Evil's Return Chapter 3: The Death Books
 

Tessa raised her hand to forestall any more arguments.

“Look, I would love to say that I have an unlimited number of bodies to throw at this, but I don’t. You all know how hard it is to get people into this line of work in the first place. Well, this entire situation is complicated even more by the fact that opinions on the Mother of Hell, it’s getting hard to find anyone who’s willing to play ball in Taylorsville. Those teams I hit the warehouse with were all the manpower I could scrounge up in a week, and out of those, I got what pretty much amounts to a strike team hospitalized. While we do have a heavy presence in the city, most of the teams out there are running prevention. You think things are heavy now, you just wait until I start pulling teams off the street and putting them on standby. If you want more people helping out, I suggest you pass it along to the superiors in your organizations, because S.E.C.A. is almost bled dry in this area...contrary to popular belief, we don’t have infinite manpower.

“As for what the ‘dawdling’ that the S.E.C.A teams were doing,” Tessa says, pointing a less-than-friendly glare at Duane, “…I have five good people in the hospital from taking on that blood-summoned at the warehouse. Given the trouble you had at the school, I’m sure you can put together what would of happened if the cultists didn’t keep that blood-summoned at the warehouse to try to fight us off. The whole point of the Protectors to handle the situations that threaten the Chosen directly…the rest of us have our hands full trying to keep those situations from happening. You think things are bad now, you just wait and see what would happen if I start taking teams off the street and put them on standby to wait for your beck and call. If you wanted overwhelming firepower, you should of joined the Air Force. Don’t like the hand you got dealt, the door is over there. The Protectors are strictly voluntary because of how dangerous the work is. If you think you have it tough, ask Duncan or Nathaniel what happened to most of the last group of Protectors…they’re experts on MoH lore.

She looked around the room. “As far as preventing something like this from happening again goes…like I said, the Society is going to go through the school and put up as many wards as they can in there. Also…and my apologizes to those who prefer a more offensive approach…orders have come from higher up that all Protectors are to stay close to the Chosen. Given what happened at the school, I’m guessing a few jobs will be opening up, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Probably another security job or two…maybe even a teacher position since I wouldn’t doubt there will be at least one teacher quitting. We should also hope that the local cults shot their bolt on this latest incident…but we shouldn’t count on it.

“On a final note,” Tessa said, “The Council will be convening tomorrow at the Citadel. Since there is no school tomorrow, as suggestion was made that some of the newer Protectors should go take a tour of the place…give them an idea of just what is at stake here. Of course, the Chosen and the Protectors who have already seen the place are welcome to come as well.”

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Meanwhile, while the briefing was taking place, Duncan was…well…bird watching.

[i]Why, hello little bird,[i] he thought to himself, Just who or what are you working for?

McCragge Manor was chosen to be the living place of the Mother of Hell for several reasons…one of them being the layers of wards that had taken generations to lay out. Looks like someone didn’t do their homework, Duncan thought to himself. The bird, apparently enchanted in some way, had tripped one of those wards, which had flipped a “switch”, for lack of better term, in Duncan’s head, alerting him to it’s presence. Honestly, you didn’t think we’d have something protecting this place. Duncan thought to himself.

As if on cue, another switch flipped in his head, making him look to the east side of the compound. I don’t want to lose track of our feathered friend here, he thought to himself. He pulled a small radio out his pocket. “Security, I just had something trip a ward on the east side of the compound, can you look into it?”


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Nathaniel found himself nodding in agreement. “They should just raze the place.” He agreed.

At exactly 9 o’clock, the squeal of rusting metal announced the arrival of yet another person. “Ah, Mr. Jackson,” the man said, walking up to Nat, “You’re a hard man to get a hold of.”

The man know as Enos stepped from the shadows. He was a short man, and his unusually wide shoulders only added to the illusion. He was a middle-aged man, about the same age as Nat and Caleb, and what may of once been muscle on his stocky frame was slowly turning to flab. His eyes widened slightly when he say Caleb. “Ah, I wasn’t expecting to see you here, Caleb. Surely, you don’t doubt that’d get you the payment-“

“Caleb is here at my request,” Nat interrupted. “I wanted him nearby so I didn’t have to hunt him down if things went south here. Now, let’s just cut to the chase. I don’t care who you are, just what do you want.”

“Of course, Mr. Jackson,” the short man said. “I’m here on behalf of my employers to offer you a chance.”

“Oh, I think I already know where this is going,” Nat half-whispered to Caleb.

“In light of what transpired today, and given the fact that, as long as the Mother of Hell lives, these attacks a likely only going to get worst, my employers have decided the time had come to take a more…proactive policy concerning the her. They have hired me to talk to you as a sign of respect to the work that you and the other Protectors have done. We have no wish in seeing any of you get killed, as they would only hurt the our mutual cause in the war against the Other Side. The offer is this: Let us have the Mother of Hell, and in return, we’ll guarantee a swift and painless death for her, and we will take no actions against you or the other Protectors. Of course, if you refuse, we will do everything in our power to kill the Mother for the sake of humanity, even at the cost of such worthy allies against the Dark.”

With a sigh, Nathaniel unslung the M1 from his back, and aimed it at the man. “Man, you guys just don’t get it, do you? I tend to kill people who make that suggestion.”

Enos nodded. “Yes, so my employers said. It’s a real shame you decided to come, Caleb…I didn’t mean for you to get dragged into this.” Enos turned, and began to walk away. “Then again, I suppose it’s for the better…we’d probably would of decided to take you out eventually, anyways.”

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((OOC: Mr. Bookworm, if appears you missed the fact that Ecurt and Mauve Mage got to the front door first…I suggest you edit that post.

Also, in case you missed the post in the discussion thread, I’m treating “front door” as “front gate”…it has been stated in other posts that security around the Manor is pretty heavy…for being owned by a private citizen and all.))

As Troy rung the bell at the door, a guy in very stereotypical rent-a-cop attire, walked up on the other side of the gate. He stopped a few feet behind the gate, and eyed the young man. “What do you want, kid?”

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Duncan continued to watch the bird, but his mind was elsewhere. The security officer dispatched to check the east side had yet to check in, and he should have had plenty of time to get there and back to a radio. With a final look up at the encroaching pigeon, Duncan began to jog east. “This is McCragge, I’m going to check the east side myself.”

Again, he sensed that someone had crossed over the ward on the east edge of the property. The entire compound was warded against demons (with the exception of John, of course), so whoever was crossing the ward had to be a human. But just because they’re human doesn’t mean their not dangerous, he thought to himself.

He brought the words of an incantation to the front of his mind, and picked up his pace.

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The urge to shoot the man down warred with Nathaniel’s basic distaste for shooting a man in the back as his rifle was leveled at the retreating from of Enos.

However, as it turns out, the decision was made for him.

The sound of metal jingling and the faint sound of something flying through the air was the only warning he had. But, given 30+ years of experience, it was all he needed. Nat rolled out of the way, and was rewarding by hearing that object smash into the concrete instead of him.

However, once he saw what the object was, any glee at this small achievement was lost.

“Oh, shoot…”

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Duncan’s concern grew as he approached the edge of his property. In the fading light of dusk, he wasn’t sure what the form on the lawn was, but he had a pretty good idea what it was before he got there. As he got closer, his worst fears were confirmed. The S.E.C.A. agent was clearly dead…his skull smashed in. “This is Duncan, we have a man down and a security breach. Intruder is likely non-demonic, so be on the lookout for-“

Duncan duck as he saw glint of fading sunlight on metal out of the corner of his eye. He hear the object whiz over his head. Pulling the small pistol from the inside pocket of his jacket, he came out of his duck. Whatever had flown over his head had a chain attached to it, so Duncan took aim down the chain and opened fire. Another object came out of the trees and into the path of his shots, and the sparks of metal colliding with metal could be seen. Only then did Duncan recognize the objects.

They were large, metal books.

Holy crap. Duncan threw down his pistol, and brought up his radio. “This is McCragge! The intruders are Sealers…we got Death Books! Repeat, Death Books! Make sure Laurella is safe, they’re going to out to kill her, not catch her!”

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As gunfire erupted on the property, the “rent-a-cop” looked away from the gate. “You kids get out of here!” he said, and ran off.

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Tessa put her hand up to hear ear as her radio barked to life. Those of the Protectors who had radios hear the same message...Death Books on the ground.

With a curse, Tessa ran the way that Laurella went. “We’re under attack,” she yelled as she ran, pulling out a pistol. “The Sealers sent the Death Books after us. Get Laurella inside!”

((OOC: See discussion thread for info on the Death Books))

Jimmy stood back up and sighed, walking over to the edge of the pool and crouching to offer a hand down to Laurella. "Alright let's go," he said sounding entirely annoyed as he grasped her offered arm and pulled her out of the water, wrapping an arm around her torso and lift her out of the water.

Once she was completely out of the water, Jimmy set her down, but didn't let go of her hand. "I've no idea where the safest place is, so you tell me where to go."

(OOC: I'm assuming Laurella would offer her hand, mostly just because this post would be even more painfully short if I didn't. If that's not cool just get out of the pool yourself and I'll edit this.)

Another Mundane Mission OR WKRP in Cincinnati
 

Rick woke up startled. What was the culprit? A watch alarm, but not his watch. Huh? That’s one way to get my attention… Rick followed it to its source, his mailbox. Oh crap! He nearly shouted as he jumped back into his room, taking cover. When the expected explosion did not occur, Rick peeked inside the mailbox, and saw a small package, with a return address that listed only ‘Aunty May’. Excellent! Let’s see what I got.

Hope you enjoyed the wakeup call. Enclosed is an annoying watch (really useless) and a small radio with a 3 mile range, sized to inconspicuously sit in your ear. I also included an example of the Exorcism Sigil, it’s really complicated, so I recommend writing out several copies for yourself sometime soon. School has been cancelled for the week, and as of now there are no truly pressing matters for you to attend to. We advise you to go to McCraigge Manor immediately to ask your ‘classmates’ if there was ‘any homework you missed’ due to your brief ‘illness’. Your briefing is enclosed. This will allow you to perhaps find some information regarding the M.O.H.’s plans for the brief ‘vacation’. You may or may not be questioned, we are not sure at this time, as there is suspicion surrounding today’s events. They may view you as a hostile. Only reveal your true identity as a last resort, and if forced to do so, make every attempt to keep it from the M.O.H. Objective #2 is second only to Objective #1. As for funds transfer, we will approve a very small one. Master Shori.

Excellent, this should definately help me in the mission. Wait? Batteries not included! Shori you bastard! I have to hurry to the store then first. Rick grabbed his jacket, his wallet, and his backpack. I hope it’s not too much. Rick then looked in the mirror, straightened his collar, and took in a deep breath.

Lets get this mission over with.

Rob made his way to the store, picked up the batteries and started wandering over to the manor while installing them. Let’s see how this works…

"Apparently, stealth is for other people," sighed Trish as she watched her brother walk up to the front gate. "He's gonna die."

He rang the bell. "He's totally gonna die."

A man in a standard rent-a-cop uniform answered the summons, looking none too pleased.

"Heh. The most important figure on the planet has rent-a-cops. That's hilarious. He's still gonna die."

The guard said something to Troy, but was cut off as gunfire exploded from somewhere around the back of the house. The guard snarled something at Troy, then ran off to investigate.

"Oh. He's not gonna d--" More gunfire interrupted her, along with the faint shout of "Death Books!" being repeated by several voices. "Ah. My mistake. We're BOTH gonna die."

Going against her better judgement, Trish withdrew a handful of steel darts from her pocket and advanced towards the site of the commotion.

Gael ran after Tessa, fumbling until he managed to draw his dagger. Death books? death books...sounds familiar, aren't they...zut alor! He felt himself grow visibly paler and slow for a second before redoubling his pace. "nous sommes dans la merde profonde!" he muttered to himself as they finally exited into the pool area.

Looking outside, he noticed Jimmy holding onto Laurellasure, now I remember their names... "...the safest place is, so you tell me where to go."

Standing near the door, he called out to them, "Flirt later, right now get inside!" Gael fidgeted nervously, rapidly scanning the area and waiting for them to get off their asses and into the house.

John sat in his corner, idly letting M&Ms melt in his hands. He liked to let the M&Ms melt first, then he would crush them between his fingers and lick the chocolate off.

For the most part he ignored the attack and everyone's scrambling. He was sick, and not in the mood for dealing with Sealers at the moment. They had never liked John. Something about a demon not being banished back to hell bugged them. They probably had a secondary mission to kill John.

However, his coughing was letting up. Maybe he would have some fun today.

"Yeah, we're coming!" Laurella shouted to Gael, then nodded and pulled Jimmy inside the manor with her. "Standard procedure for direct attacks on the manor would prioritize getting me into the bomb shelter underground."

And to the bomb shelter they went. Like the rest of the manor, it was well furnished and had all the necessities of day to day life for what Laurella guessed would be the master of the house, the Mother of Hell herself, and every protector and servant.

Laurella looked around after turning on the lights. "I wish I hadn't forgotten my towel. I'm freezing my ass off in here."

Narzeal found himself outside at the pool. He had remembered hearing Laurella saying she was going for a swim while they were discussing, so this was the first area he ran too. He did have to take a quick side track to grab his sword though, so that did explain his delay here.

However, with the Mother of Hell gone, that meant that Narzeal could spend his entire focus on th Death Books. He had to admit, the last Death Book he fought was a pain in the ass, and he didn't even kill it in the end, it got away from him. Now he had what seemed like 5 of them judging from the books. He just hoped the others would show up just as quick, no way he could handle 5 on his own.

He went around the pool, and came running at the location of one. The book went flying at him, and Narzeal ducked it easily enough. Forgot how fast those things were. Narzela thought after he took a swing at the Death Book, and it backed out of the way. Narzeal rolled to the side as the book that went past him came sailing back, avoiding a blow into the back.

Narzeal rolled up into a defensive stance, and then when another book came from a complety different direction, Narzeal was forced to block with his sword. Then the first one took the opportunity to attack himself, and Narzeal found himself taking a hard blow in the side. "Bloody Hell!" Narzeal shouted when the blow struck, and this time Narzeal grabbed the chain, and yanked the demon towards him.

The creature yanked back, and it ended up yanking Narzeal into himself. Narzeal struck the demon hard right on the left shoulder, but even with the blade it wasn't enough to peirce the armor. However the blow was enough to knock the demon off balance, allowing Narzeal to give a good kick, throwing the demon back.

Narzeal kept moving, going off to the side, avoiding a book from the second one. He found himself blocking a blow from a third, and ducking and rolling to avoid the fourth. This even still left the fifth one unaccounted for, leaving Narzeal in a very uncomfortable position. He kept moving, but they were keeping range from him now. He just had to hope the others would start supporting soon.

The fact that Narzeal's side was throbbing wasn't helping all this either, though with a free hand he was pulling out one of his bandages.

Josiah ran towards the as soon as the gunfire started. He slipped past the two kids standing at the gate, and hurried on towards the chaos. That's when something going at a bajillion miles an hour slammed into his back. His vest took part of the impact, but it was still incredibly powerful. He vaguely felt one or two of his ribs break as he tumbled through the air.

He slammed into the ground, and rolled until he hit a tree.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Three gunshots rang out as Simon entered the fray, Desert Eagle in hand. He hadn't had time to get any other weapons and this was probably the best for the job anyway, the .50 calibur rounds impacting and damageing the fifth Death Books magical armour. He had hit him in the back, arriving unexpectedly as the others had been dealing with Narzeal.

His opponent now spun to face Simon. "I fucking hate Sealers!", he spat through gritted teeth. His enemy wasn't so chatty however. As he had turned to face Simon, so had his weapon. By the time Simon had finished speaking, the metal book had already shot towards his head. Simon ducked and went into a crouch, the book sailing over his head as he fired two more shots into his enemies chest. He then immediately dived to the left as the book flew back the way it had come, almost taking his head off in the process.

By the time Simon came out of his roll the Sealer was already upon him, having miraculously dodged the last two shots and closed the distance between the pair. He now grabbed Simon by the throat and lifted him off his feet, the magical armour augmenting his strength. Simon tried to bring his gun to bear, to put a bullet in him at such close range would surely end him, but he was too concerned with trying to breathe to be able to do anything and the Death books other hand shot out at Simons wrist before wrenching the eagle from his grasp. The weapon cluttered to the floor, and Simon was beginning to choke under the grasp of the Sealer. Just when he thought he was going to die, the Sealer tossed Simon aside and into a wall with incredible strength, presumably to deal with some new threat. But it mattered not to Simon, as he lay there gasping for breath and trying to ignore the pain in his back.