World Tree MUSH

    Oakland was one of the more dense urban areas of the San Francisco Bay region, sitting on the east side of the bay in and around a few large hills. The largest of which still had copious amounts of trees on them. By and large though, the city was monolithic in places, with block-like concrete buildings and post-war tract housing sprawled where the web of state highways weren't. Sodium streetlights cast their baleful orange glare amid the fog shrouded city, the cool bay air settling in like a blanket.
    The Beacon Society had gotten wind of the local cabal factions getting ready to clash in the city, pointing to the port facilities as the likely place where things would happen. The massive cranes line the docks like statues as furtive people filtered in from the access roads.

Benedicta can't help but wonder who's going to lead Sybil's group if what Shield-Maiden said was true. Or if they were still even a factor in all this? Still, the fact that they're now in Baroness Spider's terroritory was dangerous in itself. The almir'aj girl was clearly on the edge but if they didn't do something she would likely take over San Francisco as well. Maybe they could gather more information on their leader while they were here, after all what Beacon knows seems to be limited.

     Damian's less concerned about all that than he is about just hanging out with Benedicta, though that's not to say he *doesn't* care about stopping the spider lady. As he flits aimlessly about in the rabbit's general vicinity, he takes a big whiff and pulls a disgusted face before grinning. "Rotten fish. Definitely a bay, maybe we should go fishing when all this stuff is over with, huh? It'll be fun! Probably."

    If it's foggy, that means there's plenty of 'ammo' around for Jun when things invariably turn into a fight. Not only that, but because there's plenty of fog around for him to control, Jun can keep himself hidden until things do deteriorate.

    That being the case, from all appearances, there's a slightly thicker bank of fog that's moving around close to the docks! Of course, inside that thicker fog bank is Jun, trying to keep his presence hidden for the time being.

    He'll be hanging around in the general vicinity of the others, though for the time being he's going to keep quiet. If even his allies don't know he's there, his presence can't be outed to the enemies, right?

    Serrah is worried, which means she's looking annoyed.

    "Can't stand this freakin' infighting, like I said last time," she mutters, looking over Benedicta's shoulder. "I'm, uh, I'm gonna be ... a little more careful about my time powers, in case those damn hounds show up ..." She makes an incoherent irritated noise in her throat, glances around -- that fog certainly has her on edge -- then simply shrugs. "But, I mean, I'll probably still use them, at least. I'm definitely gonna need 'em here, if things heat up."

    A grotesquely built figure, seeming to be a slumped figure of a person, lands at the end of a dock with giant fly wings. With a sweep of his arms, one hand lifting his scythe up, Uncle Slug laughs deeply and wetly.
    "Welcome my friends, to the show that never ends. As you can see forthwith, we gather to battle in the mists." A sweep of the scythe points at the strange and motley maho that seem to be closing cautiously on the slug-like man. 
    "But enough talk and with much ado- have at you!" At this the scythe comes down, striking the damp concrete with a loud scraping sound. Hordes of insects and vermin flow from the hidden places on the large cargo docks at this, and with them come the maho who've aligned themselves with Uncle slug, a fracas quickly ensuing.

"I didn't miss that guy, with wings of a fly. Ah, screw it rhyming is hard." Benedicta's clearly not too fond of the insect controlling maho. "I guess, I don't eat meat so you can keep all the fish." She's not going to judge Damian, she knows jackals are hunters. She's almost tempted to just let Uncle Slug and Baroness Spider's forces duke it out, but someone innocent might get caught in the crossfire.

 Baroness Spider's forces intercept Uncle Slug's while their leader is nowhere to be seen. Instead it appears that Sybil in her Hornet Queen guise of all people is leading their forces.

 "What the hell is she doing here? Shield-Maiden said she was out of action..." The almir'aj girl knows she's going to focus her attention on as she rushes at her rival.

     Damian dismissively waves a hand. "Pfft, nah. We'll just let 'em go, duh. I don't know how to cook fish, and I don't wanna sit through one of Tenta's lessons on it either. I just think it'd be neat, you know, me and you just hanging out in the quiet morning mist-" Oh, it looks like they've got visitors, including one old man whose manner of speech definitely won't wear out any time soon. "-but if he keeps talking like that, I'm gonna get pissed."

Scowling as even more creepy crawlies show up, he sighs and follows Benedicta to deal with Sybil. Hornet Queen? That jerk. "I should really learn how to throw some hellfire if I'm gonna keep fighting bugs. I bet it'd be super effective." Cheeky wink at the imaginary camera.

    "Oh, this guy," Serrah says, crinkling her nose. "Eww. Hmmhh ..."

    She's tempted to stop time, wade into the fight, and methodically trip up everyone one by one. But ... the threat of those hounds ...

    Instead, she turns to Uncle Slug. She transforms into a black silhouette, trips and falls on her face, grumbles curses under her breath and gets back on her feet, and floats away. A distinctly humanoid silhouette is probably not as stealthy as an amorphous shadow, but she's at least making an effort as she makes her way over to Uncle Slug with the intention of coming up behind him.

    Three words: unusually large rodents. They really do exist and they turn out to be wharf rats that are two feet long from nose to tail-tip. They're certainly plentiful here at the port of Oakland too. The Spider faction is getting bit by the damn things even as Slug faction mahos trade blows with them. There's all sorts of weird magic flying around the docks tonight. Strobing lights, bursts of energy, otherworldly noises. And the fog does what it does best; muffles sound, sight, and smell, keeping this a private little war.
    The Hornet Queen sneers as she catches sight of Benedicta, flitting upward to avoid the exchange of magic. "Oh, it's -you-. Don't you have somebody else to bother, salad-eater?" Sybil makes a rude gesture with a single hand at the beast maho. Then, noticing Damian flit after Benedicta. "This your sad little fan club?"
    Uncle Slug is fairly easy for Serrah to sneak up on, but this is a slab of spongy person who is moving around like somebody half his size. The wings have disappeared and thick alligator scales begin to emerge on his skin as he bowls over a metal-skinned maho with a sword, effectively belly-bouncing the poor guy into a cargo container with his bulk.

     Damian rolls around a stray magical blast, morphing into a strange fusion of bat and canine as he does so, flapping up toward Sybil's level. "Pssshh. I'm the Prince of Hell, I have my *own* fan club, toots." he responds flippantly, and yes he did just say 'toots'. And as if on cue, the three little red fuzzy imp things that always seem to follow Damian around pop out of the fog, launching themselves bodily at whatever they can attack, scratching and biting and butting with their horns.

"Seriously, I have no idea. Do they even have day jobs? School? Hobbies other than stalking me? I just don't have a clue." Damian says with a bewildered shrug.

    Hurting him isn't Serrah's plan.

    ... She can't resist stopping time here.

    Suddenly, there's a red-eyed girl leaping forward from where the metal-skinned maho landed with her hand outstretched, probably familiar to Uncle Slug but looking a bit less undead than the last time they saw each other, and attempts to smack him in the face and shove him backward.

    "C'mon, really, Unc?" she says, an irritated and almost chiding tone in her voice. "I get you guys wanna ... throw down ... but does it really have to be in this town? Uh ..." Rhymes fail her. "... Yeah I got nothin'."

Benedicta's horn starts to glow yellow, there was something off about Sybil. Her voice sounded a lot more sultry then normal. "Wait, since when could you fly?" Benedicta grows her feathery own wings and the Hornet Queen seemed to a bit surprised as the maho does a jump kick upwards at her. She manages to dodge it for the most part but it manages to graze her. It's enough to dispel the illusion though and the Hornet Queen vanishes from sight. Instead, she's replaced with a tall woman with white and purple fur and mothlike features. "Who the hell are you?"

    Both Damian and Benedicta land solid blows on 'Sybil', revealing the moth-woman's true disguise. "Aww... What a way to ruin a surprise, bunniycorn. And it's so adorable how your jackal friend crushes on you so." Heartripper flits just out of reach on her moth wings, flicking some kind of throwing knife at Benedicta.
    Uncle Slug takes one to his... face? Is that face? Seems most likely. But it's squishy in spite of the thick scalesand gives under Serrah's fist in a disturbing way instead of pushing him very far. It does get him to pause for a moment. He chuckles nastily. "OH do save yourself the time, you've no gift for rhyme." The scythe flickers towards Serrah.

Benedicta looks a bit embarrassed upon hearing Heartripper, in a way this was worse than Sybil. She wasn't expecting the knife and it goes into her arm. She cringes in pain but doesn't remove the blade. Instead she uses the claws on her good hand to slash at the moth woman's face. "Shut up, you don't know anything about me..." She hopes that Heartripper didn't get access to Sybil's memories.

     "Huh, a moth. You'd think she'd be a natural enemy of the spiders." Damian remarks, then blushes black as Heartripper brings up this alleged crush. "Aww come on, not you too. Have you been talking to Tentadora? I like Benny, sure, but..." That thought gets interrupted by the knife, and Damian's form elongates into a winged serpent as he darts toward the mothgirl, seeking to wrap around her and restrict her movements. "Nah, I don't think so."

    Serrah shrugs at Uncle Slug's comeback. "You got me there," she says. "But like, I'm just sayin' ..." She's still in the cooldown of her time-stop, but she has enough (ex-)vampiric agility to dodge the scythe the normal way. "... you guys wanna get into a fight, there's a zillion empty worlds to do it on, y'know? What's the point of risking becoming Uncle Collateral Damage?"

    And then her head jerks around. "... that's not Sybil," she says flatly. "That's ... why is there a hot moth-woman!? -- BENE!" At the sight of Benedicta's injury, her gaze hurriedly flits between Uncle Slug and Heartripper, unsure of which one she should focus on. Even though Uncle Slug is right there.

    Uncle Slug rubs his face where Serrah struck it; squishiness aside that did hurt. Seeing the formerly vampire girl distracted by Heartbreaker, Benedicta, and Damian's skirmish, he seems to take a deep breath before spewing a cloud of sticky spider silk at Serrah. The scales have vanished as he does so. "Such concern about speed, a change of pace is clearly what you need."
    Heartbreaker, or that darn lying moth at times due to the confusion she can cause, darts to one side to avoid Damian, but catches a claw to the face. The hesitation allows Damian to bind the moth woman, who seems to be mostly fluffy and weigh next to nothing. "H-hey, I don't think you can afford my rates for this~."

     Damian squeezes tighter on Heartbreaker, not about to let her escape just because of that fluff. He's a shapeshifter, he *knows* how to abuse looking bigger than you really are. "Get as many shots in as you want, Benny. I'll snap her like a twig if she tries anything." he says with a wicked grin, punctuated by a flicking of his serpentine tongue.

And unfortunately for the moth, her attempt to further embarrass Damian only leads him to scoff, "Babe, I am the prince of Hell. I can afford *way* better than you."

Jun hangs back for a moment, thinking of how best to help. There are bugs, right? All (or mostly) winged things, aren't they? Maybe he can help some...

Decision made, he floats up into the air and starts to concentrate on the weather. Why? He's trying to push it to a heavy rainstorm. Wet wings make it harder to fly, right?

Benedicta's groaning at pain at the knife stuck in her arm, "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll have a nice lamp in your cell at Beacon. But you're not going to get anything for answering our questions." Hopefully Damian can keep her contained long enough to get her back there. "Please try to keep her alive if you can, it'll make it easier to track down the Baroness. Plus, I'm kind of curious how she transformed into Sybil."

    Serrah is distracted, which isn't a good thing. "Whoa, what the --" She yelps, tries to throw herself out of the way, stops time as it hits her --

    And then suddenly she's swinging a fist at Uncle Slug's face again, mostly stuck to the ground but just barely close that her fist might connect, and therefore close enough that her attempt to punch him would take her out of the time-stop. Not close enough that Uncle Slug has no time to react, of course. "Ugh oh god ... Anyway, why are you trying to ... to ... wait, where's this rain coming from?" Distracted by her current situation, she missed Jun making his move.

    The rain clears away the fog, revealing a lot of wounded maho stumbling about the docks. Seems most of the fight has been taken out of the maho. People are dragging the unconscious ones as well. Many dead rats and bugs litter the port.
    Uncle Slug takes another fist to the face, though that split-second lets him strike with a huge flabby arm in return. His jaw unhinges too wide, revealing ghastly venomous snake fangs with an evil hiss.
    The Heartbreaker seems to be under wraps by Damian for now...

That... might not be a great idea, Uncle Sluggie-poo. Unhinging that jaw, opening his mouth so wide... That may have been a mistake, since there's more than one person here with ranged attacks.

It's SUCH a good opportunity, in fact, that Jun immediately releases his attempts with the weather, and switches his tactics. "Stick out your tongue and say 'aaaah'!" Jun all but chirps, his voice a happy sing-song tone...

...Right as he fires a blast of superheated water vapor aimed right at the unhinged jaw and open gullet of dear, dear Uncle Slug!

    Serrah takes the punch. She's stuck due to the webbing, and has no time regardless. She goes sprawling, and hits the ground. "OW! Ow ... fuck ..."

    A brief spike of relief hits her when she subconsciously notices the fog lifting -- no Hounds! -- but she doesn't have time to worry about that because, again, ow.

    Dread crosses her face when she sees Uncle Slug open wide. She isn't actually sure if poisons will affect her ... but, wait, no, she doesn't have a vampire's lack-of-biology anymore, venom will definitely do a number on her ...

    And then Jun makes himself known, and she actually laughs out loud. It's weak, it's clearly pained, but it's definitely a laugh.

Now that Heartbreaker's blacked out Benedicta's attention turns towards Uncle Slug. It seems like Jun has things under control but it looks he launched venom at Serrah. She makes her way over to her to see if she's okay, even though she's wounded herself at the moment.

     Damian, with some flaps of his wings, propels himself after Benedicta while keeping a firm hold on Heartbreaker. "Everyone okay? Nobody dead?" he asks around, shaking off the rain from Jun's little stunt.

    Uncle Slug is taken aback by the sudden blast of hot steam. Even despite his prodigious constitution, he's knocked flat and out by the humid heat.
    It seems things are winding down with most of the maho retreating and both Heartbreaker Moth and Uncle Slug down for the count.

Once he notices Uncle Slug tip over, Jun moves to land, and sighs. "That... I hope that took care of him, at least temporarily," he says.

Though he's quick to turn to the rest of the group and ask, "Does anyone need healing? That was a pretty bad fight."

    Serrah is hissing through clenched teeth. "I'm fine!" she says, even though she clearly isn't; her eyes focus on Heartbreaker. "Oh ... good, you got 'er. I'm ... ow. I got a bit beat up, but I didn't get poisoned. Envenomed. Whatever. Just ... need to ... get rid of this webbing."

    She hesitates, before she finally takes the rare step of actually asking for help. "Uh ... Jun, could you please heal me? I'm ..." She grimaces. "... not looking forward to it ... because Life ... is not good for dhampirs, probably ... but, uh ... I ..." She's actually looking slightly nervous now. "... think I'm ... 'alive' enough that Life won't make it worse ..."

"Yes, please." Benedicta took a knife in the arm after all. It would be nice not to have to go all the back to Beacon to get it removed. "That was rough, hopefully things will calm down with Uncle Slug out of the picture." Then again, that leaves Baroness Spider unchecked now.

     Damian nods to Jun, then Benedicta. "Yeah, she got a pretty bad hit from the Mothwoman here. If you can patch her up, that'd be great. I'm fine though." he says, then morphs into his usual form but with a long, prehensile tail wrapped around Heartbreaker. "Guess we'll take her back to uh... Beacon, or whatever. They probably have questions."