Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 13: All Soul's Night - Fox's Refuge

[NuclearMind]

Ronnie’s “friends” lashed out at him. Their gripping, grasping fingers sought to capture him; their nails bit and caught at his skin and clothing as they sought to take him hostage. The others in the quarantine hut had their own issues; they were grappling with their own ghosts. Ronnie could see one of the guards fall to his knees, his eyes glazed and his body limp. The ghosts were doing something, but what?

Ronnie got a few steps away from his would-be captors' grabs and fired at Brett, who was, as logic would dictate, was in the center of the group. His magic gun banged and smoked as he fired what he thought was a head-shot.

Roll: [7, 1, 1, 3, 8, 1, 1, 10, 7, 2, 1] + mega [7, 8]. Total Successes: 8. That's [4] + 12 L, split up due to MIRV. I'll split it for an even +4L among them.

BAM! BAM! BAM! Three of them: Brett the Douche, Sarah, and Angie. Brett took it in the face (like that was anything new), and Sarah and Angie took them in the chest just below the neck. All of them howled, spit, and the three wounded coughed out some nasty, greenish-looking stuff that looked like it needed a toxic waste drum. It writhed as they swore at him in what sounded like a whole family of dead, pissed off languages. His imaginary gun, like he thought, had hurt them...but did they do enough to put the whole fucking mess down? Good question!

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Throat tight with fear, gasping in sheer terror, Kristin scampered away from the menacingly ethereal form of her former tormentor, assailed by the memories of pain and degradation she had suffered in Paradise. Tears trailed down her round cheeks. Even beyond death, Hornsbeck was back to claim his plaything. Just as she was beginning to get over her time in Paradise, she once more found herself in Hell...

***********************

With chaos descending on the festival, Ashley faced the ghosts of the fallen Mackenzies and Teasedales, a strange lassitude settling on her slender shoulders, even as she elevated her chin in resolute pride, her lips firm. In Paradise, she had faced her ghosts and demons; though she felt fear trace icy fingers over her flesh, she didn't back away from the spirits of her and Kristin's families.

"Guess abandoning me and Kristy didn't work out, did it?" the coltish young woman commented to the ghosts of the ones who had left her and her cousin at the McGaffey Campgrounds in the Cibola National Forest, her voice hard and bitter. A sudden gust of wind blew strands of chestnut hair across her face.

Her father, Randy, looked down at himself, then at the others he had appeared with. He was a shrunken version of what Ashley remembered, gaunt with hunger. Kristin's three older brothers gazed at their sister, their faces sad, where she whimpered on the ground, slowly crawling away from the ever approaching Hornsbeck. Joshua had chunks of meat missing from his face and limbs, horrid zombie bites leaking shadowy ectoplasm. Around Jacob's neck, their was a thin, dark line, where Kristin had cut his head off before he turned into a zombie, in his misguided attempt to gain his own super powers; whenever he turned, his head was a moment longer in following. And Caleb, he had a a large hole in his chest - experience in a zombie-infested world told Ashley it was from a shotgun. The others all showed various mortal wounds, those Ashley had witnessed and those she had been unaware of.

Now, she knew the fate of the ones who had abandoned her and Kristin out of fear of Kristin's changes. It seemed unfair that the loss still hurt.

"Fear pulled us away and fear laid us low," Randy Teasedale said, his voice hollow with death and remorse. He smiled wryly - Ashley shuddered, the living expression looking so wrong on the ghostly remnants of her father. "Yeah, sweetie, I - we - have many regrets. Abandoning two young girls in during this apocalypse is our greatest. And we are suffering just damnation for it."

Ashley swallowed, but her amber-brown eyes were dry and her hands were fisted at her sides. "Then why are you here? For me? For Ashley?"

"Why indeed..." Randy intoned with a melancholy only the dead could know...

********************

Jade eyes wide, showing white all around, Kristin's head jerked from side to side, looking for anything, anyone to help her. The metal-spider men made her recoil. Her heavy sword wavered in front of her, a laughable threat to a ghost - the rock she had thrown had done no more than her blade had.

Then she froze, an incandescent rage beginning to smolder in her chest. She watched at Gabrielle prayed, called upon God, to repel her own ghosts... and He answered! The sheer unfairness of it infuriated her. She had prayed and prayed and prayed in Paradise and all she got for her efforts was silence and pain. In Paradise, she had stopped believing in God, stopped believing anyone was listening when she prayed. And yet, now she was witnessing something that could very well be proof of the divine... and he had done nothing. Nothing!

"All men are bastards, even the big asshole upstairs!" Kristin roared. "Fuck God! And fuck you, Horns-dick!"

She slammed a fist against the ground, leaving a deep dent then climbed back to her feet, muscular build rippling. She planted her feet, crushing rocks to powder, and faced her former master, jaw tight with stubbornness, pointing her large blade at him; this time it was rock-steady. With her free hand, she wiped the tears away from her eyes. Though her young face was rounded and her belly greatly distended with her advanced stage of pregnancy, there was no doubting that Kristin was a dangerous woman.

She might not have faith in God anymore, but she had faith in her strength and her sword, a willingness to do nearly anything - endure nearly anything - for those she loved and she was tired of running. God wouldn't help her? Fine! She wouldn't go running to hide in His house. Hornsbeck had hurt her before and had hurt her now, but she still stood. She had taken before and survived, she'd take again and when the sun came back up, she;d still be standing and Hornsbeck would still be dead. It was a sputtering thing, small and fitful, but she had faith.

Faith in one.

Kristin glided over, effortlessly pulling a groggy Mark back to her felt and standing defensively in front of him while she joined her cousin. The sight of all her brothers made her flinch, but though a fresh tear slid down her cheek, her expression remained hard and impassive - it was just yet another emotional weight settling on her broad shoulders. Ashley could see the change in her cousin and gave her a tight nod as she joined her, standing at her side.

Shaking his head, trying to get the ringing to stop, Mark knew he was way out of his depth, but if his choice was to run away and leave two girls to fend for themselves against the incorporeal dead - even if one of them was built like a miniature She-Hulk - or stand by their side, he'd choose to stay. Just something to give themselves an edge would help.

Grasping at straws, Mark's eyes fell on a heavy-duty extension cord to which were attached some electric Halloween decorations. Maybe a little extra zing to Kristin's sword will help - this is probably a really stupid idea. Still, he yanked the extension cord free of the socket and the decorations, then a sharp slice with a bowie knife bared copper wires at one end. Kristin gave him an uncertain glance when he tried to wrap it around the pommel of her sword.

"Blade alone didn't do anything, maybe a little juice will help - ghosts fuck up electricity, right? Maybe it works the other way too," Mark explained with a shrug, belying just how nervous and terrified he was.

"Uh, if you say so."

When Kristin nodded, he finished securing it to the small ring in the pommel, then plugged the long extension cord back in. Somewhat anti-climatically, the large, titanium blade didn't suddenly become wrapped in chains of lightning, though Kristin did feel a distinct hum through the leather-and-rubber-wrapped hilt, along with a rising heat.

Kristin faced her ghosts, backed up by her cousin and a boy she had just met (but didn't immediately dislike).

"I'm sorry, really, I am," Kristin told her brothers, before adding Hornsbeck to her resolute regard. "But I'm not going to let you drag us down to Hell either. Life has been utter shit to me - including the new life growing inside me - but I'm not ready to give up on it yet. You can hurt me, but you can't keep me down!"

Hell?! You don't know anything about Hell, slut! But I'm gonna make sure you find out! Hornsbeck growled, swaggering forward with an evil smile and an evil gleam in his colourless eyes, his skinning knife dancing in his hands.

"Bring it! Kristin snarled, stepping forward and raising her humming sword.

Flashbacks!

Spending a point of Willpower to overcome her Flashbacks flaw for the moment.

QP: -0 | WP: -1 | HL: -0

[Dawn OOC]

“Yes, Sarge, we’ll talk.” Wells’s smile didn’t prevent him from falling into line with the others. As one, the group moved forward. Old patterns came back. The land was home ground; the enemy was people just like them. It was a vastly different war, but the soldiers still soldiers.

The first of the malicious ghosts fell to the team rapidly; surprise gave them an advantage. But then they turned their attention to the platoon and slowed Neiermeier’s attack.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The brick passed through the ghost harmlessly. Sarah scowled as it gouged the earth behind the ghost in a testiment to the power of her throw. But physical objects didn't seem to have an effect on them.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ronnie aimed his gun at Brett again, but the ghost was gone, fading away. Did I kill it? he wondered, even as he turned his attention to Sarah and Angie. But they were gone, too. Or are they running from me? He couldn’t tell and there were others, living humans, who needed his help.

[NuclearMind]

Ronnie aimed his gun at Brett again, but the ghost was gone, fading away. Did I kill it? he wondered, even as he turned his attention to Sarah and Angie. But they were gone, too. Or are they running from me? He couldn't tell and there were others, living humans, who needed his help.

Yeehaw magic boomstick! Of course, now he had to get to his truck, get some guns and ammo, and get the fuck back in there. He couldn't help but think that if this didn't get him into the compound, nothing would. Well, no harm in being practical. Of course, even if he got the guns, it might not do any good; ghosts he'd read about had a bad habit of ignoring bullets. But still, better they get armed and get to feeling like they could fight back, because if he remembered his scary ghost stories right, ghosts tended to feed on fear. And if you fight back, they'd lose. So, he grabbed part of his stash, and ran.

______________________________

Well, fuck! In the few minutes he'd spent composting his past mistakes, Cliff and the others had been backed against the wall by theirs, and a few others looked like their souls had been turned into Happy McGhostMeals. Well, nothing for it but to blow away the big offenders and maybe put the rest to running.

He fired. BAM! BAM! BAM!

Roll: [1, 9, 4, 3, 4, 7, 5, 5, 2, 3] + mega [5, 7]. Total Successes: 4. That should equal two hits, at [4]+ 12, So, two ghosties take 10L damage each.

Well, shit. One shot went wide, knocking a chunk out of the wall. But the other two connected, sure enough. They just stood there all fat, scary, and happy right before Ronnie's little miracle blew them into misty goo. The two guys who looked like they were getting zombified passed out, but immediately regained some semblance of color.

"All right, LISTEN UP YOU ECTO-PLASMO MOTHERFUCKERS! You all think that just 'cause y'all died once means you can't die again. Well, my magic gun says otherwise. So if you don't want to make this big reunion more goddamn miserable than it already is, best you either get the fuck outta here, or put some goddamn manners on! Go harass some zombies or some shit, and leave the living alone! Go on, git!" Maybe, if he was just lucky enough, these things weren't as deep-down predatory as zombies, and would listen to the reason of total annihilation. Maybe.

[Dan Hawkins]

For Dan, the Ghosts seemed to hold little interest, he was a man on a mission. While he would protect everyone, there were those who had his attenton and who he wanted to protect more than others. Alicia and Lorraine were both surrounded by Ghosts, the same people who'd gone Zombie and Dan had found Lorraine being attacked by, and for Alicia, who was back to back to her, terror on her face, it was the guards who'd violated her in Paradise. Beside them, he thought he could make out a single ghost trying in vain to help them.

"GET. AWAY. FROM. THEM." Dan's words carried more malice and cold promise of violence that Wreathed as he was in crackling electricity, well, he looked as though there would be no issue at all backing up his intent.

The Ghosts pressed on towards the women, and Dan's hands lashed out, cleaving through them with a hyper-energetic charge, but he wasn't done. Every Ghost except the one that seemed to stand over Alicia met the same fate, as the crackling Super cleared them a path out. Electricity seemed to spark in his eyes, he was mad, a little afraid, and adrenaline was coursing through him, he was a Marine with someone to protect.

Alicia looked at him then the Ghost, and ran to him unafraid of the electricity which didn't harm her as she wrapped her arms around him, and Lorraine nodded in thanks. "Christ Dan..." "Those I promise to protect, I do."

He looked to the Ghost, and he recognized the man and nodded. "Never again, I promise you that Marcus."

"Marcus", the specter standing there, looked at Dan and smiled. "Danny. It is you."

"Yeah. What's going on Marcus, why is this happening?"

Dan waited for the answer, looking around making sure other specters weren't moving towards them. "Be Quick if you Can Marcus, I have alot of people to protect in addition to Alicia and Lorraine here."

Lorraine chuckled. "Still playing the white Knight."

He nodded. "You all brought back the best in me."

[Hammer]

Benita looked at the Major to trying to find out if he could see her or not. Slowly moving her ever so slender arm down to sidearm that was striped to her right thigh. Very quietly unbuttoning the holster and case she had to use it. (Translated from Spanish) “Major you said that you needed to take this time to make an action that can make you seen. Let me help I, don’t need any trouble for my crew. So if you fill me in on the Intel. I can get things underway and why we are on that topic any Intel you have on left over navel bases in the area where we can resupply ourselves would be great we are going to need more ammo at some point. What do you say you help me and I will try to help you?” With that she waited to here its response. Know that she most likely could not put it in the brig any way.

Anna came out of the cabin seen the back of the man that she had never seen before drawing her pistol started to draw a line on him just encase something happened.

[Dawn OOC]

The ghosts were not that cowed; the voiceless dead finally could not only talk, but could act and Ronnie found himself swarmed. He wasn’t sure who was coming after him, but the ghosts came at him anyway. Perhaps they feared him because he was a threat to them. Maybe they just wanted to beat someone up and choose him. Regardless, he was rapidly becoming the center of a ghostly clusterfuck.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Marcus frowned at Dan’s question. “I… don’t know. I just knew that I could come back, and I wanted to find Alicia. I knew she was alive, and I came here. I was hoping she would know.”

“Marcus…” Alicia’s pained whisper tore at Dan’s heart. Even Lorraine, who wasn’t that empathetic to anyone, looked a little sad at her aching cry.

“I know, sweetheart,” he whispered to her, looking like he wanted to do nothing more than hold her close. But a divide separated them, and the fingers he tried to run down her cheek only made her shiver. He straightened up and added, “Dan, let’s get these people to safety.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“I’d be glad to assist you, Captain, but I’m not sure of any places to get restocked,” the major told her with a smile. “The one thing I wanted was to see my wife, but I don’t think she’s around anymore.” The shade’s eyes were dark with sorrow. “There were many people I would have come to see before you, to be honest. Yet you were the first who was still alive… and more than alive. Radiant.”

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded. "I'll come back after I've taken them to safety, see if you can help the others nearby, I'll find you, then I've got someone you need to meet, she might be able to help us here."

With that he put an arm around Alicia and Lorraine, rather forcefully. "Hold on to me." Both did hurriedly, though with Alicia it was him holding on to her, as nearly all she could do was cry. He set them down on the roof with Sarah and Jules. He handed his hold out pistol to lorraine, and nodded. "Sarah, you and Lorraine hold the fort, I'm going to take Marcus to Myfwany. With any luck she can talk to him and maybe make some sense of this." Alicia wouldn't release him at first. "I promise Ally, I will come back. I've more than enough reasons to. I'll bring him as well, if I can."

She let him go and he dove again into the fray, searching for Marcus, and protecting those he could from the ghosts who'd chosen instead to attack.

[Hammer]

Benita looked passed the Major and gave Anna the Signal to stand down. Anna put her side arm away and moved up to join the others at the bow of the ship. Benita each for a wallet out of her back pocket still filled with credit cards and that where maxed out and her naval ID neither meant anything now, but gave her a feeling of normalcy by having them around. She had a few pictures left in there and pulled one out of the sleeve where it had been protected from the mist of the sea water. She held it up near an oil lamp hang of the rail. (Translated from Spanish) “I don’t know if you can see this sire or remember it, but if it helps I do. This was taken the last year at the officers Christmas party. Right after they gave out the promotions. You called my name and made me caption and told me that one day soon I would have my own command. See here it’s the four of us, you me Anna and your wife. She was so beautiful that night she always did look good in red. We always asked ourselves how a hard ass like yourself ended up with such a wonderful woman. It was one of the last good days I can remember.” Anna reached over and wiped the small tear off of Benita cheek. A move that a year ago she would never do on a deck, but all that did not seem to matter now the world was a different place and they had to move forward.

Looking around there where a few crew top-side now going about their duties trying to keep a eye on what was going on without getting to close. For the men not knowing if what they where seeing was happing or not, The ones the knew of the Major also knew that he was dead witch for them meant that this could be some kind of super posing as him or a zombie either way they wanted no part of it.

Anna spoke in her soft tone. Sir! We are trying to repair the short wave we found but we are having some bad luck with it. It looks like it was badly damage years ago and we can’t get a hold of the tubes that we would need to get it to work. If we can and we get word on your wife Helen is there anything you would like us to tell her?”

[NuclearMind]

The ghosts were not that cowed; the voiceless dead finally could not only talk, but could act and Ronnie found himself swarmed. He wasn’t sure who was coming after him, but the ghosts came at him anyway. Perhaps they feared him because he was a threat to them. Maybe they just wanted to beat someone up and choose him. Regardless, he was rapidly becoming the center of a ghostly clusterfuck.

He saw their heads turn, and could almost feel the moment when they decided, in unison, to mob him. It was like a switch got thrown in his skull; the part of him that was just plain Ronnie seemed to drift a few feet away and watch, like he was ten and he'd gone with his brothers and daddy to the rasslin' matches at the fire hall, to watch a bunch of grown men in tights hurl each other into the ropes and pound each other stupid. Another part of him, dormant until that mall clusterfuck, stepped in and took control. It was a part of him that, until that day, had only woken up to watch all those action movies he and his dad had loved. And it knew what to do.

Get them all to follow him, get to the high ground, get rid of 'em! And he twisted-turned-ducked-weaved and...

Roll: [4, 6, 5, 2, 7, 5] + mega [3, 3]. Total Successes: 1. Shit. Spend a Willpower point: So, two successes to dodge the ghost horde.

He got out, but not without scratches that sizzled his nerve endings and promised all manner of badness if they caught him. He took off, hoping they'd follow him.

He got to his old truck, got on the roof, and activated his magic gun. He could feel the cold steel in his hands, could feel the vibrations as it got eager for battle. He turned and fired into the mob of wraiths just behind him...

Roll: [7, 1, 5, 7, 8, 7, 7, 6, 4, 7] + mega [2, 2]. Total Successes: 6. So, divided three ways, that's [4] + 4= 8L to three random ghosties.

Three down, a heaping handful to go. Hopefully, he'd given Cliff and the rest of the wall-watchers enough relief that they could rally and maybe save his ass. He readied his ghost-baster again...

[Karren Gaunt]

With that he put an arm around Alicia and Lorraine, rather forcefully. "Hold on to me." Both did hurriedly, though with Alicia it was him holding on to her, as nearly all she could do was cry. He set them down on the roof with Sarah and Jules. He handed his hold out pistol to lorraine, and nodded. "Sarah, you and Lorraine hold the fort, I'm going to take Marcus to Myfwany. With any luck she can talk to him and maybe make some sense of this." Alicia wouldn't release him at first. "I promise Ally, I will come back. I've more than enough reasons to. I'll bring him as well, if I can."

She let him go and he dove again into the fray, searching for Marcus, and protecting those he could from the ghosts who'd chosen instead to attack.

"See if you can take care of my ghosts while you're at it, Dan. I think they spotted you dropping Alica up here," she called after the marine, keeping one eye on the familar mob of ghosts making their way towards the building, offering a smile on the two women who has accepted her so easily into their family, "Two questions. you two okay? And can any of you think of a way we can get an electrical charge going just in case of of those things finds a way up here? Bullets and thrown bricks seem to pass right through these monsters."

Humans solved problems that were within their means to solve. Sarah may have been scared and nauseus and just as eager on one level to curl up and wish this attack away, but she also had to do what she could.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Kristin glided a step forward, turning to present her profile En Guarde, subconsciously putting that much more distance between Hornsbeck and the fetus growing inside her. Despite the rosy flush to her skin and the heavy swells of her milk-swollen breasts and gravid womb, the mature-bodied teenager still looked dangerous and deadly. The prominent muscles of her arms and legs rippled with ominous power and she held her heavy, thick-bladed sword as easily as a circus strongman would have wielded a whip-bladed foil.

Her jade eyes were harder than stone, shapely jaw tight and fierce as the spirits of her fallen family looked on... and did nothing. It shouldn't've hurt, but it did, seeing them there watching like spectators at a sporting event, but it did. She had been a slight, short girl and her older brothers, big boys all, had always looked out for her, even when she didn't want them to. Now, though she wasn't tall, certainly not like Sarah, no one would ever call her small, yet this was a fight where strength didn't matter all that much and still, her brothers did nothing.

So be it, the only family I have left is Ashley. She's enough... Hornsbeck swaggered forward, sinuously, like a cruel serpent, unconcerned by the corporeal that had failed to harm his ethereal essence. Kristin didn't like that thought deter her. With more than Olympic-caliber focus and precision, Kristin lunged, the chisel point of her blade piercing Hornsbeck's chest, then ripped is free and whirled the massive blade in a pair of blurring slashes that crossed in an 'X'. Sharp, blue-white sparks danced and popped down the length of metal as it passed though her ectoplasmic assailant, making Hornsbeck flicker and shiver like a TV image with poor reception.

But he did not disperse, only screamed like the wailing of an unholy wind and stalked forward against the current humming through the sword, his vicious skinning knife darting like the tongue of a snake. Kristin didn't flinch this time, though instead of scoffing at the thought of being hurt, when the knife came for her face, she interposed her free arm. The ghostly blade cut through the dense muscle of her forearm as easily as a scalpel through butter, the tip piercing all the way through, fresh blood flowing free.

The brawny girl-woman snarled, balling her hand into a fist, tendons dancing beneath iron flesh, blood already beginning to clot, the wound closing visibly. Her sword seemed to only irritate Hornsbeck, whereas his blade could open real wounds, even if they healed near as fast as they were inflicted, but it was only a matter of time before he got her in the eye or something.

She didn't have lightning or God on her side; whatever made her Slayer-ish had only given her physical gifts. Wait! That wasn't quite true. When she had stolen the Leechman's strength, and Doug's, it wasn't as she if had actually sucked in their muscle and added it to her own. She had changed physically, yes, but differently each time, and so had they, but it was more like a reaction to the gain and loss of the essence of their strength rather than a transfer of real - tangible - muscle.

With a ferocious howl, Kristin plunged her hand into Hornsbeck's chest, the unnatural chill piercing her arm like razor sharp needles that couldn't actually penetrate her flesh anymore, clenching it into a fist as she tried to pull, consume the terrible strength that had allowed Hornsbeck to reach beyond the grave.

"I'm gonna make sure you're too weak to hurt me or anyone ever again, Horn-fucker!"

Your Strength to My Strength!

Using Q-Vamp (Strength); Spending a point of WP

Roll: [7, 8, 9, 10, 9, 1, 9] + mega [2, 3, 4]. Total Successes: 6 + 1 (WP) = 7 Successes

Q-Vamp is resisted by a Willpower Roll, reducing my successes by the number the opponent rolls.

QP: -2 | WP: -2 | HL: -1

[Dawn OOC]

Dan found Marcus running. The man was no coward, but he was outnumbered by a factor of ten and there was no way he was standing around for a beating. Just before Dan got to him, he saw his friend was getting himself set up in a long hallway, forcing the ghosts to come at him one at a time. It would have worked well, had Marcus remembered that they were dead and that ghosts can walk through walls. An enemy came at him, tearing at him with ghostly hands and ripping parts of his body away.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“My Issa knows how I feel,” the Major said softly, his dark eyes troubled. “I have no further message for her. But I am sure that she’s dead and just somewhere beyond me. We… know things about the people we loved the most. I can’t find her or feel her.”

Suddenly, he turned and glanced up. “I think others are coming to join us.” In the night sky, trails of white were making their way toward the ship – other specters were on their way.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Behind the ghosts, Cliff and the others were advancing, but there was seemingly little they could do against them. Cliff fired into the ghosts, but all that happened was shot peppering Ronnie’s truck. Both men winced at the noise. Another guy named Eddie swung a sword as tall as Ronnie through a ghost in a powerful two-handed move, but the blade did nothing.

Ronnie took aim again; the truck rocked suddenly and a girl scrambled up next to him. She wasn’t more than fourteen, he was sure, and she held a carved pumpkin in her hands. Cursing like a sailor, she knelt next to Ronnie and fumbled with the candle inside. He saw the spark of light and heard the rasp of the lighter. Then the candle was lit and the girl slapped the lid in place. With a grunt, she hoisted the pumpkin over her head and held it aloft like Moses looming over the Israelites.

The ghosts scattered, gone as if they’d never been.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“I’m alright,” Lorraine replied; Alicia didn’t reply around her choking sobs. The latter was deep in shock after all she’d seen and experienced tonight. “And I’m not sure it’s electrical,” she replied, frowning. “What Gabrielle did wasn’t electrical. It was power.” She turned to Sarah. “What power can you throw at them?”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

It wasn’t exactly strength that Kristin got from Hornsbeck. She didn’t swell with new muscle. Hornsbeck did shrink and she felt that she was drawing something from him. It just wasn’t the same. “Bitch!” he snarled in a harsh rasp. That was the best thing Kristin had ever heard.

[Karren Gaunt]

“I’m alright,” Lorraine replied; Alicia didn’t reply around her choking sobs. The latter was deep in shock after all she’d seen and experienced tonight. “And I’m not sure it’s electrical,” she replied, frowning. “What Gabrielle did wasn’t electrical. It was power.” She turned to Sarah. “What power can you throw at them?”

Gabriel did something to hurt the ghosts? That was news to Sarah, and it showed in her face even as she fought down a current of nausea and hefted a length of wood in her hands, facing the door to the roof. These things didn't seem able to fly, so logically, they'd start pouring out of there if they got up here. She really didn't want to think about what they might be, if they were really real and what that might mean, so Lorraine's question got on the blonde megamorph's bad side. Enough to make her tone sharp and tongue careless.

"I hit things, Lorraine. That's it. Hard enough that they usually don't get back up. That doesn't seem to work on these things, so I'd rather not risk myself and my baby trying it again until we have to."

[NuclearMind]

Behind the ghosts, Cliff and the others were advancing, but there was seemingly little they could do against them. Cliff fired into the ghosts, but all that happened was shot peppering Ronnie’s truck. Both men winced at the noise. Another guy named Eddie swung a sword as tall as Ronnie through a ghost in a powerful two-handed move, but the blade did nothing.

Ronnie took aim again; the truck rocked suddenly and a girl scrambled up next to him. She wasn’t more than fourteen, he was sure, and she held a carved pumpkin in her hands. Cursing like a sailor, she knelt next to Ronnie and fumbled with the candle inside. He saw the spark of light and heard the rasp of the lighter. Then the candle was lit and the girl slapped the lid in place. With a grunt, she hoisted the pumpkin over her head and held it aloft like Moses looming over the Israelites.

The ghosts scattered, gone as if they’d never been.

Well, damn. Better than what I had planned.

"Magic, isn't it? Lemme guess: That's how the whole jack-o'-lantern thing got started in the first place? Well, my name's Ronnie, pleased to meet you."

"Well, she's got an idea that works, so let's get around the compound and make whatever's still here go away! I'm on point, you guys cover her, or something. I'll bet any money there's a lot more poor bastards like us that don't know the pumpkin trick. Let's go!"

He let Cliff lead the way, his magic gun at the ready. At least now he didn't have to worry about running out whatever powered his gun. On the way, he turned to the girl and asked, "By the way, what's your name?" And thank you for stepping up."

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan practically growled as he tore his way to Marcus, taking down the ghosts separating him. The Ghosts could hurt each other, and would. "I'm coming Marcus, hang on." His hands cleaved specter after specter carrying toward his friend.

[Hammer]

Benita looked around and began to think to herself. Well if this is the rest of the boys and they are as happy to see me as the Major this will be fine, if not we are going to be in a whole bunch of troubles. “Major are these friend or foe?”

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Kristin gritted her teeth in a fierce grin as what felt like ice water raced down her veins. It wasn't the same as like with the Leechman or Doug, but Hornsbeck had shrunk to the size and slimness of a prepubescent boy, so faint she could barely see the deliciously frustrated rage on his face. She laughed as his knife touched her as nothing more than the bite of a brisk wind.

Giving her family a hurt scowl - they had stood by and done nothing - Kristin sheathed her huge sword with a whirl of her strong wrist - the sword was currently nothing more than a useless piece of metal and nodded over her broad shoulders at Ashley and Mark. "I... I can hurt them sort of, but I need to get you guys out of here." Kristin pointed at the towering form of Sarah standing on top of a roof - if seemed like the ghosts couldn't reach her. "Maybe there - you guys can point out any people who need help or ghosts for me to try to deal with..." Kristin looked down at her hands, knotting them into a pair of steel crushing fists. "I don't know how long I can do this though."

"Okay, we can do that, right Mark?" Ashley said, keeping her tone steady for her and Kristin's benefit. Mark gave Ashley, then Kristin a hesitant nod. Ashley gave her and Kristin's family a disgusted frown, shooing them away with a hand. "If you aren't gonna terrorize us like the other ghosts or help us fight them, then just leave, 'kay? Though really, considering what you did in life, why should we expect any more from you in death."

Kristrin's eldest brother, Joshua, grimaced. "Sorry I died with mom when the farmhouse got overrun, Ash. But I did what I could to save the rest of you and I won't do any less now."

With that, the ghost of Joshua tackled one of the encroaching ghosts - who must've belonged to someone else since none of them recognized him - and began pummeling his face in. Shamefaced, Kristin's two other brothers followed him into the fray, offering Ashley and Kristin ephemerally remorseful apologies. The rest of the Mackenzies and Teasedales remained where they stood.

"Hold on to me for a sec, guys. I'll get you out of here," Kristin said, tossing Ashley and Mark over her thick shoulders with a gentle firmness. They barely had time to voice any protests before Kristin ran off in long, gliding strides, then leapt for the roof Sarah was standing on in a bound that could have nearly cleared half a football field. "Hey, Sarah! Got some more eyes up here. I'm gonna try to keep this building clear of any ghosts, so anyone here, point out any that get to close."

Kristin jumped off the roof, landing with a thump, and took a moment to let her belly - and its contents - settle before getting back to her feet and prowling the perimeter for any encroaching ghosts. Finally realizing the metal spider-monster-men-things weren't part of the ghost invasion, she ignored them as best she could, plunging her hands into any hostile ghost she found and stealing the chilling essence they were composed off at the direction on those on the roof.

After a moment, Kristin's brothers joined her, holding back ghosts so she could carry any living people up to the roof. It was hectic, and Kristin was starting to feel tired - a rare thing nowadays - as it got harder and harder for her to exert whatever it was that let her steal pieces of the ghosts. She was unaware that her lips and nails were turning a faint blue and that her teeth had began to chatter.

"Jesus fuck! What is that?!" Ashley exclaimed, a note of panic breaking through her carefully constructed composure. "Kristin - to your left, around the corner of the building! Oh... Oh, Jesus Christ, no!"

Reacting on instinct, Kristin following her cousin's directions, hating how her belly and boobs bounced and swayed with each step, but what she found made her face grow pale. Bubbling and hissing from the ground was a huge, eerie mass of conglomerated ghost-flesh, its multiple mouths making a ghastly, multitonal howl.

"Fuck."

Kristin raised her fists, crouching in preparation to pounce, unsure if she had enough left inside her to shrink this thing down to a harmless size, afraid that its ethereal touch still carried that hideous, soul-sickening quality. It was really unfair.

The zomb-blob was back.

[Karren Gaunt]

[envoy] 2:30 pm: burning will to get a success on per+awareness

envoy *rolls* 7d10: 10+3+2+8+4+1+8: 36

[envoy] 2:31 pm: four successes

Thankfully still free of active encroachment by oncoming ghosts, Sarah had a moment to take a long look at what was going on beneath the chaos, or more specifically and significantly, in the holes in the chaos. Holes forming around... Jack-o-lanterns and Gabriel's religious contingent? The ghosts were vanishing and reforming outside of the range of their glow or words. Huh. That was odd. Still...

An idea occured to Sarah, spurred to life by the urgency of the newest arrival, a spectral version of the super zombie Dan had told her about from the prison. She frowned, knowing Dan wouldn't aprove, but she couldn't let something that large engulf everyone in the area.

"...I can't let this happen without trying to stop it the best I can," she murmured to no one in particular, fighting down another bout of nausea and running for the edge of the building. The blonde megamorph hit the ground on one knee between the zomblob and most of the living crowd, the hair on the back of her neck prickling as she spotted her own personal band of revenants accelerating towards her from her left. A gulp and a silent apoligy to Dan later, she reached out and touched the jack-o-lantern within an arm's reach of her.

Sarah Daunt grew, doubling, quadrupling, and to her surprise, octupling in size within a few seconds to loom over the scene. The lantern grew with her, increasing the range of it's beam of protection with it's size and mass as she hefted it in both hands like a spectral flame thrower, playing it first over her tormenters and then turning it on the zomblob, a grim expression on her face.

[Dan Hawkins]

"Dammit, Sarah." There was little time to truly worry, there'd be words later, that was certain. He scythed his way through all the ghosts near marcus, and the people near him that he'd been trying to defend, even as other ghosts tore at him. "I'm here Lieutenant!"

The shadow of the Zom-blob annoyed him, and worried him. "Sarah, STAY the hell away from that thing. Do not let it touch you."

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Though he was having some impact with his triage tactics, there were people around him having more definite effect. Two of him noted the success of Jack-o-lanterns and paused to look at each other. One of him thought ... I don't have an energy attack, but it seemed that there is some sort of power in folklore and maybe religion. That Varro diverted his path as he strided through the crowd to deliver a few more people away from the crush and put the out of harms way. Ending up near the other self of his who had also seen the lantern trick he said "Hey, hold up - new idea. Lets try a headless horseman routine. Rough shape on horse and rider form, but make sure the jack-o-lantern is big, bright, and held high for radius."

The other him, who had been on his way looking for more people to help stopped and said "OK. Do you think its the symbolism? Do you think these really might be ghosts? I mean ... Jimmy, that was really Jimmy."

Varro replied "I think these really are ghosts. Folk lore holds. Use oil glands, make it real fire light. It might actually be magic ... I know, I know ... but think about .."

The other cut in quick, following the train of thought as he began shifting "... subconscious symbolism, power of the mind ... yeah. I am on it. Ichabod Crane! Scare the ghosts and demons away on all Hallow's eve. Has meaning for us, Sleepy Hollow."

Varro replied as he was shifting "... Right, we believe that might be true. Historical powers, parahumans living in secret. Plus, its Jimmy ... these are Ghosts!"

In the short moments of the conversation shouted through the chaos of the scene both of his selves that had spoken were larger than life headless horseman - the shapes were slightly different, and they were both horse, rider, and lantern-head-in-hand all in a one piece ... but the effect was very well done. The deep but unfocused legends, probably stretching further back than the Irish Dullahan were evoked by the fire and figure of the dark horseman - power if there ever was any ... and who says gaming and comics never educated anyone? ... The massive Jack-o-lanterns, held high from 'horseback' glowed fiercely with a bright oil-flame inside. The lanterns had lurid faces in traditional Hallows eve style on each third round the 'pumpkin' and shed a powerful gold-orange light that flickered ever so slightly as glands inside secreted oils through cone like burners - 'shells', and the volatile oils ignited on contact with air.

They rode slow, rough circles, weaving through the crowd they had helped thin quite a bit ... to cast light on as much area as possible. In their best headless horseman voices - using the power of command that had been partially effective before - the two headless horseman bellowed out "Begone foul spirits! Begone from this hollow, and do not dare challenge me! I am the rider who has power on this eve! ... Begone foul spirits!"

The other two Varros stayed in medical-bot-ambulance form, they still had triage to do ... but they waited to see. Each of them, and the steel raptor above, kept an eye out to see if it would work as well as the other jack-o-lantern trick. Certainly, banishing spirits with fearsome imagery and powerful symbol was a tactic used the world over by medicine men, shamans, and various religions. This has to work ... it will work ... he thought.

[Dawn OOC]

“Baby?” Lorraine said, her eyes darting down Sarah’s body and back up. “Jesus. I need to find a banana somewhere and teach Dan how to use a condom.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Debbie,” the girl said, her expression and voice suddenly shy. “I dunno if its magic, but those of us in the barracks noticed that this worked, and then I remembered you guys were out here.” She said it casually, as if it were normal for fourteen year old girls to go running around in the dark chasing after ghosts. “And it doesn’t kill them. They’re just out in the night. We need to get a perimeter. We’ve already got one being built.”

“Deb, is everyone at the barracks?” Cliff asked as they started into the darkness.

“No, there were a couple of folks who didn’t want to be part of the party,” Debbie said nervously. Her blond ponytail bounced as she jogged, the jack o lantern held tight in her hands. The candle went out and she hissed a curse. “No, keep going,” she said when Cliff started to stop. “I’ll light it when we stop.”

“Do you know where the others were?” Eddie asked.

Deb shook her head. “No,” she said softly, her brown eyes black in the flashlight. “We checked the other barracks just to see if they were there, then I came for you.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The major sighed and ran his hands over his ghostly hair. “Hard to say… but some of them appear to be the original crew of this boat, and I don’t imagine they’re going to be happy to see a woman in charge of it.” He smirked. “Some people are unforgivingly misogynistic.”

One of the first new ghosts that Benita saw was probably one of those old sailors; he was dressed in old-fashioned clothing. His gaunt face peered around at them before settling on Benita. That cold gaze made her shiver, even as another dropped to the deck behind him.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The zomb-blob shrieked loudly into the night. It was no less terrifying as a ghost than it had been as a living monster. People were already panicking, but now they were really afraid. Any semblance of order frayed in the face of the beast. Only a few people held firm, either transfixed by fear or managing to remain in control of themselves.

A giant Sarah turned her giant pumpkin on the blob. The creature screamed again as the golden light fell on it. But unlike the other ghosts, this one didn’t immediately fade away. But it appeared to be fighting against it, strings of ectoplasm rolling off of it as if the light were tearing them away. Its malicious gaze fell on the giant woman, and something deep inside of it triggered. It began to try to ooze toward her.

Varro and all his many Varros, meanwhile, was pushing back the spirits, but with the panicking people, their job was much harder. People weren’t sticking around to take advantage of the protection.

[Karren Gaunt]

Well, the zomblob had Sarah's full attention *now*, and if it still had the ability to 'burn' with a mere touch... Well, if other people weren't going to come help her, she'd go get their help instead.

The looming woman rose to her feet and stepped backwards into Varro's ring of light, careful to avoid stepping on any of the panicking people below *and* keep the light of her improvised weapon playing on the spectral abomination she faced. Sarah gave a few paralyzed spectators a look up her sundress as she passed over them, another reason she hadn't worn anything but pants since her transformation. Such concerns were a distant third in her thoughts behind dealing with the current crisis and worrying about how much harm she might be doing to her child by impulsively doing this. She couldn't stand aside though. The blond megamorph had been reminded of the penance she owed tonight and wouldn't backslide now.

"Come on then," she taunted loudly, one sandaled foot thuding down to steady her 53 metric tons of mass as she found her stance, light beaming into the abombination's evaporating form, "Come into the light. We're all right here."

[z016]

Gabrielle stared open-mouthed for a moment at the giantess and her jack o' lantern, but they'd already seen how effective the carved pumpkins were against the ghosts - but not against the abomination heading for the impossibly large woman now. She pulled up the woman at her feet that had been knocked down by the flood of panicking people. Caleb, Marcia, and Jack were doing the same around her, helping people up and herding them back towards the church.

Gabrielle yelled over the den, pushing the woman gently but insistently towards the others. "Take them to the church! It's safe there! Go!" She and the others stumbled into an impromptu group and ran for the stone building as Gabrielle waved her cohorts over and pointed at the abomination. "We've got to help! Take up the positions around it to make the Cross and recite the prayer to Archangel Michael! I'll take the feet near the giant woman, Caleb to the right, Jack to the left, and Marcia at the head!"

She was moving before she'd finished speaking, motioning each of them to where they should go. She took up her position only a few feet in front of Sarah and knelt down, crossing herself and pouring every ounce of her belief and energy into the prayer that had freed Caleb from Elijah's ghost and sent the damned soul back to Hell.

[Dan Hawkins]

The Ghost from Paradise had moved on to Marcus, and he was getting ripped apart. The Electrical aura surrounding Dan flared, as once again his hands tore through ghosts with inhuman speed. The Zomblob was next, he had to trust Sarah for now. He recognized the men attacking Marcus, They were the men who'd abused Alicia, the men Dan had killed when he found them.

Bisecting two, the third could actually see Dan's fingers, wreathed in electricity as they extended from his forehead just before being discorporated. He'd managed to clear a temporary zone around marcus within moments, almost a dozen discorporated ghosts later. "Marcus, talk to me. We've got to get you out of here."

[SalmonMax]

Dan wasn't the only one using electricity on All Soul's Night. When her attempt to unravel the forces holding the ghosts in place failed, Myfwany selected another arrow from her quiver. Clouds scudded in overhead, coalescing from nothing as the temperature plunged. And from the clouds came a deluge not of water, but fire. Bolts of lightning that speared down, evaporating spectres where they struck. Myf urged people to come to her, promising them safety from their ghosts, and she tried to keep that group together as she guided them through the chaos towards the other supers. They would need to help each other, she thought, to outlast this.

Underneath it all though she was all too aware of how this was eating away at locks and doors in her mind. The ghosts, for example...they had some of that super-energy associated with them, but they themselves were not just constructs of energy. They were...she didn't know WHAT they were. And when she spied the pumpkin lights driving ghosts away, and looked with her powers, she saw there was nothing special about those candles, or those pumpkins. There was no reason why they should have that effect...but they did.

She felt as if the world were tilting under her, pitching onto its side. She was windmilling her arms, trying to keep her balance...but could already see that if it kept tilting, it would throw her off no matter how well she balanced. It would turn upside down and throw her into the abyss. Madness. Superstition. The new Dark Ages. Was it really so close? Even in HER mind, there was something that wanted to beg to the gods for help, plead with the ancestors for mercy, or cast a spell to make it all stop. She grimly pulled its chains tight, but she could not pretend it wasn't there.

Then she saw Sarah rearing up over the crowds, and dismay flooded the doctor. What was she doing? She was going to step on someone! Then Myf saw why Sarah had grown.

The translucent 'zomb-blob' pitched the mass of its body upwards as well, looking vaguely like a vast, thick snake or caterpillar. Immediately Myf saw differences between it and the other ghosts. The blob had the darkness of 'tainted' super power swirling around it. Maybe it was enough to work with.

She hurried her pace, trying to get in range to try her own power out before anything incurable happened.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

At the refuge, the Varros had all four adopted the forms of headless horsemen with their blazing bright jack-o-lanterns. They were searching their thoughts for more symbols, more superstition to use ... and had begun calling out "People, use the symbols and thoughts of legend. Display your faiths ... draw upon what you feel is holy, sacred, or profound! Rebuke these lesser spirits ... cast them out of this place!" in between his continued rebuke of the spirits. "I cast you out, spirit! Away spirit!" Indeed, he felt the loud rebuke in the name of ancient powers - in the vein of the spiritual - could only strengthen the circle of protection the four riders had formed. An unbroken span of light, a shelter for people to hold fast within.

Some of the people were getting the message ... and for a the Varros, it no longer felt 'hokey'. He did not understand why it worked, but then again there were many things he did not understand. Each time he would draw on his power and venture into that shimmering realm, that other space, there were so many changes he could see but not understand ... some folds and bends he could not, or had dared not make. In a way, this was the point of science, to discover the unknown ... yet instead of drawing on what he surely knew, he was drawing on power that surely existed beyond his current knowledge ... "Be-gone, foul spirit!" ...

....................

High above, as a silvery eagle circled Varro surveyed the scene. He could just barely hear the shouts of his other selves, he could see their lights and their movements. Using the ancient idea of protective circles, or even perhpas a four way criciform pattern ... good. Abjuration by shouting spirits away ... like shamanic or priestly rebukes ... good. Keep at it guys. he though to himself.

Just then, in the distance he saw a ship. A tall ship? Yes ... an old style vessel, sails shining in the night for deck lights. He had been preparing to go down and help at the refuge ... add some more ideas like maybe salt or cold iron ... but this was either some new specter or ... a sailing ship?

This could be good, or very, very bad he thought as he swooped closer to the approaching vessel. It didn't look like a ghost ship, no, quite the opposite. This was a real tall ship, soon to be under attack by spirits. Coming in close, a silent avian circled and quickly assessed the scene. These people were alive, they were tense, they had weapons ready ... but those wouldn't be of use against spirits.

Quickly coming in for a landing, he called out to the loud and clear to the assembled crew "Don't shoot! I am here to help! ... Use symbols of myth and legend. Faith if you have it, normal arms won't work against the ghosts! Use ancient, powerful ideas!"

[Hammer]

Benita looked at what she had around her and grab a wooden broom. She then kicked off the head and ran her hand down the shaft. She looked inward for a moment and mustard up the power to do what she needed to do to protect her crew.

As her hand rand down the length of the broom handle Varro could see it turning into a cold iron sword.

making a weapon

Roll: [7, 5, 4, 9, 1, 4] + mega [1]. Total Successes: 2.

Varro could see a plan happening. Benita then looked at the ghost Captain. Sire this is my ship now if I don’t take to kind to your kind take boarding actions. With that she stepped up and took a swing at the ghost.

combatt rolls

to hit

Roll: [10, 2, 9]. Total Successes: 2.

to damage

Roll: [8, 8, 3, 1] + 5. Total Successes: 7 with modifier.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

... On the ship ...

Well, the lady could somehow work with objects, transform them ... though what was exactly happening there was unclear. Some sort of a dark metal ... maybe charged with energy? It seemed to be working, and there were no discharges of energy.

When Varro quickly the possibilities, the folklore ... iron ... cold iron? Faeries, witches and spirits were said to be affected - even repelled - by iron. Cold iron, or cold forged iron once just meant iron because they hadn't brought the carbon content low enough to qualify as steel ... so it had to be wrought or forged in different ways, and it creeped out ancient people because it felt cold to the touch. Comparison with steel also showed a grain in the metal, which came from lower temperatures of the forge not being able to purify the iron as much.

It certainly couldn't hurt to take a horseman form with some cold iron plating and mail veneer along with a the symbolic form and the big jack-o-lantern. He was on board ship though, and as an iron horseman he'd not be able to swim - so he made his hooves with cleats that would give him very firm footing on the deck.

As Varro shape shifted into the dark, headless horseman with its wide protective radius of light he cautioned the crew "I mean no harm to you, but this will drive away spirits!"

.... Indeed, the light of the massive jack-o-lantern, held high, drove the spirits back beyond the aft deck and then part of the mid deck as Varro took a more central position on the ship - his four horse legs set a bit wide for a stable base. "Back, Spirits! Leave this place!"

Thought Varro still had few ideas as to why this worked ... his mind was intrigued by the possibilities. Was 'magic' somehow returning to the world? Was this some sort of effect that para-humans cause ... some blending of mind and matter? Was this happening at the same time in other places ... or was it happening on this night, only in the dark? As there clearly are some sort of spirits ... what does six billion give-or-take deaths in the span of a few days do to the world? ... the questions raced in his mind but he knew the light would protect them. Was this faith? ... Was this the eternal opposition of metaphysical light and dark?

With the spirits warded away, Varro introduced himself "Hello, call me Varro. I was flying overhead and saw you might need help ... Back foul spirit! .... Is that iron you used to hit the ghost?"

[Hammer]

Benita in between swing yelled out to Anna.(Translated from Spanish) "Find out who that is that is and go down and get the crew up and get then into the light."

Anna in with a very worried looked on her face "eye eye Cap!" Anna pulled the blonde hair and turned back to the man with the man holding a pumpkin head in his hand. (Still translated from Spanish) with a hurried tone in her voice. " My name is Anna, and I don't know who you are but if you are here to help I need you to keep your light over the deck door as I go and get the crew. Do you understand?" She started over to the the door to awake the crew below and get them moving. Thinking to herself, headless horsemen know what the f.

Benita took took a hit from the ghost captains sword. The ghost look into the little girl like he could see her soul. "this is my ship and I am not going to let a pop-it like you run it." Benita just grunted and lined up for another shot.

[Doctor Varroxxian]

The massive black iron figure of the mounted, headless hessian with his hideous flaming lantern-head in hand had no facial features to betray Varro's confusion.

After a moment, based on pantomime alone the horseman knew she wanted something ... and she was going to the door. "I do not speak Spanish - nah ablo Spaniol .... Get back foul spirits!" he said, still making sure to insert a dramatic flourish of his flaming lantern and a rebuke to keep the action against spirits up ... in case the rebuke was part of it. "Do you want me to come to the door?" ... "Puerta ... is that door?" or was it slang for vagina, she could be swearing like a sailor he thought ... adding "Be gone spirits!" ... the massive figure's voice boomed in rebuke as he made a slow rumbling clip clop toward the door so the light would cover it.

Varro thought to himself ... I need to learn Spanish. I really should have practiced more in the last six months. Damn, I miss Starbucks ... and that cute Latino girl from the campus location is probably dead. Shite, four cruises through Latin regions, three spring breaks in Mexico and goodness knows how many salsa club nights and all I really know is 'servesa ' plus a couple of swear words ...

[Hammer]

Benita and the ghost traded blows back and forth - the crewmen ghost seam to go down faster then she did. "Major I could use some help here." The ghost of the Major turned so the two of them where back to back. Benita with stick and the Major with a sword had on this dress uniform. They started to beat down the ghost that where not running from the light.

Anna ran over and opened the door. And ringing the boarding bell. (in English) "Grab the grape and get your asses on deck! This is not a drill on hands on DECK!." With that there started to be a flurry of motion from below as the seamen got dressed and got up. Once they were on deck, she said "Turn number 2 around" "Load! Ready! Benita we need your Magic" Benita started to move over to the gun. Anna turned to the headless man on her deck. "this is going to be loud"

[RushingMountain]

George found himself come to close to a headles horseman, with the ghosts of both Claire and what he had come to think of as Cherry's ex-boyfriend's ghost staring balefully, but not charging him. He shook himself, and sat up, examining the new look his body had taken on. Lava? The jet black color of his body, with it's sinuous lines that suggested recently cooled lava were not a look he had seen before.

"Thanks, Sir Pumpkinhead," George offered up, after making sure that the horseman wasn't aiming to run him over. So Jack'o'lanterns, eh? he thought to himself. Unfortunately, I'm not either of the Wonder Twins.

After making sure Claire was safe near another horseman--had the horsemen replaced the walkers?--George looked for people who were injured and beyond the perimeter the horsemen had created, then he made a point of trying to get those people in one way or another. It wasn't brilliant or amazing, but it needed doing, and he could do it, so he did.

Hopefully Neiermeier would turn up intact.

[Dawn OOC]

The zomblob shrieked and continued to struggle to approach Sarah. The light seemed to keep it at bay, and it lost more ground when Gabrielle and her people arrived to help. There was something about its approach that had the woman's skin crawling and left her feeling uneasy. She had a penance, Sarah reminded herself.

"You shout 'Jack to the right' as if I had any idea how to pray," Jack muttered, but he moved to the position and soon his singer's voice rose in a haunting refrain of Latin. It wasn't the prayer to Michael the Archangel, Gabrielle vaguely noted, but it was a prayer, and in the original Latin. She hoped it would work, even as she took her position and began to recite the prayer. Behind her, Jacobs took up a guarding position. She was aware of his gun but the violence he offered seemed far away as Jack's voice rose above the screams and cries. His voice seemed to drive out fear; people slowed their panicked fights, and even those who didn't believe in God found themselves thinking that Jack must be an unknown super.

The song he's singing...

Around Sarah, the gravity suddenly increased, making her knees lock so she wouldn't drop to them. The new pull of gravity was horrifying; her dress cleaved to her skin as if wet, the hems straining to hold against the forces pulling on it. She was giving them quite the show, she thought distantly, hoping Dan wasn't too mad about that. "Woooooh-maaaaaaannnnh," the monster moaned.

It hadn't been able to talk before.

Myfanny arrived at the edge of the crowd, noting the efforts. The zomblob seemed to be more capable than it was when it was alive and thankfully, she was had time to act before something incurable happened...

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The ghosts wisely scattered from Dan, their courage failing them. "Alicia," Marcus rasped, his voice tight with pain. "Safe?"

"As safe as anyone is tonight," Dan grunted. "What the hell is going on?"

Marcus laughed roughly. "I don't know. I just know we could come back, and I knew where Alicia was. I had to see that she was safe. I didn't... I didn't mean to hurt her."

"We need to get you-"

"I have one more night, Dan, to punish the wicked and defend my people," Marcus said. "It's not like I can die again, right?" He tried to slap Dan on the arm and only passed through him. Sighing, he said, "Let's go defend people, Dan. One more night, side by side, fighting the good fight."

[Dan Hawkins]

He nodded. "I'm going after the big boy. Help where you can but stay safe Marcus, there's someone who will want to talk to you when this is down."

He looked over to the Zomblob and Sarah just in time to hear it spea, looking at her. "No."

Steel grey eyes flashed brilliantly, "NO."

He shot into the sky, Hovering now directly over the Zomblob, his entire body glowing with radiant electricity, He was furious, but the sort that burned like a neutron star. "And Yea though I walk through the Shadow of Death..." He began his descent, moving slowly at first, as if in a freefall.

"I Shall fear no evil, for thou art with me.." He could see the faces of his friends, long dead, comrades, brothers in arms, He drew strength from those good memories. "Thy Rod and thy staff comfort me."

He picked up speed, now looking like a shooting star plummeting to Earth, a Righteous blow from the sky, coming down to smite evil.

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over." A corona of lambent electricty formed behind him, he was moving at incredible speed,and silently he hoped impact wouldn't kill him.

This ends now, at least for this threat.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." The last works came out as his electricity wreathed hands first made contact with the back of the Zomblob, converting every erg of potential energy into one moment of brilliant explosive electrokinetic force.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Kristin glared at the zomb-blob, and the situation in general, furious and disconcerted. The zomb-blob was practically ignoring her, it's attention on the ginormous Sarah and the goddamn pumpkin in her hands. A pumpkin! She couldn't touch the damn thing with her fists or sword, but candlelight streaming through the pumpkin's jaggedly carved teeth was searing away it's essence. And prayer - which had never been of any use in her experience - was staggering its heaving, ephemeral mass, the effect magnifying with each voice that joined the choir.

The world was going even more insane then it already had since Z-day.

And then the zomb-blob spoke, with all the voices of all the men who had tortured her in Paradise. Even as it was assailed by pumpkin power and prayer, the zomb-blob kept advancing. To hell with this! I helped kill it the first time, I'll help kill it super-dead this time too, even if I can't really touch it! Even if it still feels... wrong...

As Dan struck it from behind with his lightning enwreathed hands, Kristin pounced on its flank, her brothers striking from its opposite side. Feeling the force of gravity pulling on her, plastering her hair to her head and neck, tugging on her breasts and belly, Kristin plunged her hands into its roiling mass and began puling on it, yanking on its essence, its insubstantial existence, seeking to make it less.

Suckage!

Q-Vamp (Strength), -2 qp, spending WP

Q-Vamp (First 3 Mega): 9d10.hits (7)= 4 successes + 1 (WP) = 5 Successes

QP: -16 | WP: -3 | HL: -0 (Assuming she used Q-Vamp several more times during the course of the evening)

[Karren Gaunt]

Sarah's family had never been very religious, Easter and Christmas services at most, putting her short of knowledge of actual prayers ratehr short.

So even as unaturally intense gravity made her muscles ache with the effort of keeping herself off her hands and knees and threatened to tear the seams of the one and only dress she owned that actually fit her well, as the ghostly abomination crawled towards her with all-too-human lust in it's voice, as Kristin and Dan made the thing jerk in pain with their hits... The blonde megamorph muttered a a quote one of her favorite movies under her breath, not certain if it was an actual prayer, but feeling the angry, protective emotions behind the words all the same.

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the... Hrrrrph. ...Inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name... hrrrgh... of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children," her voice rumbled, puncated by grunts and crater-forming footfalls as she stiffly walked forward towards their opponent, "And I *will* strike down upon thee with great veng... Hrrf! ...Eance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay My... Hrrrgh! Oh, fuck it! Just die! Again!"

And with that, Sarah, drove her jack-o-latern *into* the ghostly zomblob with a thrusting motion not unlike a two-handed claymore strike. The right shoulder of her dress ripped with the motion, even as the ravening beams of light did their work from within the abomination.

[Dawn OOC]

Dan slammed into the zomblob, his prayer searing it as his energy0laced fingers added to the pain. Kristin tore at it in her own way, the strength-stealing ability of her power absorbing the substance of the monster. And pieces of it melted away before the giant pumpkin that Sarah thrust into its bulk.

The ghostly whiteness of its body roiled and spun, trying to fill in the gaps they were leaving in it but it was to no avail. Slowly, the combined attacks tore away at it until it collapsed on itself. The last tendrils of it wavered and then faded into the night, leaving Dan pulling his fist out of the ground while Sarah and Kristin straightened up.

"Did we kill it?" Kristin asked after a moment, her young voice unsteady.

"I don't know," Dan said, shaking the dirt and pulverized concrete off his hand. "But it's gone."

The night turned into a very long one. Fox organized people once the shock of the ghosts had faded. New jack o' lanterns were quickly made out of any vegetable that would work. Groups went out armed with the lanterns, finding those who had run away, panicked. Everyone was gathered up and brought to safe areas on the campus, or to the Catholic Church. Not everyone was found in the darkness and the searches continued well past sunup. There were over sixty deaths, from people running into things or off things or from fright or perhaps from the ghosts.

The sun rose on a harried, exhausted community. As the light touched them, the ghosts faded from sight, leaving behind the pain they'd caused. A night of harmless fun for the children had unexpectedly turned horrifying, leaving so many unanswered questions.

[Karren Gaunt]

Sarah maintained her looming stature through the night, employing her enlarged jack-o-lantern like an artilery piece whenever the wrathful dead assembled enmass outside of the protection of the main areas, slow and steady and calm. She maintained that calm even as she banished her own ghosts time and time and time again, wishing that whatever force was behind this would just give up and stop driving nails of guilt into her conscience to match the slow roiling in her gut. She was better than she had been. She was, and she didn't need this cruel reminder to make her so.

If there was a someone behind this, and she repeated this vow everytime they found another dead body, they would pay for this assault when she found them.

With the dawn and the fading of the ghosts from sight, the blonde megamorph released the knot at the back of her thoughts that kept her energies invested, and shrank, resting on one knee in a torn sun dress and one hand resting on her stomach. She looked up at the first survivor to approach her, "...Andy, is it? Could you find me Doctor Myf or Varro, please? I want to know if my baby is okay."

The tired, matter-of-fact way the request was issued caused the man to jerk in surprise and he bustled off, leaving Sarah to lean against the wall and look at the sunrise, one hand hand on her improvised weapon.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan had been quite busy. Slaying attacking ghosts and then, rescuing those he could. Now it was time to pick up the pieces. Before Marcus had vanished he'd given him a message for Alicia, too afraid to give it himself, considering her previous reaction. Dan, Still in the air, Called out to the people below, his fatigue beginning to show, both in his voice and as he lowered closer to the ground.

"Allright people that was a bad night, probably the worst in the history of the Refuge. We are STILL here. We will mourn our losses, Rebuild what needs it, and continue on, surviving and thriving here. Tend your neighbor's wounds, comfort each other as fellow survivors much as you have since the sun rose. Those who are alive are our priority. Any who can be saved shall be." We have fought long and hard through the night, let us not fail now that dawn has broken in our new home."

Stores were opened, and so many didn't have major injuries thanfully, but the emotional and Psychological wounds, those were ones he was ill-equipped to salve, and he knew it. Hopefully the Doctors and Fox had an answer for that too, else they'd have to make their way through the hard way.

His speech to the masses complete he turned to personal priorities. He trusted Sarah to look after herself and the baby, knowing she'd seek one of the doctors out, and get some new clothing. He found Lorraine with Alicia, who looked extremely bad off.

She was beyond the manic terror that had gripped so many, fully in the thrall of desolate devastation at the events of the previous evening. He took a seet next to her, taking her hand in his. "It's okay Alicia, the Ghosts are all gone now, Most everyone is safe and alive."

He looked to Lorraine, noting she was good as always, the thought that she was a super as well and just didn't let on had crossed his mind more than once. "Thank you for looking after her Lorraine. I truly am grateful."

Command roll to try to inspire people spending 1 WP for success

Long6 *rolls* 7d10: 7+2+1+6+3+6+6: 31

2 total successes