, and raises a hand to gather some magic. "Spike? You good?" If not, she readies a spell to try and break the compulsion (18).]
( The bullet embeds into the wall of the cavern. Corsair is too occupied by the angel in his personal space, so he takes the bullet straight in the chest. He ejects, the body dropping to it's knees. He falls forward, head to the side, dead.
Red curls and camo holds her wrist in her hand, blood pouring from it and dropping to the ground.
She comes to, seeing she's outnumbered.
"I'm me! I'm me!" she says, hunching over, trying to protect herself. "Wallace is gone." Unaware that they revealed she is a loyalist, she tries to play up her fright. (11).
"Just - peachy," Spike says, going for Allison next, fangs bared. (14, 19), Allison sidesteps his attempt, getting him with a kick to the side, smacking him down.
Davina's spell works around her and then Spike. As he kicks back up - he freezes, blinking. Looks down at his own hands he's squeezing.
"All's right," he tells Davina.
Behind her hands, the redhead attempts a quick spell under her breath, but Chris cold-cocks her and she drops down, too.
Ben makes sure Davina is okay, sees that Spike's himself, and then walks through the fray to draw Jed in close and breathe him in.
"We found your angel," Chris tells Sam, before coming to his daughter's side and wrapping an arm around her. "You okay?"
"I wasn't worried."
"That's my girl."
She lets her dad pull her in close, catching her breath.
Spike's hands come up, defensively, too as he looks at Scott.
"All me now, see?" He gives the knocked out redhead the finger. "Couldn't do this if I wasn't, yeah?"
Scott's still seething, ready to attack if needed. He lost it, so just give him a second to come back to himself. Davina can probably help with that. )
[Davina will help, stepping between Scott and Spike and drawing the werewolf's attention to her instead.]
Hey. It's okay. Threat neutralized for now.
[She'll hold his gaze until he comes back to himself, giving everyone a chance to breathe.
Sam makes his way over to the woman who's still alive (for now), and crouching down to make sure she doesn't have any other weapons on her. Once that's done, he looks up at Chris. "Josh and Aiden?"]
Taking care of anyone who might follow us down here. Castiel... drew attention.
( They all did, really.
Chris steps aside from his daughter, eyes Spike who meets his stare.
"Got a problem?" Chris turns away, so Spike approaches Davina and Scott, apologizing. Scott calms down, nodding, hand resting on the back of Davina's neck. He nods to Spike. He knows.
Ben leans back, keeping Jed in his arms. "You found me," he says, smiling. )
Not nearly fast enough. Had to spend three months in a box first.
[He hates that they were stuck, but at least they're all in one piece now.]
Are you okay?
[Davina leans in to Scott's touch, providing the reassurance that everyone is okay, at least for now. Sam pushes to his feet, nodding to Castiel. "Thanks for coming."
"It was exciting." Castiel offers a small smile. "Do you need me to stay?"
Sam pauses, before shaking his head. "I think we've got it from here."
Castiel nods, before disappearing from view. Just in time for Dean to call him about Ben, probably.
Sam then takes a breath and gets to his feet. "Job's not done. We still need to find the bodies."]
( He looks away and back behind him, briefly, before turning back. )
I was trapped in a spell. Davina overpowered it. ( He leans in closer again, inspecting him, making sure his boyfriend is okay. ) They kept you prisoner?
( Probably...
"Just making sure everybody just saw the man in the trenchcoat disappear?" Spike points. He's not crazy, right?
Allison nods, looking around the cave they're in, where they were chained. She peers upward.
"What are the odds they cloaked their bodies, too," she says, scanning the runes.
[And since they got here in August, it rounds out to about three months. He lets Ben look him over as he waves him off.]
I'm okay. They fed me and everything. I spent most of my time worried about you.
["He does that," Sam says to Spike, before looking to Davina with the same question.
Davina closes her eyes, trying to focus her magic to see if she can find any additional cloaking spells but there's likely a lot of magic around (11).]
( But he'd rather be here with you. Also, don't swat at him, it's been months.
He explains to Jed, in case he hasn't been versed. )
They're trying to find bodies. ( turning back, he offers ) If you find them, I can break it.
( Finally, he lets go of his boyfriend, turning to Davina.
She does feel more power down one of the pathways at the opposite end, and also against the wall itself with all the runes. And, yes, just the power of the redwoods is pretty deafening as far as power goes. She doesn't know if there's an indication of cloaking or not.
Sam could try the runes again.
Speaking of, Ben approaches them anew, now that they're not being threatened. He peers along the symbols, pointing to one. )
This one's out of place. Not built into everything else.
There's too much magic. I can't say for sure just by sensing it.
[She then does move over to the runes and tries to narrow her focus because Ben's not wrong. Those runes are different. Even the ink is different, looking something more akin to dried blood than anything else.
She moves to brush her fingers against it gently, trying to see what she can sense, and she feels a slight tug from the other side. A thin line that splinters out like a web (nat 20). She studies it carefully, before curling her fingers around the tether and starting to pull (11), to try and see where it leads.]
( with a (nat 20), the blood in the rune starts to seep down and then away, drawing a path to follow along the wall.
it draws her and whomever follows it to the right, then down, then across the floor and it stops over a small fissure at their feet. the blood drips downward.
ben follows it, too, along with davina.
as soon as ben steps closer to the fisher, the scene changes revealing... a staircase. )
[Sam turns to catch up with them, finding his pack among their things scattered on the ground to make sure they have the supplies they need if they're headed for the bodies. Jed also follows closely after his boyfriend, partially to understand what's happening but also partially to not let him out of his sight.
Davina keeps tugging lightly on that tether, slowly starting to lead the way down the staircase to see what's there.]
There's something down here. They went through a lot of trouble to hide it.
( Ben is fine, he's survived over thousands of years, three months of separation isn't going to do him in, but he does appreciate the concern and the rightful curiosity.
Allison tosses Sam lighter fluid she had grabbed, but keeps her crossbow drawn just in case there's a trap in a trap.
The stairs lead downward into a chamber not made of cave, but of marble. Two glass-plated coffins sit in the center - the original resting place of, presumably, Wallace and Corsair.
As Davina steps down into the room, two torches light themselves. )
no subject
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. )
no subject
Okay, may have overdid it on the last one.
[Sam also stays put (3), but that's more likely because he got distracted by the runes and is trying to decipher them (12). He can't make out all of them, but there's a few he does recognize.]
no subject
Scott goes to Davina (19), yanking her free and bringing her down to the ground. He lets her down lightly, nose to nose. "Hi," he says. Sam gets help from Spike (14), he has to yank a little harder, and a big patch of dirty and vines falls down on top of his head. Sorry, Sam.
Ben's second attempt (unnatural 20) has him breaking his shackles altogether with his restoring God strength.
Carefully, he tugs at the tube attached. )
no subject
[She smiles at him as she finds her footing again, before glancing around the rest of the room as things begin to solidify. She frowns, before pointing at one of the sigils:]
This looks like Old Norse. I think I remember it from the Mikaelson grimmoire.
["Not all of it. This is Sumerian and this is Celtic." Sam frowns as he looks it over. "It looks like they layered a lot of different spell work to make this hold." He then crouches towards the bottom and frowns. "And this might be Enochian. Might be why Cas couldn't come right to us."]
no subject
"Years and layers down the drain, thanks to the Regent of New Orleans, Sam Winchester, a god, a vampire, and two nobodies," he says.
Both voices have a second voice accompanying, as if someone is speaking through them - because they are.
"I wouldn't move if I were you. Witch-killing bullets. You understand."
He points with the gun, gesturing everyone to get closer, stay together.
"Calling us out, directly? You've got big, brass balls." )
no subject
[She glances over her shoulder.]
No offense, Spike.
[But beyond that, she doesn't make a sign of fighting back, moving closer to Scott accordingly, but she doesn't seem any less defiant.
Sam shrugs as he moves to stand in front of Allison instinctively, eyes narrowed with a glare. "And if you know my name, you know that calling things out is kind of what we do. Wallace and Corsair, I presume?"
He can feel the weight of his gun in his pocket still but he doesn't reach for it just yet, wanting to see how this is going to go.]
no subject
"What is with you and possessing people?" Allison asks, fingers wanting to grab her knife and gun, but she knows better than to do that yet. She's not going to mention the 'nobodies,' comment. Scott isn't nobody. And if they knew who she was, they might look at her differently. "Allison Argent," she says, "since we're sharing names."
"That must make you, Scott McCall?," Corsair says, the lady in the vest smirking as she tilts her head. "I thought you'd be taller."
"And I thought you'd fight your own battles," he bites back. "They're people."
"They're our people. They know what they signed up for. Some people like the legacy they leave behind. And they like to name drop," Wallace says, trailing his gun across them, as if he's going to eeny, meany, miney moe. "Spike, good to meet you in person," he continues.
"Yeah. Great to be in my own skin again. Are you who I should thank for reconstituting my big pile of dust?"
She gestures. The very two.
"Unlike your two meat puppets here, I didn't sign up to uphold your legacy."
Allison observes the two figures in front of them, trying to see how they operate. Will he pull the trigger?
"Do you leave your bodies when you possess your followers?" )
no subject
Sam raises an eyebrow, trying to figure out how close to the chest they want to play this.]
But those aren't really your real bodies, are they? Isn't that your whole thing? Body hopping every fifty years to get a new fresh model?
no subject
"Variety is the spice of life," Corsair adds.
"Except, the bodies you take over are your own children. Their spouses. Why stay that close to home?" Allison asks, crossing her arms, careful to stay half behind Sam - for now.
"Oh, I get it. Family," Spike says, understanding.
Ben, too, narrows his eyes. "Because they gain power. Power they've always had, but their sons and daughters have their own. You've been growing in power since the seventeenth century."
"Oh, Ben. What were the chances we would land such a big fish. Sorry we couldn't keep you occupied, we know you prefer when history repeats itself. Really, we were going to curse you just how you like it. We still might," she says, smirking. )
no subject
[Sam can't help but tease things just a little bit, quietly slipping his gun from his jacket while they're focused on Ben, tucking it behind his leg (15).]
Because we're not exactly working alone. Those bodies stashed neatly away - they wouldn't happen to be on the Riverboat, would they?
[Just enough, just a tease. Just an itch that maybe their focus is in the wrong place.]
no subject
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he says, eyes cold.
Allison, tries, too, to pull hers out (8), trembling more than she wants to.
"It's not a secret where we spend our free time, Sam," Wallace counters. And gets a two, missing Allison's arming. Again, Corsair catches her movement and cocks his gun.
"You two. Toss your guns away," he turns the gun and points it at Davina, "or New Orleans will be down one regent." Scott growls, stepping fully in front of her. "True Alpha Scott McCall, you do not want to know what this bullet would do to you, and there are more where it came from. Back. Off." )
no subject
Took you long enough.
[Castiel's face appears between the two witch's shoulders, eyebrow raising. "There was interference."]
no subject
"Spike, join us, won't you," Wallace says, her hand forming a fist.
"Wha -" Without meaning to, his game face forms, growling, as he lunges for Davina. (14)
Scott's attack of opportunity, sends Spike sailing against the wall.
"She's doing this!" he says, getting back to his feet.
Chris levels his own gun, pointing it down at Wallace's hand - with an unnatural (21), the pullet sails straight through that fist and she cries out in pain. Something shifts, and only one scream sounds from the girl.
Ben spots: "Jed?" )
no subject
Sam's hand comes up with the gun and aims a shot at Corsair himself (14). Corsair also isn't the only one with witch-killing bullets, and if that hits he might find himself forcibly ejected as well.]
Ben.
[There's a large measure of relief in his voice as he peers over Castiel's shoulder at his boyfriend. He's not stupid enough to get in the way of all that gunfire though, so he's just going to hang back until things settle.
Davina stumbles back closer to Ben, trying to stay out of Spike's way, and raises a hand to gather some magic. "Spike? You good?" If not, she readies a spell to try and break the compulsion (18).]
no subject
Red curls and camo holds her wrist in her hand, blood pouring from it and dropping to the ground.
She comes to, seeing she's outnumbered.
"I'm me! I'm me!" she says, hunching over, trying to protect herself. "Wallace is gone." Unaware that they revealed she is a loyalist, she tries to play up her fright. (11).
"Just - peachy," Spike says, going for Allison next, fangs bared. (14, 19), Allison sidesteps his attempt, getting him with a kick to the side, smacking him down.
Davina's spell works around her and then Spike. As he kicks back up - he freezes, blinking. Looks down at his own hands he's squeezing.
"All's right," he tells Davina.
Behind her hands, the redhead attempts a quick spell under her breath, but Chris cold-cocks her and she drops down, too.
Ben makes sure Davina is okay, sees that Spike's himself, and then walks through the fray to draw Jed in close and breathe him in.
"We found your angel," Chris tells Sam, before coming to his daughter's side and wrapping an arm around her. "You okay?"
"I wasn't worried."
"That's my girl."
She lets her dad pull her in close, catching her breath.
Spike's hands come up, defensively, too as he looks at Scott.
"All me now, see?" He gives the knocked out redhead the finger. "Couldn't do this if I wasn't, yeah?"
Scott's still seething, ready to attack if needed. He lost it, so just give him a second to come back to himself. Davina can probably help with that. )
no subject
Hey. It's okay. Threat neutralized for now.
[She'll hold his gaze until he comes back to himself, giving everyone a chance to breathe.
Sam makes his way over to the woman who's still alive (for now), and crouching down to make sure she doesn't have any other weapons on her. Once that's done, he looks up at Chris. "Josh and Aiden?"]
no subject
( They all did, really.
Chris steps aside from his daughter, eyes Spike who meets his stare.
"Got a problem?" Chris turns away, so Spike approaches Davina and Scott, apologizing. Scott calms down, nodding, hand resting on the back of Davina's neck. He nods to Spike. He knows.
Ben leans back, keeping Jed in his arms. "You found me," he says, smiling. )
no subject
[He hates that they were stuck, but at least they're all in one piece now.]
Are you okay?
[Davina leans in to Scott's touch, providing the reassurance that everyone is okay, at least for now. Sam pushes to his feet, nodding to Castiel. "Thanks for coming."
"It was exciting." Castiel offers a small smile. "Do you need me to stay?"
Sam pauses, before shaking his head. "I think we've got it from here."
Castiel nods, before disappearing from view. Just in time for Dean to call him about Ben, probably.
Sam then takes a breath and gets to his feet. "Job's not done. We still need to find the bodies."]
no subject
( He looks away and back behind him, briefly, before turning back. )
I was trapped in a spell. Davina overpowered it. ( He leans in closer again, inspecting him, making sure his boyfriend is okay. ) They kept you prisoner?
( Probably...
"Just making sure everybody just saw the man in the trenchcoat disappear?" Spike points. He's not crazy, right?
Allison nods, looking around the cave they're in, where they were chained. She peers upward.
"What are the odds they cloaked their bodies, too," she says, scanning the runes.
"Can you feel anything, Davina?" )
no subject
[And since they got here in August, it rounds out to about three months. He lets Ben look him over as he waves him off.]
I'm okay. They fed me and everything. I spent most of my time worried about you.
["He does that," Sam says to Spike, before looking to Davina with the same question.
Davina closes her eyes, trying to focus her magic to see if she can find any additional cloaking spells but there's likely a lot of magic around (11).]
no subject
( But he'd rather be here with you. Also, don't swat at him, it's been months.
He explains to Jed, in case he hasn't been versed. )
They're trying to find bodies. ( turning back, he offers ) If you find them, I can break it.
( Finally, he lets go of his boyfriend, turning to Davina.
She does feel more power down one of the pathways at the opposite end, and also against the wall itself with all the runes. And, yes, just the power of the redwoods is pretty deafening as far as power goes. She doesn't know if there's an indication of cloaking or not.
Sam could try the runes again.
Speaking of, Ben approaches them anew, now that they're not being threatened. He peers along the symbols, pointing to one. )
This one's out of place. Not built into everything else.
no subject
[She then does move over to the runes and tries to narrow her focus because Ben's not wrong. Those runes are different. Even the ink is different, looking something more akin to dried blood than anything else.
She moves to brush her fingers against it gently, trying to see what she can sense, and she feels a slight tug from the other side. A thin line that splinters out like a web (nat 20). She studies it carefully, before curling her fingers around the tether and starting to pull (11), to try and see where it leads.]
no subject
it draws her and whomever follows it to the right, then down, then across the floor and it stops over a small fissure at their feet. the blood drips downward.
ben follows it, too, along with davina.
as soon as ben steps closer to the fisher, the scene changes revealing... a staircase. )
Down here.
no subject
Davina keeps tugging lightly on that tether, slowly starting to lead the way down the staircase to see what's there.]
There's something down here. They went through a lot of trouble to hide it.
no subject
Allison tosses Sam lighter fluid she had grabbed, but keeps her crossbow drawn just in case there's a trap in a trap.
The stairs lead downward into a chamber not made of cave, but of marble. Two glass-plated coffins sit in the center - the original resting place of, presumably, Wallace and Corsair.
As Davina steps down into the room, two torches light themselves. )
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
🎀?