C.O.A.S.T., occult secret agents against the supernatural, main thread

Factory second floor

In front of Spider, the spirit stayed silent for a few moments. "... Forced here. Taken from body. Need body. Must return to our sanctuary." It spoke slowly, with drawn pauses between its statements. It stayed silent for a few moments again, still unmoving, staring at Spider. "... You are not from our sanctuary."

"I have to say, you all are very competent in your respective fields. Munroe has all her magical-curse-y knowledge and information gathering skills, Guiterrez just radiates a kind of solid convinction that I finds, if anything, intimidating, plus you've got Diego, was it? All the trappings of something Foul, and yet my gut's telling me I'm safer in here with you then I would be in my hometown." As he talked, Cordon kept moving, checking and triple checking every shadow, eyes alight with a wild, restrained, intensity. " Agent Pensow is a real gifted warlock, and I, having little to no experience with Warlockery, judge that by all the crazy s#&t he carries around with him. On top of that, he's another man of character, Lord knows we need it if y'all finally took me off the bench."

" Which brings us to Agent Intigo and her Spider." He glared at Zoya, eyes flashing green for a moment in the dim light. "The only reason they haven't left me and a exorcism specialist alone in a locked room with some candles and a pentagram with your precious, friendly neighborhood Spider is because that thing is too much of a powerhouse, a.k.a. too useful, to put down."

He paused to wipe a bead of spittle from the corner of his mouth after devolving into a impassioned rant. " I'm sorry, this is exactly the kind of thing I've spent the last six plus months trying to train myself out of."

He seemed a bit abashed, if only a little. Leaps and bounds better than a year ago, he thought. "Me and Agent Intigo and her Be—Spook need to work out our differences at a later point. We have a shared Prey. And hey," He said more amicably, "We both love to use knives. You're the first Field Agent I've ever met who gets it."

Before returning to investigation and mulling over the facts, he shot over a grumbled "See, I can play nice." to Tom.

He looked towards Martin and Diego. "You catch a scent? I'm itching to find Spider and figure this Hunt out."

Edited by Greydoom on Oct 30th 2021 at 12:12:21 AM

"I'm the only one who can deal with her everyday. She won't be a threat to us, except for being annoying sometimes. Now we need to find Spider before she starts deciding that shooting the offending bump is a good idea. So far, she has not."

ON SPIDER'S END...

Ah, that might explain why it's here. The basement is warded somehow. And it knows I'm not from here. Figured.

"Then where is your body? In my search, I found a location that appears to be warded against us. The basement. I assume that is where your body is, am I correct? And I am not from your sanctuary. I simply came here for any possible leads for my revenge as I said earlier. In addition, this location smells rather foul even to me. There's a body somewhere here and it's rotting. Badly. Coming from the basement."

A pause to think.

"So, you want your body back to head back to your sanctuary? That is an understandable goal, even though I lack a body myself. I do not want your body, for previously stated reasons. But, I wonder why some mortals took you here and separated you from your body. What did you do to draw their attention?"

The body smells too gross. This spirit most likely has no sense of smell.

She guesses that the body in the basement is this spirit's body. So then some human somehow sealed it's body off. Why she does not know, but for now getting info is needed. It could be hostile... and that is possible. But if it's NOT hostile, maybe a misunderstanding? Hard to say right now, but she keeps all of this to herself. And she has to wait for Zoya and co to catch up.

Edited by sci300768 on Oct 30th 2021 at 1:39:17 AM

Factory second floor

With spider, the Bump once again remained silent for a drawn out period before speaking, still not moving. "... Yes. Body is below. You could not take. You do not have the ability... The living always fear us. Always defile our sanctuary."

SPIDER'S END

It somehow knows I can't do that. Mortals always fear it. Always ruining their sanctuary. Something nature related? Fits in with the nature theme going on for it as well...

"Why do mortals fear you? And what does your sanctuary look like? For I have dealt with mortals in the past, and have some insight on how they view us. However, intentionally provoking mortals is a bad idea. I have witnessed many other spirits learn that the hard way. And for some reason, mortals are very good at ruining nature. If your sanctuary is nature based, that would not surprise me that mortals would go and ruin it."

That's yet another half truth in there.

Edited by sci300768 on Nov 1st 2021 at 2:12:54 AM

Factory front entrance

Lenny Cordon introduced himself with all sorts of titles but quickly showed he wasn't too interested in formalities. And despite his bluntness he seemed someone glad to meet The use of Kat surname by someone around the same level of authority as her made her feel special, like if she was a vital agent with an entire folder worth of information that everyone had to check before joining Team Delta. Of course, in reality such a folder probably had boring and embarrassing information about her behavior than anything exciting.

"Can't say I picked the curse, yeah." she complained under her breath.

With no new info on possible ritualists, they would have to investigate the old fashioned way. Kat's natural curiosity and the fact the most physically oriented members were following Spider's trail, made her want to stick with the familiarity of investigating something.

"I'll go with you, Tom. At least I know there won't be spirits down there"

Factory second floor

Spider saw the spirit finally move again, slowly tilting its to one side as it stared at her. "... You know not? You come from different sanctuary. Resting place for dead. Perhaps yours has no Keeper... It matters not why the living defile it. Our sanctuary must be protected."

Factory, down to the basement

Tom shook his head as he headed down the stairs, the camcorder with its light on and his power washer device both held up and at the ready. "Miss Munroe, there may not be any ghosts down here, but there is something dead down here," Tom pointed out as a smell of rotted flesh assaulted their noses on the way down. "I would not assume it is necessarily any safer..."

The basement seemed to be a storage area for the factory, though long since emptied of its original intended contents; not much but scraps of trash off to the sides seemed to be in here now. It consisted of a wide central room which they entered into, with sections on the left and right sides separated from each other with dividing walls, but open to the central room.

Close to the center of the room was a fifteen foot wide ritual circle, drawn in with white chalk; it had an octagon within the circle and various lines and symbols drawn further within that. Burnt out candles were placed at each corner of the octagon, where it met with the circle, and a few other random items were within the circle. Tom stared at the circle, then looked around at the discarded trash at the edges of the room again, noting emptied packages for chalk and candles that had clearly come from some large general store chain. "Bloody hell... So this is why two Time Mediums flagged this mission to be so important..." Tom muttered quietly, then tapped his radio. "Agent Ruskin, we have a problem; a big one. Someone here before us performed a spirit warding ritual. They clearly got their supplies from some Walmart or something."

"Wait, shit, that means a human. Maybe there's an undiscovered Ritualist living around here that did it by accident?" Chuck suggested in response.

"Not impossible, but I have my doubts... We're still investigating," Tom replied, then tapped his radio again, before making a hush motion to Kat. He then pointed to the separated area in the far right corner from where they entered down the stairs; there was a dark red stain that came from around the corner out of their sight, to a floor drain in front of them. It seemed like over there was where the dead stench was coming from, but also Kat could see from the symbols above the stain that it had been left by blood. Not human blood though, but rather the blood of something supernatural, a Bump.

. . . Zoya is wondering what's up on Spider's end.

"Has ANYONE seen Spider inside the factory? Because I'm yet to hear gunshots, and I'm wondering what she has found by now. She should be back by now..."

ON SPIDER'S END

. . . Huh. It also knows I'm from a graveyard. Lets see if it intends to react violently.

"Mortals in general dislike us. They find us scary and tell stories about us. I believe that to be the reason for them to do what they do. And I do not know what you have done to give them a reason to, if you have. Though... I advice against attacking any mortals. They tend to overreact to our presence. Negatively more often than not."

I'm not telling them about the mortals here looking FOR THEM. But I will try to deter them from resorting to violence.

Lenny followed after Tom and Kat. "Hold up, both of you. Spirits can't pass into the basement, right? I heard something about that when I was being flown in. I'm wondering, how far does it stretch? If, say, a Spirit was bound to a pair of knives that are themselves bound to a otherwise normal human?" Cordon goes to walk down the stairs, curious as to how the waarding would react to him and the Blades.

Factory Basement

The basement showed why the factory was such an attractive location for teenagers shooting the shit. The atmosphere and the smell of something decomposing were already creepy on their own, to say nothing of one knowing actual monsters roamed probably just a few stories above. Something that Tom was more than eager to point out.

"Well but you know, there's strength in numbers" Kat said. Lenny quickly joined them, proving her point. "I think you should be fine, but maybe the knives won't work as well? Shouldn't be a problem for a big guy like you"

The central room had a circle of chalk alongside lots of other symbols and burnt out candles. The source of that barrage of symbols Kat had spotted, and the trash meant a human was to blame. Kat felt proud of having seen it coming, but this clearly wasn't good news. It clearly couldn't be some teenagers like before following a YouTube tutorial.

"It makes me wonder how ritualists even figure out they c-Oh!" Kat shut up at Tom's signal to check out a suspicious bloodstain nearby.

"This isn't human." she whispered, leaning in to absorb whatever information she could get. "It's from a Bump. Maybe the ritualist hurt the one we are looking for?"

Factory second floor and first floor

Up with Spider, as usual the spirit was silent for an extended period before answering slowly, with drawn out pauses. "... Caution advised from a spirit seeking vengeance; very unusual. However, irrelevant. When the living defile our sanctuary, it must be protected. There can be no compromise." Then, finally, the spirit started moving. It turned slightly away from Spider, then moved forward and down, passing through the floor beneath it in a way that seemed less graceful descending and more slumping.

After falling into the middle of the open first floor, the spirit, still invisible to the naked eye, but showing up as a silhouette on the camcorders that were set to high contrast, looked around slowly. When it spotted Zoya, it started moving towards her in a lumbering fashion. "Need body," it said, though was only audible to Spider.

Factory basement and radio transmissions

Nothing stopped Lenny from following down, but Tom did glance at him with an incredulous look before returning his attention to the stain on the floor. When Kat revealed that important tidbit, Tom looked to her. "It's from the Bump?" Tom muttered in disbelief, then moved forward, adding, "stay here."

Tom cautiously got closer to the corner, then started to move sideways while keeping the camcorder and power washer device pointed at the corner, performing a slicing the pie maneuver. Once he got to where he could clearly see the side area, he stopped, eyes widening a bit, but lowered the power washer. "By God..." Tom thought out loud, shaking his head. "... Well the good news is we're safe down here. For now," the Ritualist informed Kat and Lenny, before tapping his radio again. "Agent Ruskin, it's worse than I thought; this was definitely not by accident. They didn't just perform one ritual, but two; the second is elaborate, definitely needing a guide... And involved our missing Bump in the middle of it."

"What?! Oh, shit shit shit, the Secrecy department is not going to be happy about this. I'll have to call this in to command ASAP."

Tom lowered and shook his head, then glanced at Kat and Lenny, and somewhat hesitantly motioned for them to come take a look for themselves. In the corner area was what looked like the dead body of the Bump Spider had encountered upstairs; a large figure with a cow skull head and a body covered in black, dry leaves, with very long arms. It was suspended from the ceiling on cords with fish hooks, in an almost crucified like pose; the horrible stench was coming from it. Beneath it drawn on the floor was a very elaborate ritual circle with burnt out candles, some dried leaves, and clumps of dirt. Kat could see looking at it that the Bump's body was actually still alive, technically, but its spirit was not inhabiting it anymore, which was what the ritual beneath it had done to it. With the other ritual already in place, that would make its spirit unable to reach its body anymore, leaving it forced to haunt the rest of the factory. As for the Bump itself, it was like an undead creature, in that its flesh should actually be dead, however it was not raised from the corpses of any formerly living thing; it came into existence in this undead-like form.

About then the radios piped back up with Chuck's voice.

"Okay Delta Team, Chief Abram is escalating the priority of this mission. Apparently another of our late transfers showed up, so he's sending them along with a couple of base's security detached to come help. ETA is around thirty minutes."

"I have a feeling things are going to get more dangerous if we undo either of these rituals, so perhaps we should wait for that backup," Tom commented, having taken a small book out of his suit and flipping through it. He was referencing notes on rituals in the book with the second ritual they had just found.

Zoya meanwhile decided to follow Tom, Kat, And Lenny, heading to the basement. She is wondering why-

. . . Was that spider going though the ceiling?

Spider did not lumber, she sped through the floor and just picked up Zoya. DRAGGING Zoya to the basement entryway and then just shoving/throwing/some sorta hybrid of those her herald into the warded basement entryway once she gets there. Oh and Spider did take that extra radio Zoya had. Zoya would land reasonably well given the circumstances.

"There's a bump here, and it wants a body! The short version is that humans have ruined it's sanctuary and I think it's nature based. Saw it clearly so it's a similar type to me! The basement is warded and JUST ENTER THE BASEMENT ALREADY BECAUSE ITS GOING AFTER YOU!"

Said slow enough so Zoya did understand that. Oh and she takes her knife off of Zoya's belt (Sheath included) and stuffs that into her cloak along with the pistol.

"Noted and yes we noticed the basement already."

Cue Zoya readying herself for what amounts to being thrown into the basement. Landing method and all. Along with securing her gear.

To heck with her cover story. She can't fight this one on even ground with Zoya in the way. Once she's out of the way, she won't have to worry about mortals. If she can see it... then she can punch it in the face.

Diego sniffed the blade, its head turning up and growling, then barked and started to move.

"He's got the scent," Martin said. "Keep your guard up, let's move." With that, he began to follow the dog.

However, then Tom's voice came over the radio telling them to hold back.

"Wait, Diego, stop!" Martin commanded. "Ven aquí!"

The chupacabras, already chomping at the bit, resisted for a moment, before growling and turning towards Martin, sitting down beside his master.

Edited by AllHailThrall on Nov 5th 2021 at 5:03:24 AM

Factory Basement

The scene in front of Kat was out of a horror movie. It was a small miracle that the Bump wasn't more human-like or else she would ne sure to have puked right then and there—not that its decaying body made things particularly easy to stomach. The day had started with them all looking for a Bump and now they were seeing the after effects of someone else attacking them. Things had definitely turned on their head.

Tom quickly took care of the situation, informing Ruskin of the new development. Whatever the ritualist wanted, they were a very dangerous wildcard. However, right now Kat seemed more interested in—one might even say, enthralled by—the Bump in front of her. She could read all the signs floating around the dead creature, telling her it wasn't quite as dead as it looked. Of course, that simply created more questions which Kat mentally started going over before catching herself almost poking at the Bump's flesh for more information.

"They emptied its body. It was never a ghost, it's... whatever this is, a wendigo? I admit I just skimmed the files" unfortunately "But why? What can you do with a body like this? Do they even want it? Maybe they can't kill it? And who's they?"

This rapid train of thought was interrupted by Zoya falling in style as she entered the basement.

"Zoya? Did Spider find something important?"

Zoya landed like a champ. YEARS of being thrown by Spider has trained her. She gets up and looks around in the basement.

Spider looks into the basement and opts for the most direct route. By loudly stating what she saw and learned about the bump so the other humans can hear her.

"Evidently, this bump is hostile and wants a body. Spider threw me into the basement. And dragged me there at full speed."

"So, this bump was talking about humans defiling its sanctuary. And then decided to go after Zoya. Which is why I threw her into here. It knows that their body is in the basement. And from the way it looks I think it might be nature based. Not likely to be formerly human based off the smell of its corpse."

She describes what the bump looks like and how she saw it clearly. Noting that it lumbers and does not seem fast by human standards.

"I'm assuming that this bump is hostile which is why some mortals separated it from their body. And it is still seeking a body, which is going to be any mortal. I think it's some sort of spirit like me. And it knows what type I am. And I can't enter the basement! I last saw it on the first floor and will go after the nearest human who is not protected by the basement. I do not know if it can leave the factory, but I assume it refuses to do so until it has a body."

Edited by sci300768 on Nov 4th 2021 at 10:16:51 AM

While the group is puzzling out what's going on, processing new information, and waiting for backup, Cordon pulled out a thick, small leatherbound book covered in burns and smudges from his coat pocket. Faded, vaguelly Nordic runes covered the first ten or so yellowed pages as he turned the pages almost gentely. He started muttering to himself, reading aloud about a third of the way into the mini-tome. " 'The Kindred of Bog and Myre is a genus of Beast most difficult for a Huntsman to corral or slay. Such vaporous beings are naturally more dangerous to Mankind then the Kindred of Blood and Bone, given their propensity to be minimally effected by material weaponry. Management of these creatures is best left to those possessed of the Talent." Cordon tapped Kat on the shoulder. "Do you know any rituals to bind the spirit to a more physical form?"

Edited by Greydoom on Nov 4th 2021 at 10:45:39 AM

Factory basement

"This is our first time actually seeing this Bump Miss Munroe; we had no clear idea of exactly what it was before now... A wendigo is a possibility," Tom said as he continued to compare the ritual beneath the Bump's body to the notes in his book. He didn't react when Zoya came down the stairs, or when Spider's voice was carrying down.

"I don't think the body was the goal," Tom then commented, closing his book and moving back over to Kat and Cordon. Tom paused his train of thought for a moment to look at Cordon with a somewhat confused expression. "Cordon, Miss Munroe is a Spirit Medium; she can't perform rituals. That's my job here," the Ritualist pointed out simply, then pointed to the ritual in the middle of the large room. "We could allow the Bump to return to its own body by simply undoing that ritual there. However I feel there's a very good chance it would immediately attack us. Alternatively, we could destroy its body, trapping its spirit in its current state, but that would likely have unforeseeable effects on it; as well as rather pissing it off, I'd imagine."

"Now, as I was saying," Tom went back to his previous train of thought, turning his attention to Kat. "I think the goal was the spirit in its current state. It's a rather wicked combination, these two rituals put together; the default reaction for most beings, Bumps included, when subject to that ritual over there is to do everything in their power to return to their own body. With this ritual making that impossible however, the spirit will stay in the nearby area indefinitely. So it's a recipe for a haunting."

Factory first floor, in front of the basement staircase

Diego wouldn't have to go far to track Spider's scent, since Spider had reappeared in the first floor which was pretty much all open space. Diego could also sense that the other Bump was there, though couldn't pinpoint it.

Spider would hear that non-sound of the other Bump's 'voice' again, as it continued lumbering towards the staircase. "You help the living? You would be the same as them. DEFILER." Since it wasn't real audio waves it didn't really get 'louder' so much as its projection of its intentions got more oppressive, though that didn't have much meaningful effect on Spider; and it had no apparent effect on anyone else at all. Its empty eye sockets seemed to get darker, and it swung one of its very long arms at Spider in an attack that was slow but carried a lot of momentum behind it.

Edited by FirockFinion on Nov 5th 2021 at 4:54:00 AM

Spider figured this was going to happen. While this one is slow, it hits hard. Fortunely she's fast. And thus she dodges. Her next move is going to be carefully planned. Shoot it? No holy bullets. Knife it? Nope. Her pistol is in her left hand, and her knife in her right. The sheath of the knife is currently in a pocket in her cloak.

Or... destroy its body if it really comes to that?

"It's hostile AND here in front of me right now! Get the cameras going, I don't know how else you mortals can see it! I think it's still alive due to their body being sealed away but still there? This is a really bad idea, but I think destroying the body is a good last resort plan. As well as making it angry."

She looks at the spirit.

"And I refuse to side with you. Mortals are not always helpless as I've learned."

She just flipped the other spirit off basically.

Edited by sci300768 on Nov 5th 2021 at 11:19:47 AM

Factory Basement

"Sorry, that's his thing" Kat added to Thomas' reaction. Maybe things would be much easier if Kat could actually take part in the ritual, instead of just detecting what was in front of her.

Speaking of, he had come to the conclusion that maybe the Bump's body wasn't the main goal of the rogue ritualist, and proposed the idea that haunting the place could be a juicier target.

"I get the feeling we should check who owns this place, call it hunch but I feel like I've seen this before somewhere"

That could wait though, they had to come to a practical solution fast. Spider talked about the spirit's characteristics, its nature theme and how much it hated humans. Interrupting the ritual could maybe help it but it would be very bad news for anyone near its body. It was as good a time as any to try a more diplomatic approach0

"Mhmm, maybe we can talk! We are the only ones that can restore your body, so if you promise to stop attacking people we can help you out"

Abandoned factory, in front of the staircase.

In front of Spider, the Bump made no response to her other than to take another swing at her in the same way as before. (Which like before, probably ended up missing.) It was only after Kat called up her offer of diplomacy that the Bump stopped, turning its head slowly towards the staircase. After several seconds, it slowly turned its head back towards Spider. "Living that defile our sanctuary must be stopped. This cannot be compromised upon," it said, only audible to Spider.

Meanwhile, Tom moved over to the bottom of the staircase to holler up as well. "If it's giving you trouble up there, simply leave the factory! We already know it's not going to leave!" Tom yelled his suggestion up the staircase.

Edited by FirockFinion on Nov 8th 2021 at 1:05:02 AM

ON SPIDER'S END.

She readies herself to dodge again and is observing said bump. And after hearing what it said after the attempt at diplomacy... well. Hostile.

Clearly said so the mortals in the basement can hear this.

"Your attempt at diplomacy failed. It refuses to compromise its desire to be hostile to mortals. This is just hostile. And does anyone have any better ideas on how to stop this bump? I am not getting into punching range. It is slow relative to me but appears to hit hard, and I am not testing that. I can see and hear it clearly which is still our best lead."

BACK TO ZOYA!

"And I really wish we brought along the blessed rounds."

"Agreed. We can work out how to get more after this."

Spider just stays out of the hostile's bump attack range and waits for the mortals to decide the next plan of action.

"I'm not exactly sure what this bump is, but some sort of spirit is possible. Though nature based bumps are common. Anyone else have better ideas? And how do we get OUT of here? This bump is blocking the exit and we have a confirmed visual on it."

Edited by sci300768 on Nov 8th 2021 at 11:07:44 AM

"I say we bind it to its physical form and kill the thing."

Edited by Greydoom on Nov 8th 2021 at 5:25:41 AM

The abandoned factory

"Backup is already on the way," Tom said, to remind both Zoya and Spider. "We can worry about actually killing this thing after our better firepower is here. In the meantime, as unpleasant as it may be down here, we know the Bump can't come down here, so it's safe for us. Spider can simply leave the factory until then," the MI6 agent explained, then shook his head and muttered to himself, "of course all that should've been bleedin' obvious..."

Meanwhile up the stairs, the Bump was just staying still, staring at Spider.

Edited by FirockFinion on Nov 9th 2021 at 2:25:35 AM

Martin was about to lead Diego down to the basement, when Zoya's bump emerged, confronting... something.

At once, Diego seemed to lose its composure completely. It growled loudly, letting out several angry barks. Its ears went back, teeth bared, and Diego hunched over, its form shuddering.

Martin could tell immediately that Diego was preparing to transform.

"NO!" Martin shouted, commandingly. "Quieto, quieto!" He took a tighter grip on Diego's leash. Diego just stared stock still at the location where the Bump was, growling low but staying put.

With his other hand, Martin held up his high contrast camcorder and began to look through it at where Spider was standing, gasping at what he saw inside.

Lenny Cordon grinned. Having scoured his academic knowledge and hamstrung until backup arrived, he decided to pick his nails with the point of his blade. That whole "not being able to cut mortal flesh clause" was handy for lots of reasons. "I feel like I'm obligated to ask: why did this come off as such a big read by the Mediums? Why is this thing so important? Buncha normals strolled in and out without a scratch, then us professionals came in, poked the wasp's nest hard, and still nothing. What's the threat? What's the problem? It doesn't seem..." Lenny paused, swung the knife around in his fingers, then settled on a word. "It just doesn't seem particularly special."