World Tree MUSH

    The Church of Heavenly Communion sits just beyond the limits of the city of Caldeum, Jewel of the East. It once served as a meeting place for the Cathedral of Light, a radical group of zealots who worshipped what they believed to be divine beings who inhabited the otherworldly realm of the High Heavens. Legend had it that those in the Cathedral's following used to gather here to commune with such beings through some sort of esoteric ritual.

    But such times have long since passed, and the place now lies in ruins. Furthermore, recently it has suddenly become infested with hordes of demons. The Horadrim, an elite task force consisting+ of the most powerful mages in the land, are currently putting all their might up against them just to keep them from invading the city of Caldeum itself. But their numbers are growing, and if someone doesn't do something to put a stop to it soon, the heroes of Sanctuary will soon be overwhelmed.

    As time is of the essence, any off-worlders arriving to assist are immediately directed to the site of the problem just outside the city in Kehjistan. Indeed, the ruined church looks to be full of chaos at the moment, with demons of all shapes and sizes throwing themselves at the locals who are only barely able to hold them back. Magical barriers are up here and there, and spells are being thrown back and forth all over the place!

  There's something in the sky amidst all the chaos on the ground. Its sleek and predatory shape doesn't belong to this world, some kind of machine, and it moves with speed -- and perhaps unexpected silence. It turns this way and that, pivoting, rotating, the sweep of its wings gleaming in any ambient light.

  Meet the quinjet: The light transport about the size of a modest fighter jet, with turbines that let it sprint like a fighter jet and move like a helicopter. Graceful, quick; but all the while tightly controlled. The workhorse of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. This one's a little different, though... its livery is flat black instead of grey, and all its identifying markers are in low-visibility, low-contrast grey.

  It's also completely silent. What??

  Below the point of the nose a bright spotlight flicks on. It's more like a floodlight, really, and it lights up the area for the defenders nicely. A voice crackles to life on a loudspeaker, crisp and clear. It's a woman's voice, rough from too many years of drinking and smoking. Middle-aged, like a raven's croak. It's accented by some unidentifiable Eastern European language. The quinjet eases down in a relatively safe area, and the cargo ramp hatch aft slides open, smoothly; without a sound.

  <All right. Everybody off.>

  The quinjet pipes up in a smooth, feminine, slightly artificial-sounding voice.

  According to my sensors, this area should be safe for long enough to gather your collective bearings and--

  <Shut up, Val.>

    "Oddly roomy for a spook ship." Dante muses as Anneka brings them to the city. The son of Sparda throws his coat on and pulls Rebellion, a massive sword that could split a cow in half, from his case before sticking it to his back. He doesn't even waste any time waiting for the ship to land, as he hops off the Quinjet and lands.

    Dante pops his neck as he arrives upon landing. "Hellspawn central...sounds like a typical Saturday to me." The demon hunter smirks broadly as he makes his way towards the church, popping his neck. There's no real hurry in Dante's step, he knows the demons will come his way pretty quickly.

    "Alright, folks. Step back and take notes, the pros are here to show you how things are done." He tells survivors, before drawing his pistols, the Son of Sparda then metaphorically kicks the door in before he unloads on everything with a demonic looking face, Ebony and Ivory blowing baseball sized holes in things, diving and weaving to avoid attacks with the air of someone who's just getting warmed up, doing tai chi in the park.

    To Dante, this really is a Saturday.

    Demons... Always demons. It's always demons. It's as though everywhere Anna Primrose of Rosalia goes, demons hound her very steps. Nevertheless, the young princess is seated in the back of the quinjet with hate in her eyes and murder in her heart, a simple woodcutter's axe in her hands. Or perhaps not so simple, due to the fact that keen eyes will note that the blade has been coated in silver.
    Strapped to the teen's back is a chainsaw, to boot. But it would seem she favors the axe in her grasp over the power tool. The earbuds in her ears play some cheesy pop-tune that kids listen to these days, set on repeat. It's calming for her. ... As much as anything can be calming for someone who is literally roiling with murderous rage at all times. The girl may be kind of small and scrawny, but she radiates an almost palpable aura of menace and heat all around her for a good distance.
    Once the silent form of the quinjet slides its boarding ramp out, the tiny blonde practically leaps out of her seat, axe in hand. She spends a moment surveying the carnage before her. Mages battling demons, barely able to hold them off from invading the city nearby.
    It really gets Anna riled up.
    No. Seriously. The girl starts hyperventilating, eyes rapidly turning a ruddy shade of raging bloodshot red as she chokes her grip on her axe and- in an instant she's among the defenders, snarling and insensate with killing frenzy. That silver axe flashes in her grasp as she embeds it in a demon's skull. Kicking the beast off the axe she whirls to cleave another. A solid headbutt stuns a third before she bisects it in one solid swing that cuts it in half from head to crotch.
    All while her heaphones blare that pop-y tune.

    As the outsiders arrive, one of the mages trying to hold the demons back turns his attention toward them momentarily. He's clad in a pale purple robe with dark hair and well-trimmed beard. "Oh, thank the High Heavens you have arrived. "My name is Tal Rasha." It looks like he's the one in charge of the locals. We have been trying to reach the inner sanctum--" He throws up a barrier as a bat-like creature with monstrous fangs lunges at him; it ends up smacking into solid magical energy instead. "--all day now. But we cannot risk allowing them to reach the city. We believe a portal has been opened there. You must find whatever or whoever may be sustaining it and destroy it before we are overwhelmed."

    His attention goes back to the fray, and he fires off a massive red beam that tears straight through a line of hell brutes that just emerged and blasts the outer doors to pieces, creating an opening for the group to rush in. "Go quickly!"

    There's no time wasted as Dante gives a lazy minimal salute to the guy before blasting away at a demon that very nearly gnaws Tal's neck off. "You're welcome, grandpa!" He calls out, before switching to his greatsword. Rebellion hacks and slashes like a hurricane of death, Dante even leapijng into the air and spiking a few demons up there with him as he turns them into sishimi. He can't help but admire Anna's style, it's brutal but VERY effective.

    Chopping a demon in half on the way down, Dante lands before rushing into the opening. "Save a round for us, we'll be back in ten tops!"

  "Tuesday at the office." The pilot's voice is muffled from the cockpit as she glances over her shoulder (which does nothing, because she's glancing over her blind side so she can hear them better), but Anneka's there and listening. Step back and take notes, the pros are here to show you how things are done.

  Anneka snorts. "Maybe. Just remember who's taking your ass home," she mutters, as the demon disembarks.

  She might have suggested to her superiors that Anna is somebody worth keeping an eye on. Especially if she happened to rage out in transit. Maybe she's like some kind of Inhuman kid, or something comparable. Anneka can't be too sure; she just knows she wouldn't want to see that kid using that woodchopper.

  Anneka sighs, shakes her head, and reaches for the secure lockbox behind her seat. It's an ICER sedative pistol and a ballistic vest she shrugs into, reaching up and flicking off the sunglasses. Time to go. "Val. Keep an eye on the area. Come if I call, and try not to be seen."

  Acknowledged, Captain Stojespal. Maintaining perimeter.

  With that Anneka leaps from the ramp, as the quinjet ascends smoothly. Dust puffs beneath her boots. Those are at least combat boots, but the rest of her outfit is a dull olive flightsuit with agency insignia on the shoulders, a more personal patch on the other shoulder, and 'A. STOJESPAL' embroidered over the breast pocket.

  She proceeds to use the chaos to her advantage, slinking through the mess of local defenders and demons. Side-stepping a mage and his quarry, ducking beneath a demon's swiping claws, she makes her way after the others.

  ...Only to immediately have a smaller demon come shrieking her way. With a distinctly not-smooth squawk Anneka raises her ICER and fires, ducking to one side and following through to shoot the other way at another, before turning to eye Tal Rasha. "We'll do what we can," she assures, checking her ICER and looking up as the red beam of death eats its way through the front lines.

  The agent wastes no time lunging forward. Looks like she'll get a chance to see that kid and her axe in action after all. "Come on; let's get this over, fast!"

    Anna is a little busy tearing and ripping demons apart in a frenzied battle heat to politely stop and return Tal Rasha's greeting. But no sooner than that bat-monster lunges at the mage and meets his magical shield, the princess is on top of it with a growl, pummeling the thing down with the butt of her axe before finishing off by mercilessly severing its spine.
    She pauses long enough to catch some breath, before the mage busts open a path for the party to advance.
    But before she follows through she seems to be of sound enough mind to lunge for the demon assailing Anneka. As soon as it starts acting sluggish from the sedative in that pistol, she's on top of it, hacking into its back with her axe.
    Just to make sure.
    "Hate demons..." She mutters singlemindedly before shaking the red haze of fury from her head. "Let's go." The girl says as she follows the half-demon and agent through the open door.

    The opening won't last long, but the party is taking down the monstrous creatures with a kind of brutal efficiency Sanctuary hasn't quite seen before. Anna certainly gets some looks. But they're getting the job done, so no one's complaining. So Dante, Anna, and Anneka are able to blaze through the doorway and charge into the inner sanctum, cutting down demons as they go without much difficulty.

    The sanctum is littered with broken pews, shattered stained glass, and fallen chandeliers. Up front, behind the altar, instead of a crucifix as some might expect, there is some kind of crystalline device connected to a series of gears. The one on the top has a slot in the middle that looks like it's supposed to fit some kind of key. And right in front of that, on the floor of the podium is a gaping red hole full of fire. Right as they enter, a huge worm-like demon rears up out of it and launches a fireball at the group!

    No sooner than the party makes it through the door, Anna pauses. Crystal blue eyes take in the inner sanctum in its former glory. But... Something doesn't sit right with her. It might be the portal of flames open in the middle of it all, or it might be the fact that someone set up some kind of device to open it... The hair on the back of her neck stands on end.
    "Look out!" She calls out before the worm even rouses. And when it does, she takes a full on tumble roll out of the way of the inbound fireball, rolling aside from the incoming blazing sphere and ducking behind a shattered pew to avoid the residual heat and following possible explosion.
    Quickly she assesses the situation.
    She's an ANGRY girl. ... But she's not *brainless*.
    "I'll get its attention, someone try and figure out how to stop the machine!" Called to Dante and Anneka as she breaks from her cover.
    "HEY, CAYENNE BREATH!" She calls out for the worm, trying to make it focus on her.
    "I'm going to use you to bait SO many fishhooks!" She calls out as she bull-rushes the great worm and heaves her axe into it again and again to try and hew it down to size.

  The agent straightens, watching in awestruck horror. Nobody should be able to swing an axe quite like that, but that girl is waving it around like it's made of balsa wood. Never mind that whatever demons she has her sights on go down like they're made of modeling clay. Impressive, but also a little scary.

  ...Snap out of it, Stojespal.

  Yeah she's just gonna let the axe-murdering girl take the lead, here. The agent checks her weapon and moves into position behind the others, slinking in their shadows. Cowardly? Maybe, but she likes to think she has healthy survival instincts. Also, she only has one eye, so she's generally letting the others be in her blind spot, and showing them a lot of trust in doing. Maybe that's why she looks so nervous.

  She stays low as they enter the abandoned church, twisting and stepping carefully to avoid making undue noise over debris. Her eye is in constant motion, roving for both targets and to mentally map the nearest exits.

  When it's clear nothing huge is in here, she straightens to look at the device, frowning. She stops a third of the way there, tilting her head. How strange. "It looks like a door," she mutters to herself, frowning, single eye darting over the device's features. "Looks like a lock... so there must be a key. The question is, what's locking it...?"

  Anneka starts to step closer, before--

  There's a shrill sound. A shriek, even. It's not a sound of surprise, or even anger or pain. It's a sound of abject fear. She throws herself aside, crashing into a pew and wrestling herself back to her feet in record time. The bracelet around her wrist flashes.

  Captain Stojespal, sensors indicate an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Captain Stojespal, do you copy?

  Anneka doesn't answer. In the span of a single breath the agent manages to twist and whirl into a one-eighty turn. Very suddenly, Anneka isn't running towards the demon to help the others kill it.

  She's running away, and her mien is one of abject terror.

  Hopefully someone's good at sprinting. Or she doesn't attract the demon's attention.

    As Dante and Anneka rush to the keyhole, they think for a bit. "Got a lockpicking kit in your utility belt there?" He asks Anneka, just as FIRE happens. Dante pushes ANneka out of the way before he blocks it with a hand. It burns, it hurts like hell, but Dante'll heal just fine.

    He sees the fire, and Anneka running off. Pyrophobia. Got it.

    "Goddammit." Dante sighs. "I hate puzzles so muuuuuch." He says, before jamming Rebellion into the keyhole. It's worth a shot, and he twists with all his might. "This better goddamn work!"

    The demon howls as Anna yells at it--well she has certainly succeeded in getting its attention. As she just rushes in and hacks away at it, she'll find it is surprisingly squishy to her silver-coated axe, and it actually falls quite quickly, before it even manages to get its entire body out of the portal. Putrid blood spews everywhere, as its remains fall back down into the hole it came out of. But as Anna is standing there, she may catch a glimpse of something on the other side of the portal--a glimmer of white light amidst all the hellfire and burning pits of lava. It looks rather out of place down there...she will also see that there are a -lot- more demons headed for the portal...and just beyond them, is another, larger demon. This one looks more humanoid, resembling a woman with clawed, spider-like appendages on its back. If not for her demonic features, she might have even been considered beautiful. She's pacing back and forth in front of the light, as if guarding something.

    The fireball hits Dante, and it definitely burns, but fortunately he is able to soak most of it though it sets some of the broken pews on fire. When he thrusts his sword into the key slot, the mechanism seems to turn but nothing happens.

    As Anneka tries to flee, she would only find herself faced with more demons. Fortunately, the Horadrim are still out there, and manage to vaporize them before they can get to her. "Outsider! What's happening?" One of them calls out to her. "Enter the portal, if you must...we will get you out of there, if need be..."

    

    Ah crap there goes Anneka.
    Though Anna handles the fire breathing worm, she looks up to see Dante stuffing his sword into the mechanism and... Nothing happens.
    The princess lets out a rather undignified curse as she looks into the portal and sees the incoming horde.
    "Hey...-- HEY!" She calls out to agent Stojespal.
    "I killed the fire-thing, try and calm down..." She says, tone surprisingly gentle as she works on catching her breath. She motions for the machine.
    "There's some kind of key... Try and find it. I'll hold off the demons at the portal. I promise I won't let them burn you, but we need you to calm down and we need your help." She says as she looks back into the portal.
    The demons are approaching. And that spider-like woman seems to be...
    "Oh. ... Oh! She's got it! I'll clear a path!"
    Anna slings her axe over her shoulder and unslings... Her chainsaw.
    The princess yanks on the ignition cord...

    Vr- chk chk... Vrr- chk chk chk... VRRRRRRRRR!

    Anna leaps into the portal. She's gunning for the spider-woman, hacking down smaller demons left and right in her way as she charges to make a path.

    Dante stares as nothing happens. "Gotta be kidding. It can't be that easy." He says, as he sees the portal. Ripping Rebellion free, Dante climbs down and joins Anna. "Guess we gotta do this ourselves. C'mon!" He rushes off with the princess, hacking away at demons. Rip and tear indeed. They're an unstoppable whirlwind of destruction, with Dante going so far as to pull out Coyote to blast any demons they miss in melee.

    "I got you covered, do the thing!" Wait, wrong alt.

  Oh, look at that, now the pews are also burning, too. Awesome! Anneka doesn't run faster, but she doesn't stop running, either. Even the Horadrim earn only the briefest passing glance until she pitches to a halt, trembling, single eye flicking from the portal to the Horadrim to the party behind her in rapid succession.

  The one-eyed woman curses, shakily. She seems like a veteran professional, and a fairly even keel otherwise; most likely closer to fifty than forty. Aversion to fire must be really bad if it's enough to make this woman lose her wits.

  Anneka shudders with visible effort, turning to face the way she'd run back from, and Anna, calling to her. The burning pews are eyed, and one can almost see her blanch a little more, but the agent swallows against a dry throat and lunges forward.

  Right. It's a lock. That means there's a key somewhere. And it sounds like Anna's going to produce said key. Anneka nods, sharply, turning and reversing course back to the device. She stays low, strides long, pistol clutched securely. Somehow she hadn't lost her ICER in the mess.

  "Throw it!" she roars, after Anna and Dante. Yeah no she's not following into the portal, thanks very much, she's not a main tank!

    Dante and Anna plow through the portal, cutting down the hordes of demons as they go. It's incredibly hot down here, and it almost feels as if the heat is searing the flesh. But today's heroes likely have more to worry about than the ambient temperature. As they approach the feminine demon, they will see more clearly what she is guarding. Or rather, who.

    A brightly luminescent being is hanging from the ceiling of the cavern, bound by heavy chains that glow an eerie red color--the same color as the portal they'd just passed through. Dante at least will recognize the individual. It is Tyrael, the Archangel of Justice. To everyone else, it is a hooded, faceless creature with brightly glowing tendrils of light extending out of its body. 

    Also, now that they have a closer look, they can also see that the chains run through the cavern and are connected to the portal. It becomes clear that the demon is using this being to keep the portal into the Burning Hells open somehow. If they can get past her and break the chains...

    Speaking of which, the female demon has now aggro'd. She begins to laugh maniacally. "You are fools to come here! I am Andariel, Maiden of Anguish! And you shall suffer torment in this place for all eternity!" With that, she launches herself at Anna and Dante, stabbing and clawing at them with all her appendages. 

    

    Already soaked in sweat and blood, the heat sears at Anna, but she pays it no mind as she plows through the horde and gets closer to the demon woman.
    Only to learn that they 'key' is not a thing but a person. Awkward. Nevertheless, when Andariel turns her attention to her and Dante, Anna bull-rushes the demon.
    Only to suddenly juke aside.
    Eating several lacerations and cut badly for her efforts she lunges aside.
    "Handle her." She calls to Dante as she revs her chainsaw...
    And takes it to those chains in a shower of sparks and heat.

>> GAME >> Anna Primrose spends an Edge for: Advantage on STR based checks when raging.

    How odd. Dante was expecting a big-ass key.

    Anyway, when they're faced off with the giant spider demon, Dante scoffs. "Yeah yeah yeah, heard it all before, queenie. Come and get your spankin'!" He calls out, before doding and leaping slashing appendages, even tanking one full on the chest as he moves to slice the limb off with his sword. Anna'll get her distraction, for sure.

    Man, he kinda wants a chainsaw. Valerian and Anna have much cooler weapons than he does, that's not fair!

    Not to be outdone, Dante switches from Rebellion to Cerberus, the triple-section staff twirling and spinning as Dante strikes Andariel with icey attacks, the tristaff even taking on whip-like forms as the demon slayer woots and leaps over another slashing limb.

  An actual, physical key might have been too simple for a chaotic mess like this. Even so, Anneka Stojespal would not have expected the key to be a person. Maybe telling Anna to throw it through the portal wasn't the best idea.

  For the moment she stays pressed up against the wall near the device, ICER pistol held at the ready, taking shots at anything that gets too uncomfortably close. The Horadrim can doubtless finish off anything she's managed to slow down. Dendrotoxins are amazingly potent. It looks like they affect even the demons that infest this place. Good, because her field agent toolkit is pretty small, beyond that. Smashing things is the purview of big green guys with anger management problems.

  So, she waits, although she'll be ready to help them escort the captured Archangel of Justice out of this place. Right now she's busy sweating and making sure those burning flames don't get too much closer.

  Going by her earlier behaviour, she's perfectly liable to desert the party if it does.

    Anneka's dendrotoxins are actually doing a wonder for the Horadrim fighting back the demons outside, whether she knows it or not, causing them to become sluggish at the very least, if not completely paralyzed, and thus making them easy targets! She will certainly be thanked and rewarded for her efforts once this is all over.

    Dante hacks and slashes, lopping off one of Andariel's clawed spider legs. It falls to the ground, and she jumps away, trying to get some distance from his melee weapons as she fires a poison bolt at him. Right then, Anna's chainsaw slices through the last chain, the metal cracking and falling to the floor of the cavern with a loud clatter. 

    "No!" The Maiden of Anguish turns to see them fall, but she is too late.
    
    Now free from his shackles, Tyrael pulls the sword Eldruin out of the ground below him where it had been, and throws it straight at the portal. The energies begin to destabilize from the point of impact, swirling around it and pulling Anna and Dante toward it. There is an explosion of light, and when all is said and done, the two of them will find themselves back in the church with Anneka and Tyrael. Only now the portal is gone, along with all the demons.

    Annnnnnd pop!

    Tyrael up and throws a sword at the problem, which is his thing he does to every problem! "You gotta teach me that 'solve the problem' throw someday, Wingdings." He teases Tyrael, as they're returned to the church. "So that's been solved." He stows Cerberus, and pulls a piece of Andariel's leg from his chest, wincing a bit as he does so while his body knits itself together. Hurts like hell, but Dante just thinks of it like a giant splinter.

    With the last of the chains cut, Anna turns her attention to Andariel, murder gleaming in her eyes as she revs her chainsaw and gears up to throw herself into the fray--
    Only for Tyrael to hurl Eldruin at the portal. Blindly flailing her chainsaw around in the ensuing explosion of light, she only comes to slow down and halt when it appears that the party is back in the church. It's best to stop that now, before she takes off someone's head. Panting to catch her breath, she turns her chainsaw off and stows it, wiping some mixed blood and sweat from her brow as she looks to Dante.
    "... Eugh, gross..." The princess sputters. Before she looks to Anneka.
    "... You okay? I think the fires are all handled now."

  Now that she's making more of a concerted effort to not panic, Anneka's shots are more focused, and she chooses her opportunities more carefully. She starts to coordinate her efforts with what of the Horadrim she can see, pausing before firing to ensure she's hitting targets that would benefit their tactics the most.

  From what she can see, anyway. The agent isn't moving from that device until the others are back through the portal.

  Pop goes the portal.

  Anneka looks up from firing, blinking her single eye rapidly. Well, all the demons seem to be gone, and she cautiously straightens from her tense half-hunch, looking intently to Anna, Dante, and... Tyrael? They seem fine. If, you know, still pulling bits of demon out of themselves, in Dante's case. Gross. The red-headed agent wrinkles her nose.

  "What the hell," she croaks. Not at Dante, but just, you know, in general.

  ...Tuesday at the office.

  Anna's question brings the woman to shuffle uncomfortably, frowning. "I am fine." The words are a growl. This one, it seems, does not like to show vulnerability. Argh. Grr. There's a short pause. "...Thank you." Quieter. Don't let anybody hear. She's got a reputation to keep.

  "I have room aboard the quinjet if anyone needs passage out of this hellhole." Yeah no that's perfectly literal. In fact, she reaches up to touch the bracelet on one wrist, sleek and glowing with soft inline lights. Are those lights pulsing in time to her heart? Freaky. "Val, recall to my coordinates. We're going home."

  Acknowledged, Agent Stojespal. ETA is in two minutes, thirty-seven seconds.

  Anneka stares at her bracelet for a moment, frowning. What. That was way too easy and didn't involve arguing with Val at all.

    Thankfully for Anneka, now that the demons are gone, the Horadrim have managed to take care of the fires as well. As Dante plucks pieces of demon off of himself, Tyrael brushes off pieces of the chains that were on him a few moments ago. Then he turns to face the party.

    "Thank you, mortals. I am in your debt." Dante's comment just gets a confused pause as Tyrael figures whether he is the one being addressed or not. 'Wingdings'? "If only every solution were so simple, Dante." he says finally, seemingly unaware of the sarcasm.

    Dante shrugs. "You think this tickles?" is all he has for Anna, before tossing the limb aside with faint annoyance. He does look to Anneka with concern, but leaves it be. Pyrophobia's a bitch, for sure. He knows the feeling.

    All he could remember after the mansion was attacked was fire, and never seeing his mother again.

    In any case, Dante will take a ride home if Anneka isn't full up with passengers.