[Semi-Open] Into the Cathedral Catacombs

[scramasax]

Who: Anthonies Janvier and Sparado, Hajime Aikawa, Shou Chinen, possibly Richard Stroud, Xander Jarle, Nick Burkhardt, Soren Castor, Davin Carter, John Smith, Toushirou Hitsugaya, and anyone else who might've expressed interest in an expedition delving after dark into the mummy-infested catacombs beneath a local church.
Where: Below the altered St. John's Episcopal Church.
When: Evening of Saturday, September 6th.
What: Investigation and hopeful threat elimination.
Warnings: Violence and encouragement of good old "Lovecraft insanity".

[This log is going to be broken down for free-for-alling section-by-section:
- Area 1 - The Entrance
- Area 2 - The First Hall
- Areas 3 and 4 - The First Room and Stairwell
- Areas 5 and 6 - The Fountain Room
- Areas 7 and 8 - The Arcane Study
- Area 9 - The Shrine
- "Boss Fight"
- Return to the Church

To toss in another character or brush up on what to expect in the catacombs, including areas and monsters, please refer to this post - and, of course, toss in any questions if you've got them!]

Comments

The First Hall - Area 2

[scramasax]

[The ladder ends in a shadowed spot at a small round end of a long stone hallway, with a low ceiling and, lit orange by fat white candles along it.

A look straight left from dismounting the ladder reach a wooden door - flanked by a couple to a few dark and humanlike figures...]

[icy_heavens]

[Toushirou's not the first down the ladder -- he's let somebody whose been here before take point, since he doesn't know where he's going -- but he lands lightly, eyes scanning the room for threats.

[He catches sight of the mummy creatures, and now his blade is out. One makes a move for them, but Toushirou is faster. Much faster. To anyone who's watching, he'll appear to have vanished only to appear directly in front of the hostile mummy, bringing the blade down on its head, cleaving down through the torso. He doesn't spare a thought as to why he's aimed this way; it's instinct. But just to make sure it's down -- because who knows with mummies? -- he moves one hand away from the hilt and touches each half of the falling body, focusing his power and freezing them solid.

[Another swipe of the blade, horizontally this time, smashes through the frozen body, leaving it in pieces of shattered ice on the floor.]

[chalicejoker]

[Hajime isn't aiming for anything with quite so much finesse as Toushirou. He is a monster, as much as it pains him to admit it, and he fights with all the brute force of one. But even in his near-frenzy--because it's too dangerous to let himself enter a complete one--he's noticed the odd aim the kid's got. Right for the head--it's more ruthless than Hajime might have expected.]

Nice shot.

[icy_heavens]

[Where Hajime is a monster, Toushirou is a soldier. Whether that in and of itself implies finesse, who knows? But it's how he works.

[He just shrugs at the compliment.] I guess. [You'd think he'd be more bothered by chopping something's face in half.]

[chalicejoker]

That's a pretty solid headshot.

[Seems like as easy a way as any to approach the subject.]

[icy_heavens]

Best place to make sure they go down, right? [Hajime, you may have to be more direct with your line of questioning, here.]

[chalicejoker]

Can't deny it's effective.

[Okay, new plan...]

You weren't taking so many headshots last time I saw you fight.

[icy_heavens]

[That finally does get him to stop and think for a moment. Come to think of it, he's never really fought like this before, has he? That's . . . interesting.]

Huh. [Give him a minute to puzzle through this. What exactly would make him fight this way without thinking? ... Oh.] That's how my other always had to handle things.

[Seems he's just picked up the tendency without realizing it.]

[chalicejoker]

What sorts of things did he fight, anyway?

[Because most things that Hajime remembers fighting didn't involve a headshot.]

[icy_heavens]

Hollows. They're a kind of ghost people can turn into after they die if they stay in our world too long or get consumed by despair. They had bone masks he had to [Makes a swiping gesture in front of his own face with his free hand, here.] cut through to purify them.

[Nothing about that could be disturbing, right?]

[chalicejoker]

[Don't mind him, just unconsciously reaching up to touch the green face-guard-mask-thing that's covering most of his face.]

I'm not sure anything here can be purified.

[Some of these things are starting to give him the creeps more than he'd care to admit. Odd.]

[icy_heavens]

[Yeah, he doesn't know why you're doing that, Hajime. You're not a Hollow, and you're not an enemy. Obviously, you're fine.]

Probably not. But like you said: it's effective.

[chalicejoker]

Best to take them out quickly, yeah.

[He can get behind that, true, true.]