World Tree MUSH

    Sunday. That was the plan. To return on Sunday at night, when the Devil would be most likely out hunting. Though a couple of more people hve gone missing in the interim, which means Cassandra Netherland- or Castiel for those who know her by that name now, is looking even more anxious at the entrance to the Dark Entry Road that leads into the Dark Entry Forest.
    Yes, they are seriously named that.
    There is a devil or demon somewhere in the woods, making life miserable for the people of Cornwall, and she wants to handle the issue and be done with it- whether that be through re-sealing the beast or banishing it through overwhelming firepower, even if firepower is not Castiel's forte.
    The blonde haired, blue-eyed, girl waits at the entrance to the forest, staring into the darkness. In her hand is a flashlight. But she won't be needing it for long.

    When Hyouka arrives again, she's wearing pretty much the same ensemble as last time. It's been cleaned, of course, but she looks much the same. Aside, that is, from the more serious look in her eyes. "Yo, Castiel," she calls out; a casual greeting, but even that seems a bit more serious than usual. "I switched over to Earth, like you suggested. It's not one I use often, but in this case... well, it's a good counter to fire, so I'm sure I'll figure out something. It makes me hit a little harder, if nothing else."

"So you're here." The voice is low and familiar, coming from somewhere to Castiel's right.

Itana steps out of the treeline, surprisingly quiet for someone moving through foliage. She's changed back into her usual light draperies for this. Dressing for a modern city makes her feel incredibly weird - like she's betraying some vital aspect of herself. It won't do to go into a fight uncomfortable.

Moving to stand to one side of the blonde girl, the archer squints and peers into the woods ahead, towards the ruins of the old town. The chill in her bones she felt that day feels like it's clung to her, in an odd way. Mentally, she shuttles it to one side.

Demons are demons. She cannot let a small girl face them alone./

    Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Dante's back in time for once. He's eager to look into this, especially when Castiel was so insistent on a time and day for a return to this big spooky forest. He's dressed for the autumn season, a woolly red winter coat and flannel shirt, bluejeans, and hiking boots, his pistols holstered and Rebellion stowed over his back, held by magic abilities that made zero sense any way you thought about it.

    So he's perfectly ready for a hunt. "'sup girls." He greets with a wave of his hand. Dante pops his knuckles, steeled for combat, ready to bump back against the monsters in the darkness.

    Once more, a large, bulky robotic frame teleports in, the sigil rotating for a few moments before winking out. The frame starts setting up, reciting in a synthetic, gender-neutral tone. "Primus Core, online. Sensor frame, online. Flash Forgers, online. All systems nominal."

    A moment later, it shifts from the robotic state to a more organic one, as Justina's voice emits from it next. "Personal note, Gabriel's system needs tweaking as well... adding it to the list of maintenance tasks." she shakes her 'head', as the pair of optics shift from pale yellow to cyan.

    "I am loaded with Silver-tipped bolts, with an alternate load of Firebolts, Frost Dagger bolts and Electrobolts." she states to the others, deploying the automatic crossbows from their mounting boxes on the robots shoulders.

    She's all business, though the people she knows more closely do get a look from those optics.

    When the business is meddling and the handling of demons and devils, Li-Ming could easily be found wrapped up in it somehow. Tonight is no exception. Heralding her arrival, a blue portal swirls into being and affixes itself firmly onto a spot in open space, casting off dim light a few moments before a girl steps through.

    Not exactly the slip her contemporaries may make her sound like but she's nevertheless on the low end of average - though her armor does give her a bit more bulk. She steps clear of the portal, tosses her hair and smiles into the dark.

    "I hear tale of a demon in need of an abrupt end? Happy to oblige." Others are arriving and she ahs softly to herself. "These little things always develop into something of a spectable, don't they? Very well. As I'm new here and am unaware of the particulars, I can only guess our quarry is hiding within the forest?" Joy.

    While it may be a simple matter to just devastate the forest to flush the beast out it's probably not a great plan and even she isn't keen on showing off quite -that- much. The impulse was there, though.

    "Perhaps one of us could serve as bait?" She holds up her armored left hand. "Volunteers?"

    "Well at least we have qualified spook-shooters here," Raylene says as she shuffles along. Wearing a nicer dress than she should be, but as the bottom hem flutters about, it reveals that her shoes are, at least, sturdy boots for handling the hike and mud. An odd combination.

    "As usual, I shall take on a safe advisory role, since my delicate constitution cannot readily stand up to the efforts and exertions expected of the more active moments," she says, figuring that nobody here has really seen her get knocked around much so they might actually believe it.

    The party has gathered.
    "Where else would I be?" Castiel replies in a mild tone to Itana. "This is my duty, I'm going to see it through." She says before squeezing her eyes shut for a beat.
    "Thank you all for coming... I am faily certain I'd have no means to handle this on my own." She admits freely as she fidgets with the flashlight in her hand and clicks it on, shining it into the darkness to peer into the shadowy woods.
    "Earth is good... That may counter the creature's fire, but still be wary of any curses or hexes it might use as well." She says to Hyouka while others arrive in turn.
    "Captain Thyme, thank you for your assistance as well. And Dante..."
    Li-Ming gets something of an owlish stare as she emerges from her portal, but the blonde purses her lips only briefly.
    "No one will be used as bait. We will all stick together. I will stay by Raylene as well to ensure her safety." That's the basic plan. But no plan ever survives contact with the enemy as she starts trudging through the woods as the sun sets low, the last vestiges of light disappearing over the horizon out of view.
    It's not a long hike, but it is a HIKE through an overgrown section of the forest to return to Dudleytown, the ruins lost to time in the Connecticut woods.
    And it's on arrival to the ruins, all that's left of the village being a few cellar holes and stone foundations, that Castiel pauses, taking to a knee to inspect something on the ground.
    "Blood... And it's fresh." She warns. "It's hunting. Everyone be wary."

Exhaling, Itana glances sidelong at the Justina-bot. She presses her lips together before focusing herself forward again. At least someone more endearingly fleshy is at hand. "Dante." A nod.

The archer acknowledges Raylene with a glance and a low "Mn" of accedence. Crossing her arms across her ribs tightly, she listens as the blonde angel explains things. The mention of fire is categorized and filed away.

It's a hike, but such is of little matter to her. By the time the group arrives, she's unshouldered her bow and slid an arrow from the quiver and to the string, ready to draw at a moment's notice. Almost immediately she begins to drift away from the core of the group and maneuver herself into a flanking position.

Itana doesn't lose sight of Castiel, but she does begin to stake out decent firing and observing positions. Kneeling behind a shrub, she peers out from the blood pool and then across the array of cellar holes and forgotten foundations. Her tongue taps silently against the backs of her teeth as she ticks away seconds, unconsciously counting the moments before the fiend appears.

/Come on, creature... come on out./

    "Hyouka is extremely resilient against magical attack," comes DARGN's response to Castiel. "Part of her durability is several layers of inscribed enchantments built into her frame and the underlayer beneath her skin. Her body is a magitechnology marvel," the AI concludes, with a note of pride in her voice. Hyouka just grins faintly, for a moment or so. "I'd be fine with playing the bait, you know. I'm a lot tougher than I appear, and I can just feign being a vulnerable little elf-"

    DARGN squashes that idea immediately. "Hyouka, if it's a demon, it will be able to sense you from a mile away. No elf produces that much mana." Hyouka pouts faintly.

    But in they go, with Hyouka moving at the front. Vanguard is a position she's well-suited to; and with the FISTEAU system active, her massive smashfists glowing with lines of golden mana, she definitely looks the part. She doesn't bother to inspect the blood. Instead, the magitech cyborg turns around to face outward, falling into a protective stance. The lines of earth mana along her gauntlets glow just a little brighter.

    VWEE CUHCHANK. VWEE CUHCHANK. The 8' of metal and servos isn't quiet, even more-so in the dead silence of the forest that used to be a small town.

    Optics track around, crossbows continue panning around on their own, seeking targets.

    Apart from the whirr of servoes, heavy footfalls and the soft pinging of her sensor system, the half-elf soul-in-a-bot is silent, focused. Intense.

    She stops when Castiel kneels, taking up a protective position near her, and the squishier members of the team. She's making herself look as big and dangerous as possible.

     'Come and fight me, demon. I'm the dangerous one here.' is what she's communicating without calling out.

    The wizard offers a slight curtsy, Li-Ming smiling placidly as she regards the group in turn. Justina's automata proxy gets a curious look though, Raylene gets a look with furrowed brow but Castiel is still quite an interesting anomaly as she sees it. Angels participating at all in mortal tribulation? Still rather novel to her.

    "Very well. The denizens of Hell aren't always known for being the smartest. Let's just hope it misjudges the lot of you and comes forth from hiding." With that, she's walking! No need to dawdle!

    The hike is no trouble, though the ruined town does make Li-Ming sigh after a few moments of attentive staring. "It's always devastated towns and villages. Angel." She turns to look at Castiel. "Is the creature suspected of keeping live captives? Or does it simply consume them on the spot?" Yeah, that wasn't getting by her. She can read that biz like the top few lines of an eye chart.

    "If we're finding blood but no remains, it could be that it's playing the game of cruelly wounding 'prey' before going in for the kill. Be wary of..." She makes a face. "Overuse of force here."

    "We don't need bait. Just need to make enough noise for them to get pissed at." Dante says, following with his sword in hand. Rebellion is massive, and yet he handles it like a stick, resting the greatsword on his shoulder effortlessly. As he strolls, Dante keeps his eyes focused around the forest area, careful not to get tripped by a root or anything like that.

    His nostrils briefly flare when he smells blood, and he kneels beside Castiel as he waits for trouble. "Fuck 'round and find out, buddy." He mutters under his breath, gripping Rebellion as he tenses up.

    Oh good, Raylene gets a protector! "Yes, because if anyone needs a protector, it's me." She fidgets, "Please do not concern yourself overly much, I have my own protector already." Though she won't really object if Castiel hangs around.

    "I do wish we knew more about what we were facing," she remarks. "Always better with a bit of research, yes?"

    Wiping her fingers of blood, Castiel bites on her lower lip softly. Itana prepares by taking up a firing position, this is all well and good, and she's surrounded by some fairly heavy hitters such as Hyouka, Dante, and Justina. This should hopefully go well. In theory.
    Li-Ming is something of a wildcard, but Castiel wilts slightly; being in human guise a the moment. "Was I so obvious?" She huffs, looking more like a wet kitten than an imperious angel of any kind. "It has not taken anyone alive. All the victims thus far have vanished, and can be assumed dead..." She does answer though. "And I will concern myself where I please." She does note to Raylene; "Frankly, your protector scares me."
    That said though... The temperature drops. It plummets. Soon enough every breath can be seen hanging in the air in a thin mist, as though something were sucking the very warmth from the woods entirely.
    And that's when two blazing, baleful, eyes open up, smoldering in the darkness.
    "It's here..." The blonde murmurs, rising to her feet.
    "Do you truly think you have what it takes to destroy me, little Shield of God?" A rumbling voice echoes in the darkness as those eyes wink out. It could be anywhere now.
    "I can do all this through Him who gives me strength." Castiel replies, voice trembling as she clenches her fists.
    That's when it emerges from the darkness, fiery eyes blazing. With the skull-head of a ram, and a lanky body covered in brown fur, the monster spreads bat-like wings as it stands near eight feet tall on cloven hooved feet.
    In its hand it holds a sphere of pure malicious darkness- which it hurls. The shere breaks apart in the air, the curse that it flings spreading to try and reach out and touch everyone.
    "--Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the Devil's schemes!" Castiel declares, a golden shimmering light enshrouding ... Dante of all people as she reaches out to touch him.

>> SUMMARY[Castiel] >> The demon appears. Everyone has to dodge flung curses. Dante gets protection.

    Justina's optics snap up to those baleful eyes as they open. It gets through its speech at Castiel before the deep TWOK TWOKTWOKTWOK, of a volley of bolts fly from the Doll's mounted autocrossbows. The tips glow faintly, the Silver enchanted in some fashion, perhaps to harden the metal so it doesn't deform as easily, being really soft compared to steel.

    In the next moment, after the last bolt flies free, the forearms of the Doll transform in flares of magic light. One becomes a pentagonal club, the other a curved single-edged blade weapon.

    "Die monster! You don't belong in this world!" she calls out, stepping forward and bracing as that orb of darkness comes flying in, crossing her arm-weapons before her defensively.

Honestly, Itana is assuming the mechanical abomination going VWEE KACHONK will be the natural first target for any hunting demon. She's quite happy to let it be loud and conspicuous.

Tense, the archer keeps her eyes moving, periodically doubling back to ensure she's got tabs on little Castiel.

The plunge in the temperature is more than enough warning. Itana shivers and tenses up visibly as her breath steams in front of her. Her muscles clench; she forces herself to try and relax, but the cold in and of itself hurts, enough that the demon's eyes opening are almost a welcome reprieve from having to focus on the temperature.

Snapping her arm back, she readies to take a shot, but the cold works against her - she can't quite line it up quick enough, and she's forced to give up her position and move as the darkness begins to fly. Itana lunges to one side, but not fast enough. Darkness ripples past and across her upper body, and she hits the turf with a wince, rolling painfully back to one knee. The cold was bad enough, but as she brings her arm up to notch an arrow, she can't get the shot off as quickly as she wants to. The arrow lands limply in the dirt.

It takes her a second to process what's happening - to realize how weak she feels right now, for reasons unrelated to the cold. Clicking her teeth together, she hisses angrily and clenches her body, straining against the cold and the sensation of strength being bled out of her body. She musters her will and starts running.

Itana jumps off a foundation stone with what leg strength she's got left - she had a lot to begin with. The jump isn't as powerful as she'd be able to pull off in normal circumstances. She can usually soar. This is more of a lob. She can't find the strength to shoot, or even orient herself into a striking position.

She doesn't need to. Itana goes limp in mid-jump as she throws herself at the demon, trying to just crash her body into it like a big dumb dead-weight obstacle.

>> SUMMARY[Itana el-Zayl] >> Punished Itana cannonballs herself at the demon.

    Though fierce in battle, Li-Ming does soften her expression at Castiel's response to that little callout. "Apologies; you already acquit yourself far better than most angels I have yet encountered. I am the wizard Li-Ming. Call me what you wish but-" She stops, eyes averting. The moment of warmth is gone from her face. Replaced instantly with alertness.

    Wait, no. That's hatred.

    "Tricks for scaring children. Is that all trash like you can manage? Of course. Prey upon the worthy or wallow in the filth of he Hells where you belong. Die!" No waiting, no hesitation, just a shrieking ray of violence from one outstretched palm.

    No fool and certainly not oblivious to her company, she interrupts her attack to spin away and blink some distance away - nearer to Hyouka.

    There, she throws down a shimmering sphere of energy perhaps a dozen or so meters in diameter, trying to not only capture the demon within that area of effect.

    But also Hyouka and eventually anyone else who meanders their way through it. The demon, on the other hand, will (hopefully) be greatly hindered as everything around it becomes far, far too fast to react to.

    Curiously, as the temperature drops, Hyouka doesn't produce nearly as much vapor as everyone else. Nor is she terribly bothered by the cold. But she certainly notices it, and it prompts her to drop into a more combative stance still. Her gaze whips around to the sound of that voice, the sight of those eyes - and then they're gone. The cyborg whirls, left then right, trying to spot the source. It's when the demon emerges at last that she finally breaks into a charge, but the charge stops short as she catches sight of the orb of darkness.

    It's an instinctive reaction, a shielding of herself with her massive gauntlets; the curse impacts, shimmering darkness rippling along the armored plating of her massive FISTEAU forearms, but it doesn't manage to find purchase. It only dims the golden radiance of her Earth element briefly, before she flings her arms to either side as if to cast off the curse entirely.

    Then her charge resumes with a vengeance, a running speed like a car carrying a pair of massive fists into sledgehammer blows... and that's BEFORE she passes into Li-Ming's bubble. Each of her charging punches releases a burst of golden, Earth-elemental energy - and on top of that, the infusion of Earth lends them the weight of granite, and a puff of dust shakes off her forearms with each blow. And with the speed advantage given to her by the mage's magic, she can throw an impressive number of blows in a short time.

    Raylene just smiles sweetly at Castiel when the angel in disguise comments upon her protector. But she doesn't start any bickering or the like, instead focusing on... well, the task at hand? Which is something now that the demon has revealed itself.

    "Hmm, a fairly classical demon... I suppose it makes sense given the ones we're with," Raylene muses. She's letting everyone else fling attacks at it, while she gets out a bag of salt and gestures for Castiel to follow her. "Why don't the rest of you do your thing and keep him busy? Fortunately after last time, I hit the books." She sprinkles salt as she starts walking, circling the battle.

    Dante feels the temp drop, plummet really. Every breath emits a cloud of frost as Dante notes the cold. "Uhh, yeah. Glory of the Holy Spirit and all that." He says just as the demon shows itself. It's one ugly customer, maybe a baphomet? As Dante notices the goat horns and cloven hooves, it definitely cements his opinion.

    He's confused when Castiel casts some kind of shield on him, and it leaves a sense of contradictory feelings. His very demonic nature might be anathema to this spell! But he's not gonna find out, as Dante zips to the side to dodge that evil sphere, before lunging forth with Rebellion. "Run up and get done, Billy goat!"

    There's a hiss of pain and the smoldering sizzle smell of sulphur as silver-tipped crossbow bolts embed in the beast's hide, leaving smoldering wounds while Li-Ming grants her spell of haste and speed upon the others. Itana slams into it. And for a moment, it looms over her, looking ready to deal a killing blow, heartless and cruel as it raises a clawed hand...
     AsHyouka comes barreling in like a freight train and Dante joins her with Rebellion- their speed too fast to match now, the beast is caught flat-footed before it can react properly, launching it into a nearby tree which shatters under the impact.
    "Itana!" That voice belongs to Castiel as she lunges into a sprint. Shedding her mortal guise now that the monster is revealed, white wings unfurl, and the glow of the golden halo that emerges atop her head casts a gentle light in the darkness- that goes blitzing in a full tilt sprint.
    Castiel baseball slides to the fallen archer and lays hands on her, warmth radiating from her fingers and banishing both the curse and the cold away as she spreads her wings over Itana protectively.
    Briefly, she casts a glance over her shoulder as Raylene begins to spread salt and start the beginnings of her witchcraft.
    "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death of mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." She says before whispering, "Go." To the nomad archer, and quickly returns to follow Raylene.
    As the demon picks itself up, shaking off its injury with a snarl. Though one arm hangs limp, the other is still perfectly good to lash out at Dante and Hyouka, fire blazing upon each of its claws before flinging a bolt of searing flames for Justina and Li-Ming.

    Even now, Hyouka Kiyama doesn't have anything resembling form or technique. Her fighting style leans entirely into the superhuman attributes of her body, the powerful elemental blows she can swing. Her toughness lets her tank blows that would kill lesser people, but even she can't take a claw blazing with hellfire completely unscathed. It manages to catch across her side, drawing a faint, pained hiss; but at the very least, she's capable of spotting the openings her own lack of fighting prowess creates. And that's a fighting prowess in and of itself, sort of.

    Whatever the case, she takes it as a chance to swing her own arm around, a high overhand haymaker aimed straight at the demon's jaw - and unloading an extra burst of elemental Earth on contact.

    Dante tanks the blow, feeling it rip through his jacket and leaving behind burning. That claw cut pretty deep, but it seems to have cauterized the wound, letting Dante focus more on fighting than not bleeding out. He hisses in pain, but forges onwards as he rushes the demon with Hyouka. Where Hyouka delivers a haymaker, Dante swipes with his sword to slash at the demon's back, intending to cut into muscles that control the wings, if not sever its spine entirely.

Itana el-Zayl feels like she's been run over by a chocobo and left lying in a snowbank. She doesn't handle cold well *without* curses sucking the vitality out of her.

Then she feels a meaty thud, then a more woody one. She hits the ground and rolls about five feet, vaguely aware that the demon's probably going to round on her.

Hyouka and Dante handle that side of things. She grimaces and begins to pull herself back up. It's not easy; between the bitter cold and the curse, her muscles complain about responding. By the time Castiel rushes to her side, she's managed to get to a knee, supported on one hand. The shimmering angel comes skidding in, halo aglow and hands outstretched.

It's like someone pulled a blanket off of her. Almost at once, the cold and weakness are peeled away, replaced by a sudden rush of warmth and strength. Itana sucks in a breath, then purses her lips as a fierce flush hits her cheeks.

She should be grateful. She hates that she has to be. There's nothing more humiliating than asking for help, and here she is, getting it without even asking. She's not sure if that makes it worse or better - or how it feels coming from someone like Castiel, who seems to radiate kindness from her very being, as if she would simply give all of herself without condition.

Itana glances at the little angel with a deep nod. She can't vocalize it. There's gratitude behind her eyes that her tongue won't dare give voice to. The angel will have to read the silence.

Shifting her other leg, Itana boosts a few feet away from Castiel in a sudden blur of motion. Then she's spinning, kicking up into the air in an astonishingly high backflip. It carries her up and over the demon, almost dragoon-high, but not quite. As she tumbles heels over head, bringing her upside down at the high point of her jump, she sweeps her bow down and snaps her arm so fast that it actually blurs.

There is a loud *THOOM* that resonates through the immediate area of the clearing - a thundering crack as the sound barrier shatters beneath the sudden launch of Itana's arrow. The recoil boosts her through the rest of her jump as she fires down at the abomination, letting the deflection carry her across to a landing on the other side of the field.

    Flames lick across armoured hull, a hiss of pain emits from the soul within as metal scorch, blackened and partially melted in a few places. "Diverting power to hull plating." comes the auttomated voice, as new armour plates fabricate over the damaged segments, old plates evaporating away as they're replaced.

    A moment, a breath... and Justina takes a 'step' forward. Those attuned to magic would feel the Elf's much more strongly now, the apparition of the elf within the shell becoming visible, like a ghost within the machine frame to even those who are magic deaf.

    "Ye Lords. Masked in Bone and Flesh. Truth and Temperance, strike upon this sinful wall and unleash the full measure of thy fury. GLACIAL SPEARS!" the spellwork manifests. Several sigils forming around the Doll frame, and emitting large pillars of clear, blue ice as the incantation is uttered. Holding one arm forwawrd, pointing the tip of the blade at the demon, the speaers fly.

>> GAME >> Justina Thyme spends an Edge for: Using Magic: Glacial Spears.

    It's a nice fight to be watching, but Raylene... well, her Horror is following close behind, just in case something should happen, but she doesn't appear to be participating in the fight! She's just carefully sprinkling salt, murmuring under her breath, skirts swishing about while she's circling the pitched battle.

    She looks up as the spellslinging really gets heated... or cold, in this case. "Do be careful about that, please." Then she goes back to what she's doing at a slow, humming pace. She looks casual, but closer inspection may reveal her steps are very, very carefully measured. Good witchcraft takes time to perform! She's just being very flippant about it for some reason.

    Perhaps it's to avoid attention or being seen as a threat. Or perhaps she's done this before. Either way, it will be a little bit yet before Raylene is a done witch.

    Though she might be a slight be overextended, Li-Ming is canny enough to keep alert for a followup from the beast. Any demon that doesn't just immediately die when she shows up is worthy of at least that much respect.

    This one won't be long for this world, however. "Hold the creature!" She doesn't glance Raylene's way for fear of spoiling the work she's putting in to create a degree of confinement. At least, that's her guess what's happening.

    Then the attack comes and she opens up her tap even further, burning through what magic she can force into a reply to that firebolt using her body as a conduit. Her skin reddens and steams in the cold and her teeth bare as the energy passing through her almost overwhelms her control. Almost! She's able to hurl a sphere of crackling ice forth in an attempt to intercept the firebolt. There'll likely be an explosion - lots of steam and lots of fragments of ice if it does work!

    Justina's response, she supposes, is adequate for a counterattack. She keeps her aim and rather than a direct intercept, she explodes her frozen arcane orb and simply steps behind Justina's considerable frame. Sorry not sorry! Though if that's not sufficient as a counter she supposes there'll be no need to apologize later!

>> SUMMARY[Raylene Dunwich] >> Punning of course.

    Alone, Castiel would not have stood much of a chance against this beast. But that's okay. She cheated and brought allies. Allies who clearly are far harder hitting than a single, pacifist, angel.
    Like, say, how Hyouka's fist hits the beast with stonning, jaw-jarring force that makes it stagger. Dante cleave into its back, earning an inhuman howl of pain as one wing is shorn from its back before it lashes out at the both of them, claws flailing wild and furious.
    Justina's spell slams into it next, jagged spears of frozen ice catching it as it howls, impaling its leg and gaunt body in places; the smell of sulfur only growing stronger as it weakens and finds one of its legs pinned in place from where an ice spear jams into the ground impaling it.
    Steam hisses and jagged blades of ice go everywhere as Li-Ming deflects the firebolt intended for her and she takes cover behind Justina.
    Castiel fidgets as she follows Raylene closely for the moment, but stays out of the Dunwich heir's way.
    She knows not to harry, harass, or pester a witch at work as Raylene does her thing.
    The demon looking to be on its last legs, and even then it has the power and strength to lift the felled tree it had slammed into previously and try to bat the others away with it sluggishly, before Itana's arrow slams it with enough force to make it drop the improvised weapon and snarl in disbelieving fury.

    With a wild swing and mounting Rebellion onto his back again, Dante draws Ebony and Ivory as he opens fire point blank on the baphomet with a rapid spray of .45 cal. Each shot hits like a small cannonball, and Dante uses the pistols to briefly parry and swat away each claw strike, some of the blows landing and tearing Dante's sleeves. "You have ANY idea how much I pay for these clothes?" He barks, before backing away to aim at the demon's face. "I'm gonna take this outta your hide!" He snarls, before opening fire once more. "Jackpot!"

    Justina, if she notices Li-Ming hiding behind her or not, braces as that tree is brought around like a giant club. A pair of THUNKS sound from her feet as she sets up, crossing her arms to block the strike, tanking it so Li doesn't need to dodge.

    The impact is harsh, the shout of pain shrill and the Doll drops to a knee after the wood shatters against her and one arm falls limply. The weapons disappear, and her still working arm holds the limp one, as the robot makes like its panting in pain.

Itana's moving with a palpable sense of relief. The cold doesn't seem quite so bad anymore. Perhaps she'll never be able to fully deal with it alone, but at least Castiel isn't putting a gun to her head and making her beg and plead for it.

When she lands on the far side of the demon, well clear of immediate melee range, she's already reaching for another arrow. For now, though, she holds off, leaving a window for her more melee-inclined allies to strike. As much as she sure the robot can just put her soul in another machine if the worst happens, she'd hate to hit Dante or any of the others she knows less well - and she'd certainly hate to hit the little angel or her companion Raylene. The archer bends one knee deeply, almost to the ground, sliding her foot back to brace herself as she shakes her arrow hand out briskly. Her fingers wiggle sequentially above her quiver.

Only when she has a clear firing window - once the others have created a bit of space - does Itana begin to move. Her arm blurs as she starts shooting, unnaturally fast. A frenzy of arrows fills the air, practically machine-gunning shots at the demon as the desert wanderer attempts to pincushion the ailing atrocity's limbs... until she reaches for the last arrow in the sequence.

She twirls it. "Angarag," she huffs. A tongue of fire whirls from the arrowhead as she nocks it and lets it go, aiming centre-of-mass.

The arrow lances in, the fire rapidly expanding wherever the shot makes impact - whether in devil or scenery. The spark expands rapidly into a booming explosion, sending billows of fire radiating out from wherever the arrow strikes. The shocking heat of it blows Itana's hair and draperies back dramatically.

"Castiel," she says sharply. "Dunwich. Whatever you need to do, now is the time."

    After leveling such a stunning blow, Hyouka takes the chance to just plain back out, getting herself out of the way. She starts charging up for her next strike, her right gauntlet beginning to glow a brighter gold - but she doesn't expect to have as long as she does. Not until a supersonic arrow streaks from Itana's bow into the demon.

    "DARGN! Ramp me up, let's hit that bastard hard." "Understood. Full charge it is."

    By the time Hyouka Kiyama lunges back in, her right gauntlet isn't just glowing. It's shining, a bright beacon of compressed and seething earth-aspected mana. It's about the hardest hit she can throw, and it's the kind of hit that would give even a dragon a really bad day.

>> GAME >> Itana el-Zayl spends an Edge for: Machinegun arrows + Angarag firebomb arrow.

>> GAME >> Dante spends an Edge for: JACKPOT headshot.

    Not only an explosion of ice and steam but then a whole tree?! Li-Ming makes a frustrated sound and prepares to expend yet more energy for an active defense but Justina seems to weather the blow! Fantastic. "Apologies, friend. You're simply so conveniently large I used you for a shield. Perhaps I'll make it up to you later!"

    She dashes around the damaged 'bot, one hand upraised as she lets out a roar of outrage. "Disgusting creature! Your grave awaits!" She makes a motion of her and as if trying to tear out a piece of the heavens to hurl down upon the cloven hoofed skull-faced nightmare. In response to her will and a fair expendiature of her power, a spark appears in the sky. Growing in brightness as the called-upon projectile speeds from above to slam into the ground either directly on top of or at least close-enough to the creature to pound it flat. Or outright break the thing and render it incapable of further fight. Strangely, despite the violence of the spell, it's yield of violence seems to have little to no effect on unintended targets!

    Raylene rubs her forehead a moment as she finishes the circle and... startsanother walk around. She doesn't finish it though, as it looks like it was just a quick inspection. "Yes, fine. All right, perhaps the rest of you should back up. Please don't disturb what I've done," she murmurs. "Oh, right..."

    Unslinging her bag, she drops a clunky box down, which some may recognize as a breadmaker? And then the magical energy in the air flares, and she might actually need protecting, as she calls out in a reverberating, loud voice several words that are a gutteral, alien language, which seem to be mostly gibberish and consonants, though the words 'Yog-Sothoth' can be heard several times.

    Thankfully, the others had been laying out such a beating that the demon was to preoccupied to notice Raylene.
    Until now.
    The circle of salt. The incantation.
    The vessel...
    Smoldering eyes lock onto Raylene as the demon howls in fury, lunging at her-- Castiel immediately interposes herself in front of the Dunwich witch-- but it's ultimately not necessary.
    And it probably just would be overkill if the Horror got involved.
    ... It's already overkill, actually. Dante unloading upon the beast's face staggers it.
    Hyouka's blow FLOORS it.
    Itana's arrows pin it to the ground before the explosion hits in tandem with a sudden unexpected meteor that streaks down from the sky courtesy of Li-Ming.
    Castiel cringes. That will probably get some attention from people outside the forest.
    But when the dust clears, the demon lays in the crater, twitching. For as strong as it was, it's likely not getting back up from that.
    "--I do not mean to be impertinent..." Castiel murmurs.
    "... But what is the breadmaker for?"
    Her answer comes swiftly though, cringing as Raylene finishes her incantation and one final howl emerges from the demon as it turns to a dustcloud of soot, sulfur and ash that-... Is drawn into the breadbox and sealed away.
    "... O-oh."

    Justina replies to Li-Ming, her voice coming through staticy and slightly glitched. "It i-i-is my duty to pro-o-o-otec-c-ct." is what she manages before resuming looking absolutely pained. She's certainly going to be feeling that hit for a while.

There's the earth-shattering kaboom.

Itana's fingers smoke a little in the wake of the arrow. She gives her hand a shake, stepping back and looking over to Raylene as she trots out...

...a box...?

Oh. Oh, that's what it's for. Itana blinks once, then whips her hair back with a sharp cast of her head. "That appears to be it," she murmurs as she slides her bow over her shoulder again.

The metal thing is clearly inconvenienced. Itana looks over to Justina with a blink, a moment of bafflement crossing her face. She'd assumed the mechanical dolls were controlled remotely and had nothing resembling human senses or spirit, yet something in there is clearly injured. With a purse of her lips, she looks on a moment longer.

The thought of trying to get a potion out occurs to her. She dismisses it. The robot doesn't seem to have a mouth. It probably doesn't have a stomach. Would her alchemy even work on it? With a brisk shake of her head, she exhales and instead moves over to Castiel.

Itana lays a hand on the little angel's shoulder, facing the opposite direction but looking sidelong towards her. She squeezes a little. It is not an unkind squeeze.

    /Thanks for being my angel./

    That... is a breadmaker.

    "Did... you just seal that demon in a breadmaker?" Hyouka asks, blinking owlishly.

    DARGN chimes in with a deadpan, "At least it wasn't a rice cooker."

    Snort. Li-Ming actually laughs, "Better than it deserves, I say. Well done." Though Raylene does get a very, very shrewd look from those Wizard Eyes. "If you would like, I'm also somewhat versed in the confinement of demons and the like." She squirms and looks aside. "Though perhaps it's best if I don't interfere." 

    One could almost swear there was a brief, very faint peal of gravely phantom laughter... somewhere.

    As the Baphomet is felled, Dante looks incredulous and laughs as Raylene pulls out a breadmaker. "What, are we gonna have toast after this?" He says, just as the breadmaker begins to suck up the demon with utterances of eldritch language that makes Dante's ears tingle just listening to it.

    "...huh."

    "I would have used something more mystical, but I didn't know what kind of demon we were dealing with," Raylene replies, dusting off her hands. "As such, this won't hold for very long, but it should be long enough to find a more permanent solution. Either with the young lady here, or finding a specialist."

    Castiel is... Staring incredulously.
    Raylene sealed the monster in a breadmaker.
    "U-um! Well... That should solve the immediate problem at least..."
    Perhaps with Li-Ming's help a more permanent solution can be reached but for now this handles the issue for a little while.
    Even if the angel looks ABSOLUTELY baffled by the turn of events.
    So instead she moves over towards Justina...
    There's a beat of hesitant pause; as though she's unsure what she intends to do would work at all as she reaches out to touch the damaged robot, hands warm and soothing... Likely for the astral projected soul within it at least.
    With that out of the way however, she folds her wings to her back and reaches up to give her halo a tap.
    It 'shuts off' and vanishes along with her wings as she huffs, just as Itana's hand sets on her shoulder.
    She beams, relieved for the first time in quite a while.
    "Eheh... I suppose that handles that, then."

The angel is smiling. Itana tries her very best to maintain her outward stoicism. She can't entirely. Her normally stern expression is briefly interrupted by the faintest curve of a smile. It's small, lasting for just a couple of seconds, barely perceptible - beyond her eyes. It shows through most clearly in the moment of eye contact she shares with Castiel.

A squeeze more before she takes a single step away, exhaling and listening just a moment and taking stock of things.

"All I have for that sort of thing are bottles," Itana puts in for Raylene with a cant of her head and a frown. "I doubt they'll help much compared to a... bread... device... thing."

She digests that for a moment before looking up, a thought occurring to her.

    /These people have machines that make bread. MACHINES. For BREAD. Crystals' sakes, is this what happens when your world goes beep and boop all the time?/

Itana closes her eyes and turns a little, facing off into the distance. The breeze plays with her hair and cloak.

    "Y'know I coulda just shot it. In the head. I do it a lot." Dante points out until giving up on trying to make suggestions. He stows his pistols as he watches Castiel do some repairs. Dante has to wonder if healing spells work on robots.

    They seem to work on the soul being projected through it, at least. Itana at least has the luck of being made of flesh, and her wounds immediately fix after Castiel casts her spell. "Guess that's that then. I'm off, gonna need to find a tailor for this coat." Dante says, throwing up a salute. "I'll send ya my bill later, adios Cas'."

    Whatever Castiel did, the robot frame doesn't change. It's still broken, the arm remaining limp as its internal structure is bent out of shape, the servos damaged and the armour plates dented from the force of that arborial impact... but that ghost-like image superimposed onto the robot? That white-haired, blue-eyed elf-girl... the soul of the operator. That looks more at ease.

    Whatever the angel did, it's mitigated some of the sensory feedback damage from being so close to the Doll frame in her astral form. "Th-th-th-thank y-o-o-o-ou." the voice more even, if still glitchy form the damage to the frame.

    "Yes, well. Perhaps with a little time and collaboration, we could devise a more enduring solution to this little problem." She wags a finger at the bread maker. "Quite clever, nevertheless. Humiliating as well, I'm sure. The problem isn't in devising the contraption as much as it is what you do with it. After."