World Tree MUSH

    The Revenant's Wake is a loud and boistrous bar located smack dab in the middle of Bumfudge Nowhere. And the dark grey 2003 Ford Windstar parked outside it means there's probably going to be trouble tonight. Or so it seems.
    Tonight finds Morrigan Lor'osa in a pensive and thoughtful mood. Though the tavern all around her is pretty jovial and full of revelrous bar goers, she is sitting in a corner quietly sipping her beer while going over a slew of maps and sheets sprawled out on her table with Matsu.
    "Huh... It should be around here..." She murmurs between slow sips of lukewarm booze. "I know it's around here... The graveyard is supposed to be *here*. It's a place where they buried the greatest heroes of my world- paladins, fighters, rangers, even a few barbarians are in there, it's nuts." She gesticulates at Matsu and points intently at the map. "Rumors said the place was haunted out the wazoo, but we haven't found squat. What the hell is going on?" She mutters while her shinki, Mary Contrary picks up a dart half her size and heaves it at the nearby dartboard.
    The dar lands in the middle ring, earning her a modest amount of points, and the little shinki pumps her fist extatic at her score.
    "How are we supposed to clear out a class 3 hauntening, spookening, and frightening when we can't even find the damn place?"

    Matsu Shuzenji is, of course, not alone; not even if you set aside Morrigan. She's accompanied by an attendant, as she always is (much to her chagrin), but for once it's a girl on the younger side. Not much older than Matsu, really, although noticeably taller than the tiny healer - and much, much more nervous about the raucous environment. "L-Lady Shuzenji, I don't know if... I mean, this place seems rather dangerous, and... a-and perhaps a bit uncouth..."

    Matsu gives her something of a side-eye, then asks, "Miyako, how are you more afraid of being here than I am?" The young attendant at least has the grace to look embarrassed.

    On the topic of the hauntening, the young priestess frowns faintly. "It's possible this place is some trick of the haunting. But even if it's not, I can see about finding it the hard way. Might take a little while." Though she has no booze, there's a rather hearty plate of chicken in front of her, which she picks away at with a ravenous hunger that somehow doesn't interfere with her speaking at all. Miyako looks as if she'd like to chastize Matsu for her eating habits, but then someone off in a corner starts laughing loud enough to startle the poor girl right out of it.

  Go investigate the World Tree, her superiors had told her in so many words, and so that is exactly what Agent Anneka Stojespal is doing. Having parked the quinjet some distance away in a safe spot, she's loped down... but only after she's kicked off all her passengers and locked the proverbial door.

  Probably not the best outfit, honestly. Agency-issue flight suit, with an American flag on one shoulder and the S.H.I.E.L.D. roundel on the other. Sunglasses balanced over the eyepatch concealing her right eye. Scarring down the right side of her face. Long, loose red hair. She looks like a tough customer... and a tired one.

  "Then you upgrade it to a Class Four incident, and pull in more funding and support." The woman drops into a chair at the table Matsu and Morrigan are sharing, glancing down at the map. She reaches up to show a leather-cased badge, flipping it open for a moment to display it and then closed in practised gesture. "Anneka Stojespal. Strategic Homeland, Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. I'm here to help."

  "...Ostensibly," she sighs, resting her chin on folded hands, elbows resting on the table. "Officially, I'm just going to be following your lead, because this is your familiar ground, not mine."

    Dante, having taken a ride with Anneka, waves a hand. "Ladies." He wriggles fingers at Matsu and Morrigan. He really isn't going to complain, he's just here to snuff monsters and chew bubblegum. And he forgot the gum.

    Peering over Morrigan's shoulder, Dante loudly chews on some tavern pretzels while listening to her talk to herself. "Might be in plain sight." He suggests, mouth full like a total philistine. In the meantime, he'll play darts with Mary, taking one and flicking it with dead accuracy to impale Mary's dart clean through.

    Shirou Emiya is probably not among the first people one expects to see hitching a ride with an intelligence officer like Anneka. And yet, through some happenstance (that probably ended up gawking at a temporarily-visible quinjet at first and *then* establishment of prior familiarity), it just so happens he's here now, tagging just behind her and Dante. Though between the three of them he still ends up holding up the smallest presence.

    "Hello, Morrigan-san," he manages to pipe up after Anneka has seated herself down though, using the hand he isn't tugging onto a bag visibly holding several bamboo swords to give the warlock a wave. It still comes with just the vaguest look of wariness, too.

    "At the risk of sounding grim-- and like I'm an echo chamber..." A glance to Dante with that one, since his thought, honestly, does end up lining up some with his. "... What iiiif the town was built over it? Maybe?"

    But! He doesn't recognize Matsu or Miyako, so the redhead is prompt to lean himself over onto a polite bow, and offer, "Emiya Shirou. I'm, uh... At your service? I dunno, I kind of ended up just tagging along..."

    "Weh!"
    That is the sound of a distraught Mary as her dart is impale. Pouting at Dante she picks up another dart and hurls it! ... This time it doesn't even hit the board, causing the little robot helper Familiar to fall to her knees and sulk.
    Anneka slides into a seat and Morrigan sort of stares at the scarred woman. But not because of her scars.
    "SHIELD." She turns the acronym over on her tongue, completely and entirely unused to having a government agent actually backing her in anything. "--Okay, can I get you a beer?"
    And then there's Shirou and Matsu both suggesting the haunting may be causing a trick and that the town may be built on the graveyard.
    "That's... Possible yeah." She admits.
    Before the entire bar goes from 'rowdy and obnoxious' to stone silent.
    A single man stands in the doorway, hunched with age and hobbling into the establishment, holding a battered old flashlight in his hand.
    "Well...?" He croaks. "Any of you willing to stop the curse?"
    This IMMEDIATELY makes Morrigan perk up. She raises her hand like a giddy schoolgirl with an answer.
    "I need volunteers... The dead rise every night, and will keep rising until the curse is lifted.
    Morrigan waves her hand, bouncing in her seat.
    "No one? Will not one of you help?"
    Morrigan is practically looking ready to shout 'PICK ME PICK ME PICK ME!' at the man.

    There's an unfamiliar face. Matsu eyes Anneka with a wary sort of appraisal, while her attendant merely tries to straighten up and look... well, something resembling dignified. "I don't think it's as simple as 'upgrade it and ask for more resources'. She wouldn't be calling in outsider help if it was." The white-haired girl takes a napkin and cleans off her hands, then adds, "Matsu Shuzenji. I'm-"

    There is a little nudge from Miyako. "Lady Shuzenji..." She sounds... *vaguely* chastizing.

    Matsu utters a soft, long-suffering grumble, before starting over in stupendously flowery language. "...Shuzenji-no-Matsu, Phoenix Maiden and head of the Shuzenji Clan, friend of the Imperial Court of Arashi-no-Moto, skilled in the arts of healing, purifying, warding, and cursebreaking." She glances up at Shirou, regarding the boy with a sort of confused curiosity, and adds, "...Are you sure you didn't wander into the wrong gathering? You seem too normal for this group."

    Dante, meanwhile, draws a familiar look and a nod. She remembers him - she's not going to forget that day in Hinomoto for the rest of what is likely to be a very, very long life. "Sparda." It's the closest she typically comes to sounding respectful.

    Then the bar goes dead silent, and an old man hobbles his way in. The red-eyed girl stands up, and meets his gaze directly. "I'm possessed by a phoenix and trained as a cursebreaker. Your problem's the exact reason I'm here."

  Anneka side-eyes Morrigan. She seems to consider the offer of a beer very seriously for about two and a half seconds. "Make it vodka; I call it even." The woman flicks her right hand dismissively. Even the fingers of that hand are scarred. Her voice sounds scarred, too; it's rough and gravelly, as from too much smoke and drink. There's a strong accent of non-specific Eastern European origin.

  There's a long pause. When she grins, it's... kind of ghastly, because half of her face doesn't move that well any more. "Thanks." People are staring, but she ignores them, mostly. The ones that are too blatant earn a pointed look before she turns her attention back to the issue of dead heroes not staying dead enough.

  "I know. I'm pulling your chain, girl." Again with that grin, but at least she doesn't seem to mean any malice, even if it might look like it. "We are the 'more resources,' I presume, then." Oh. Big long title. Sounds like this girl is a big shot in her neck of the woods, and so Anneka quietly files away all those fancy titles. That could be good to know later!

  "A pleasure, I am sure," she offers to Matsu. Her greeting seems genuine enough.

  However, Shirou's suggestion causes her to pull a face as though she'd swallowed underripe citrus. He's probably right. It would be too convenient for the graveyard to be anywhere other than 'underfoot.'

  The door bangs open. The tavern falls silent. Anneka looks up even as her hand strays toward her sidearm, but she doesn't draw. She only casts the old man a bland look, gaze flicking back and forth between him and Morrigan several times. 

  One hand goes up with an air of unenthusiastic resignation. "Yeah. Sure. I'll go."

  There's a short pause, and a soft grumble under her breath.

  "I am filing for hazard pay for this."

    "E-eh?" Shirou does actually look vaguely shocked at the question from Matsu. "I... I mean..." Slooowly, he looks over the rest of the people gathered. One-eyed secret agent lady, an elven (possibly crazy) warlock, a white-haired, very extra demon hunter... "... I mean, I guess I see where you're coming from with that, but I still am not sure how to feel about that."

    The interjection from Miyako is clearly not missed either-- though when he really properly processes everything, he ends up asking of Matsu, "...Are you some kind of royalty? I feel like I might have already tripped into some kind of faux pa here."

    And then everything goes quiet. Before Shirou even has a chance to ask anything, the older man has come through asking for volunteers, and...

    Of course there's people already volunteering at the table he is standing by. And of course, Shirou wouldn't be Shirou if he wouldn't end up declaring, "Of course I'll help! Just, uh..." There just so happens to be a 'but'. He leans a bit closer to the troupe of 'adventurers' gathered at the table, and asks of those gathered in a purposefully low tone, "...Did anyone else find that kind of weird?"

    Dante gives Mary a pat on the head. "You'll get the hang of it!" He says with a grin, before knocking back a swig of beer. He helpfully whispers, "She's from outta town." to the bartender when ANneka's organization earns little in recognition. He also waves a hand at Shirou and Matsu, nad her attendant. "Yo." Not a string of formality in this man whatsoever, it's anathemic to someone like the poor attendant who has to deal with her mistress being treated so...so RUDELY!

    Raising an eyebrow at the old guy, Dante sighs. "Fuck it. I'm in, let's do this." He says and steps up to the old guy. "Yo. I'll help, what do we gotta do?" Morrigan won't need much help in getting picked, it seems, as Dante gently drags her with him.

    "Oh no, it's totally weird." Morrigan answers Shirou. It was TOTALLY on cue after all. Nevertheless, the old man turns his gaze right on the group, the bar filling with hushed murmurs as everyone else looks towards the party.
    "Well. Let's get going. I'll lead the way." He says turning and slowly trudging out the door as Matsu, Shirou, Dante, and Anneka all volunteer.
    "Let's get that vodka to go for you." The Warlock says to Anneka as Morrigan rises from her seat and follows the old man out the bar.
    He leads the group into the dark and cold night, and...
    Uh...
    He's kind of old, so after about an hour... Um...
    "OH MY GOD CAN YOU WALK ANY SLOWERRRRRRR?" Morrigan asks exasperated. "We could have all fit into my van! Or taken the secret agent lady's cool jet! Do you know how many opportunities I get to fly in a slick plane like that? None!"
    The old man pays Morrigan absolutely no mind as the party approaches the cemetary gates. ... The dead can be seen roaming within, shambling corpsesm dusty and bone dry, some still in gleaming magical armor, some still wielding pristine magical and legendary weapons they had been buried with.
    "Oh boy they have magic stuff..." Morrigan mumbles. "This might not be so easy."

    "Not quite royalty," Matsu explains to Shirou, sliding out of her seat. "Just a commoner who stumbled into the powers of a phoenix and headship of an entire noble clan. I'm still getting used to all the... social requirements of the position," she adds, with a glance over her shoulder at Miyako. The unspoken message is clear - all this high society social bullshit is obnoxious. "And yes, Emiya, that was extremely weird. Miyako, I suspect this is where things will get dangerous. Stay with Morrigan's vehicle." The attendant almost looks relieved.

    Unlike Morrigan, Matsu doesn't seem to mind the slow pace. She spends the time rifling through her ofuda, ensuring that she has what she'll need. By the time they reach the cemetary gates, she's good and ready; though the existence of magic weapons among their number proves cause for concern.

    "This is... mmn. Old man, lead me to the center of the curse. I can begin a ritual of purification. For something this big, I'll need time."

  Fortunately, the vodka is to go, and Anneka seems reasonably okay with that. She trudges after the group, and she even manages to be reasonably patient with the slow pace of their ancient guide. Occasionally she checks her personal device, which looks like a phone but almost assuredly has super-secret spy tech in it, and she does keep half her attention on their surroundings.

  Shirou earns a half a glance, as though the agent's only just remembering his comment. "Of course it's weird, but we have nothing else to go on." A shrug. "Onward and upward..."

  "Don't be too annoyed," Anneka asides to the Warlock. "The 'slick plane' is a bitch, and talks back."

  Oooh. Cemetery gates. Shuffling corpses. Somewhere between one blink and the next, Anneka has her ICER pistol in hand, braced, its safety flicked off, and quietly trained on the nearest moving corpse. Her eye drifts back towards Morrigan.

  For now she waits, switching targets as one or the other gets too close for her personal comfort. No firing, no attacking. She's on alert, though, until the others decide what to do.

    Dante sighs. He really didn't think they'd be going on foot with this old codger. "Would it help if I carried him?" He asks sharply at Morrigan, just as exasperated. "Basically she's a super holy woman." Dante translates what Matsu says for Shirou's benefit. "Lots of healing magic, you know the type." Poor Miyako is going to blow a gasket at this rude demon slayer, even if he does chop monsters like a ginsu.

    Drawing his sawed-off shotgun and the tri-staff formed out of Cerberus, Dante promptly kicks the gate off its hinges before he gets to work, "Magic or no magic, we're goin' in. This'll just be another walk in the park." He grins to MOrrigan, and Dante's off to the races as he swipes the tri-staff at a zombie, freezing it solid, following it up with a point-blank shotgun blast to turn it into too many pieces to knit together.

    There's a faint look of sympathy in Shirou's eyes that's brought on by Matsu's explanation. "... Just yanked into something before you had time to think about it, huh? I do kind of know how that feel." Even if he didn't get any kind of societal benefits from it. Except for a cute bodyguard for a while but that's a story for another day.

    The look he ends up giving Dante for the 'translation', on the other hand, equates roughly to 'sweatdrop'. "Super holy woman. Right, we can go with that."

    At this point he's kind of just learned to accept whatever weird shit is going on around him. Life is strange.

    He's patient enough to deal with the long walk at least. And apparently also wise enough to *not* interfere in Morrigan's irritated outburst over the length of the walk. He may or may not end up delaying his own pace back for a few step's worth. Just to make sure he's not accidentally getting caught in the metaphorical blast zone.

    And just as it happens, staying back like that ends up turning into what will likely end up being his position in the formation, too, considering everything. Matsu's suggestion brings him hovering over towards her, too, while he reaches back over his shoulder to snatch one of the shinai from the open bag. "How long do you need, exactly? I'll do what I can to at least stop anything from getting too close to you while, uh... Everyone else does what they do best."

    Into the graveyard then. And Danto goes in blasting.
    The gravekeeper is left standing there with the key to the gate in his hand as the demon hunter just kicks the gate right off the hinges.
    "No one has any patience." The old man mutters, rubbing his head.
    Morrigan frowns however. Because no sooner than the gates open, the dead all... Turn in unison. And begin approaching the group. An ancient crossbow slings a bolt by her ear, missing by inches and embedding in the tree behind her.
    "Geeze! This isn't going to be easy." She mutters blasting back with an eldritch ray of energy at the nearest zombie.
    But then the old man casually strolls off.
    "I'll take you there, young lady." He says to Matsu. "But first I need to get something from my cabin." He explains, starting to hobble in that direction.
    ... It's... Almost odd how the dead don't attack him, as they turn on the party, wielding ancient swords, axes, blades and weapons.
    "So. Wait. The plane talks back?" Morrigan does ask while ducking a swipe that would have taken her head. "Like... AI or is it haunted too?" Morrigan doesn't know much about planes. She just has a car that's almost 20 years old now.

    Dante is a lot of things. Patient ain't one of them. Plus that gate is just so damned creaky! It was driving him mad with annoyance.

    He relies on nunchaku techniques to swat away at zombies, dodging and blocking with expert precision and terrifying speed while he leaves behind frosty chunks of zombie in his wake, before blasting them to shards.

    "Where'd the old guy go?" Dante asks mid-shot, aiming to disarm a zombie in the most literal fashion before it can swipe at Morrigan with an axe. "And the plane's got some kinda computer, ask Anneka. I barely know how to use Twitter!"

  In goes Dante by kicking in the cemetery gate. Anneka stops behind him and sighs, gesturing angrily at the broken gate now busted clean off its hinges. "God damn it. If I have to deal with the paperwork for this, I will figure out how to make you eat the bill," she grumbles in Dante's general direction. The gravekeeper is given an almost apologetic look.

  The agent growls to herself, picking her way through the wreckage and looking for cover. It comes in the form of a particularly old and pockmarked headstone. It's uncomfortably cold through the material of her flight suit, and her mouth thins in thought. She doesn't shoot at any of them, and hopefully escapes notice where she's got herself holed up. It's enough time, maybe, to get a quick study in.

  Matsu earns a glance. "We can keep them off you for a little while, I think, but we'll see what happens when they start getting pissy--"

  All the dead swivel around.

  "Oh. Shit."

  Then they start walking.

  "Oh shit!"

  The next is given with a yelp as Anneka ducks the sharp hiss of an arrow. She can actually feel the sting of the fletching as it clips past the line of her cheekbone. "God damn it, ow!"

  Popping up from her cover, the agent jabs a finger at the old guy. "Why the hell don't they notice him?" Anneka abruptly drops back down into her cover again. Like an annoyed sedative-pistol-toting meerkat that isn't paid enough for this nonsense.

  The flow of battle has her backing up near to Morrigan's position, and while she doesn't seem to like the idea of fighting back-to-back with the Warlock, she doesn't have a lot of choice. "AI, no ghosts. I don't think. The science nerds apparently thought it was a good idea to put an AI in a quinjet. The Director apparently thought it was a good idea to assign me to the bitch." She pauses to fire several shots, but they don't seem to have much effect. "She has an attitude."

    So uh, things kind of get hairy right out the gate. The dead have all risen from their graves and are on a slow, shambling approach for the party. Dante swats them with nunchucks, Anneka takes cover but points out that the dead aren't noticing the old man. Which is... Particularly odd as he breaks off from the group to head to his shack not too far off... Kind of leaving the group without thinking too hard about it.
    Morrigan sticks close to Shirou and Matsu, for the time being; the plan being to protect the phoenix maiden from the undead so she can purify the source; the Warlock fires a few crackling green blasts into the throng of the dead as they approach.
    "Okay, new plan." Morrigan says. "We watch Matsu's back until she can solve the problem with her magic life-fire juju."
    It's about now that the old man returns, shuffling from his cabin with a metal disk with a word written on it. Morrigan pauses.
    "Old man, why is the word 'awakening' written on that seal in Abyssal?" She asks.
    "That's just the thing." He replies. "We have to place this on the tomb of Vos'Stroud to get to the source of the dead. Revive him and we can lift the curse."
    "Mmmmm don't like this, don't like it one bit." Mary says from her perch on Morrigan's shoulder.

    Matsu follows along at a steady clip; she occasionally infuses an ofuda with banishing magic, and then flings it at a ghost or a zombie, but for the most part she's following the lead of those who can get her to the source of this.

    At least, until the old man comes out with the key to a seal on what sounds like a powerful entity, and suggests that they solve this by unsealing it. "I'm assuming you intend for us to banish the entity in order to lift this curse." She pauses, contemplates that for a moment, then looks down at an ofuda thoughtfully.

    With a curious look on her face, she takes a step over and attempts to stick the ofuda on the old man's back.

    It's a talisman of exorcism, so if he's some manner of spook or specter or demon, it's gonna sting. If he's not? It'll just kinda hang there doing nothing.

>> SUMMARY[Matsu Shuzenji] >> Making sure the old man isn't a zombie goast before I go with this plan.

    "It's written on it in *what*?" Shirou's prompt to ask with just a hint of a bit of edge on his voice. He even narrows his eye at the metal disk before looking to Morrigan. "That's... that's bad, right? That *sounds* bad."

    For the time being, he has mostly been just keeping close to Morrigan and Matsu, as well. Far enough away, certainly, that he hasn't really needed to swing his reinforced shinai at anything much. At least until one does manage to get close enough past the blasts from Morrigan or the thrown ofuda from Matsu. When that happens, he does step forward, swinging the weapon down in a one-handed, overhead strike at the zombie's head!

    ...And right upon impact, the bamboo sword ends up... just kind of slipping from his hand, and bouncing off down onto the ground limply.

    "Um," says Shirou thus, as he looks with confusion at his now-empty right hand. *That* doesn't usually happen. He's quickly reminded that the undead man in front of him does still, in fact, have a very dangerous axe, however! One that swings just inches past his face when he instinctively shuffles back away. In a hasty motion, he draws a second practice weapon from his open bag, reinforcing it just as quickly to bring it to blocking another swing from the zombie--

    And *that* shinai quickly goes flying up into the air, too, his grip lost the instant it made contact with the axe.

    "Wai--" Shirou almost *squeaks* out, taking a hasty few steps back to bring distance away from the zombie... only to end up stumbling along as his right foot just kind of... trips on itself? And he goes falling down onto his butt.

    Is he always this clumsy?

  Okay, new plan. We watch Matsu's back until she can solve the problem with her magic life-fire juju.

  "Wait, fire?!" Anneka whips around from where she'd been using a headstone as cover, scuttling backwards to put distance between herself and the shambling undead, not to mention between herself and Matsu. "Nobody told me there was fire involved!"

  She'll stay close enough to pick off anything targeting Matsu, though. A zombie clutching a splintered mace rises up as though to strike, but several shots in rapid succession are able to slow it down enough for Morrigan to finish off, and freeing Anneka to slink along behind the group.

  Anneka settles for squinting real hard at the old man, and then glancing at the others, pointing at the old guy as though to say, No, really, what's his deal?

    Dante had suspicions regarding this dude since he disappeared during the fight. No old man is normally htis sneaky. And Dante's got his eye on him the whole time as he returns from his cabin. Matsu seems to have the same thought, and he doesn't stop her. Instead, he just kinda watches, keeping a hand on one of his pistols just to be safe while he watches the old guy like a hawk.

    Sigh. "I'm gonna go check on Shirou." He says, before rushing to assist the hopeful magus, "HEY KID, you need backup?"

    Sticking an ofuda on the old man's back causes him to pause. ... Absolutely nothing happens, but he does slowly look behind him.
    "Eh?"
    Looks like he's not a gribbly of some variety, but it's still odd how the undead don't attack the gravekeeper as he looks curiously at Matsu, blinking like an owl.
    "Oh, well yes. Vos'Stroud is the source of the curse. You get rid of him and it'll be all over."
    "It's written in Abyssal. The language of Demons." Morrigan explains to Shirou when he falls back. She grabs the youth by the scruff and tugs him back up to his feet.
    The undead don't have much of a circulation system anymore, but the impact of Anneka's tranquilizer rounds at least slow the undead down a bit.
    But it's a rough and frantic fight toward the mausoleums, Morrigan has to draw her shortsword to fend off a few undead, and smacks a few more away with a tentacle that she summons from... Uh. Somewhere. But the dead are numerous and harry the group the whole way to the crypts before the old man stops at one grand old marble mausoleum.
    "This is it. The crypt of Vos'Stroud." He explains as he lays the seal down at the entrance.
    The dead... Hang back. The attack stops. It goes quiet for a moment before the stone mausoleum CRACKS. Then SPLITS open, allowing a figure in golden armor to emerge.
    Though he is dead, Vos'Stroud looks incredibly well preserved in his golden armor and finery, clutching a greatsword in one hand, he regards the party.
    "... Too long I have been cursed. I control these raging undead." He explains. "They help me search for and weed out worthy heroes who would be capable of giving me the hero's death I seek and break the curse that has been hung over me."
    Morrigan is silent a moment. Before she leans over to Matsu.
    "On a completely arbitrary scale of one to twenty, this guy is probably 15 in Fighter and 5 in Badass, we may have a problem."

    "I was making sure you weren't some manner of undead," Matsu replies to the man, not mincing words in the least. "You suggesting we unseal Vos'Stroud was suspicious. But I'll go along with it."

    Then, she turns to Anneka, and blinks softly. "Yes, fire. I'm possessed by a phoenix goddess. I heal and purify via her flames. I don't need them to exorcise, seal or ward, but they can lend strength to it." Shirou's fumble-fingered antics, however, draw the phoenix girl's eyes, and a look that mixes equal parts worry and annoyance crosses her face. "Hey. If you don't know how to fight, you should probably get out of here," she calls out. "Bravado's just going to get you killed."

    She's completely misunderstood his problem.

    When they are faced with the rising of Vos'Stroud, Matsu Shuzenji stands ready, ofuda simmering softly with faint flames. But when it opts to speak, she cants her head. The tilt shifts a bit when Morrigan speaks. She remarks a dry, "That's a weird scale," then lowers her ofuda and looks Vos'Stroud in the eyes.

    "So just to be clear, the main issue here is the curse? I'm trained in cursebreaking, and I have a goddess of life, fire and purity dwelling within me. Can we do this without fighting you?"

    Shirou squeaks with surprise when he finds himself... just hauled right back up after his Very Embarrassing Stumble by the scruff of his neck. The realization afterwards that it was MOrrigan repsonsible for it probably doesnt really help matters in any way or form. "...I guess... I'm okay...?" He does call to Dante, right before getting chastised by Matsu.

    That one he just sheepishly looks away from. "It's not that--" he starts to protest, but... well. He does give a concerned look down at his right hand again. That was definitely not normal, right? It doesn't *feel* normal to him right now in any way or form.

    For now, he decides to grab the next wooden sword from his bag with his *left* hand instead. Maybe that'll work better? Maybe?

    Before he gets the chance to even test that, though, Vos'Stroud has appeared! And Shirou's promptly shuffling right up to Morrigan and Matsu's front, too, in spite of his earlier... uh, shenanigans.

    "...What is this, an RPG?" That last one's directed back to Morrigan, yes. Because of course that would sound vaguely like levels to someone with a passing knowledge of videogames. Otherwise he stays quiet, though, with his eyes fixed on the great now-undead hero. Probably just *hoping* that diplomacy will work instead of, uh...

    Whatever will come otherwise.

    Dante sighs at Shirou, "Look, dude. You got spirit, and I respect the hell out of a guy with guts and honor, but if you can't hold your own in a fight then you're dead weight to lug around. Matsu's right, you're only gonna be an impediment." He says with an exasperated air, before realizing he's not exactly helping Shirou with the tough-love approach.

    "Dammit." Dante mutters under his breath. He's almost disappointed when the ofuda has no real effect on the old man. He's just...a guy. The ancient warrior does get Dante's notice, and his expression sombers as he draws Rebellion, deftly planting the tip in the ground.

    "I am Dante, son of the Lord Sparda and Lady Eva. I've sworn my life to purging the world of the hellish forces that plague mankind, and if we find no alternative, I promise you an honorable death."

    YEP, writing checks he might not be able to cash, that's Dante's way of things.

  Oh look there is another undead, and this one is wearing fancy armour and a really big sword. Anneka regards Vos'Stroud right back -- with her pistol trained on him, its muzzle unwavering, for whatever good that might do. Most of these guys don't even have veins any more. There's nothing to circulate the dendrotoxin. The best-laid plans...

  Anneka looks at Morrigan for a long moment. She's not close to either Morrigan or Matsu, but she's close enough to hear them.

  Fire. The very word from Matsu is enough for the pilot to blanch; it's obvious even without good lighting that she's uncomfortable, and her throat's gone so dry she nearly gags when she swallows. "Is that so? How interesting." She's obviously trying and failing to play it cool. "Great."

  Dante's got Shirou covered, more or less, so she stays near Matsu and Morrigan. It looks like she's somehow moved a little closer to Morrigan than Matsu, though. Just, you know, because reasons.

  "So... a phoenix goddess." She does eye Matsu, a little warily. "I know some people who would be most interested in studying you, but I will not tell them anything, I think, because I absolutely don't have time for any of that paperwork."

  Half a glance is cast back to Shirou, as though to say, how nice of you to join us again. "Better get behind us, kid. If you're having trouble you could put us all at risk."

    Morrigan waves Shirou away when he asks if her life is an RPG. That's silly. He's silly. You're silly for thinking it.
    "Look, I just have a feeling he's super top-tier when it comes to this kind of thing." Morrigan replies.
    Dante makes his pledge.
    Morrigan tugs Anneka back gently when the topic of Matsu's holy divine fire comes up, and...
    Vos'Stroud peers, inquisitively.
    "A curse breaker?" He muses, pale face contorting into a thoughtful pucker.
    "I stood amongst the greatest of this world's heroes. I fell and was buried among them but this curse was placed upon me, and has gone festering and unbroken for too long... If you can break it then very well, I would like to see you try before I strike you all down, or you all strike me down."
    Looks like he's willing to give going at this without a fight a shot, if Matsu can do it.

    For a short while, Matsu watches Shirou. Her gaze is appraising, scrutinizing. After a few seconds, she finally speaks again. "If there's something wrong with you, I can take a look after we're done. I might be able to fix it." Then it's over to Anneka, who receives a deadpan look. "That'd also be an international incident. I'm a highly-ranked figure in the Imperial Court."

    Granted, Arashi-no-moto is basically a fragmented mass of city-states right now. But she suspects that a foreign nation trying to 'study' her might be one of the few things they'd all unite for.

    In response to Vos'Stroud, however, she cants her head slightly, and then nods. "Very well. I'll need a moment or two to prepare." The white-haired shrine maiden goes about laying down ofuda here, drawing lines in the dust there; it takes her a minute or two to get everything set up, and then she advises Vos'Stroud to stand in the middle of it all, before taking a step back to the edge, and taking her kagura-suzu bell in hand.

    Jangle. "O Tiger of White, o lord of the chill winter wind."

    Jangle. "O Kami who presides over the wind that scatters smoke. O Byakko of the West."

    Her movements are slow, practiced, graceful; guiding and shaping her mana, and at the same time almost dancing.

    Jangle. "This poor lost soul has been bound by shackles of hate. A curse laid by malicious will."

    Jangle. "Let your claw sever the chains, your breath scatter the pall over his spirit. By your power, let this curse be lifted-!"

    Wind rushes in, spiraling inward from the outer edges of the circle. As it brushes past Matsu, flames begin to leap off her body; flames of Life, of Purity. The whirl of purifying fire and curse-breaking wind curls inward, enveloping the form of Vos'Stroud, as if tracing the lines of the spell and filling the space defined by the lines and wards she's placed. A spell for shattering a curse, and with time to perform the spell properly without distraction, it's quite potent.

Dante, in a rare moment of respect, just takes a moment to stand behind Matsu in case this goes sideways. "If I burst into flames, it's your fault." Wait, no, he's got one last quip in him.

    And then Matsu Does the Thing, and it's ratehr warm. He can feel a very intense amount of energy he doesn't wanna be on the receiving end of, considering his demon heritage.

    Also he just kind of shuffles uncomfortably.

    Low-key, he was expecting a duel to the death.

    "I'm not..."

    Shirou decides to not even bother with further complaints like that. He just looks down at his hand again with frustration.

    So he does, indeed, end up just standing behind everyone else for now. Is he really this useless after everything else? He can worry about that later. For now, he nods to Matsu, muttering, "I would appreciate that."

    And so with that, he watches Matsu do what she does. And he actually looks on with what amounts to awe too, at that, even before the wind goes wild and the flames go out. There's definitely something fascinating just about the ritual itself even before the pyrotechnics.

    "Whoa..."

  "Which is why I am not going to be telling anyone anything," Anneka points out, wryly. "Ostensibly I am here to study people and things of the World Tree, because we in the agency do not have any intelligence on what lies beyond our local Vines." That lone blue eye regards Matsu thoughtfully; the scars that disfigure the right side of her face look as though originally caused by fire. She raises the forefinger of her free hand. "That being said... they do not need to know everything, do they...?"

  In other words, don't worry, she's not going to be telling anyone. Evidently she has some idea that Matsu is a Very Important Figure in her own world. The nerds at SHIELD can wait. Or study something else.

  As to the ritual, she simply stands back and watches, curiously, although half her attention is still on Vos'Stroud. Her ICER pistol is still pointed at the ground and not returned to its holster; she's ready to use it in a hurry if she has to. Not that she doesn't trust him... but she doesn't trust him.

  Is she backing away from Matsu? Yeah, she's kind of backing away from Matsu, until she's standing further from her than anyone else. Not too far, since she doesn't want to attract the attention of Vos'Stroud's pals, but she's clearly not wholly comfortable. Demonic? Hardly--

  OH GOD WHY IS MATSU ON FIRE.

  Anneka blinks owlishly and abruptly backs up about ten feet, putting her on the other side of Dante. The one-eyed woman keeps her pistol at the ready, but she huddles into the collar of her flight suit a little.

  "Nope," she growls under her breath, as the wind rakes at long red hair.

    Morrigan... Will stand way back with Anneka.
    When your powers and abilities from from a literal Giant Space Flea From Nowhere, one does not want to risk being purified either.
    Nevertheless, as Matsu sets up her ritual, Vos'Stroud steps into the center of the ritual zone as bidden.
    "It's okay. It'll be fine. I'm sure there'll just be a little bit of fire-- maybe some sparks and it'll all be over." The Warlock re-assures the Agent of SHIELD.
    Before Matsu is engulfed in her own flaming abilities.
    Morrigan jumps back a bit.
    But this is better than a duel to the death; it's less death-y, as the purification ritual takes hold and Vos'Stroud... Begins to peacefully smolder and burn away.
    "Ah... Free at last..." He murmurs as he starts to fade from where he stands, a look of peace upon his face, as the dead all turn... And begin to return to their graves and crypts.
    "Huh. What a surprisingly peaceful resolution." Morrigan muses. "Not that I mind. I don't mind at all, that guy would have probably pulverized me."
    The gravekeeper also turns, and starts hobbling back to his shack, smiling softly.

    Dante watches as Vos'Stroud is freed from his curse. He actually smiles and offers a bow of his head. "Godspeed, fella. Rest well." are his parting words. And then, they're done more or less.

    "Phew. Well, that turned out okay. Nice work, Matsu!" He'd shoulderclap the maiden but...oh boy the people who serve her back home would have a conniption if Matsu's sleeve is all rumpled.

  The agent stands stiffly with her shoulders hunched, although she doesn't realise she's still holding her pistol until Vos'Stroud smolders peacefully. How does someone smolder peacefully? DOESN'T HE REALISE HE'S ON FIRE??

  Ahem.

  She eyes the champion warily as he dissolves, burning to ash and drifting on the breeze. The ranks of dead heroes behind him earn an equally wary glance, and she watches until the very last one shuffles into its crypt, grave, or mausoleum.

  "I'll take it," she mutters flatly, in answer to Morrigan. "Less pain in the ass. Less paperwork. Probably less headache, too."

  Anneka pauses to rummage in a pocket, before producing a plain business card to Morrigan. "You have anything else you need help with, call. I will answer." She shrugs, gruffly. "World Tree is my jurisdiction, now."

  She still looks just a little bit rattled, but eh, whatever. She'll be fine, right?