15363/Never Read Randoms Spells Aloud

Never Read Randoms Spells Aloud
Date of Scene:	19 July 2023
Location:	Yonkers, New York
Synopsis:	Zatanna and Wonder Girl clean up after someone learned that you should never read spells aloud if you don't know what they do. Mindless One Violence ensued. The cat survived.
Cast of Characters:	Wonder Girl, Zatanna Zatara

---

Wonder Girl has posed:
This sort of thing happens way more often than it should. A sort of mystical energy pulse going off with a brief pillar of light into the sky somewhere around Yonkers in up-ish state New York. Those with the senses for it might feel like the sort where a portal opened that probably shouldn't have. Briefly thankfully but who knows what came through.

That might be discovered when arriving on the scene of the ruins of a house, plain old suburban two story collapsed in on itself. Various neighbors gawking around while sirens of emergency vehicles start rolling in. The sobs of a middle aged couple looking at the remains of their home. The odd cry about their baby. Someone clearly still in the rubble.

That's about when Cassie lands. Tight jeans and red tank top, lasso at her belted hips. Stars down the side and a =W= across her chest. She'd been flying to the City from the tower but even she saw the pillar.

"Is anyone in there?" she asks, the nods and sobs confirming someone is. Beyond that someone is going to be digging.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Wait!" says someone who wasn't there a moment ago.

Zatanna Zatara appeared, relatively subtly, because she appeared behind one of those brick oven mailhouse structures. This means people didn't quite gasp in the face of this kind of suburban horror. It may not be a great sign that she is in her fishnets and top hat and white tie top, and also, that she just... appeared.

"Not for long, though," Zatanna tells the wondrous... Wonder Girl. She speaks quietly. "That was a call for something. You don't want to dig blindly if you can help it.' Now she looks towards the ones nearby and says, "How many people are inside?" in a more clarion stage-caller voice. "Humans and animals!"

(Sotto voce, back to Cassie: "If anything calls you by your name, don't answer.")

Wonder Girl has posed:
The couple with sudden housing problems, women in their fifties, just starting to grey nod their heads at the two heroes. "Our son, he was in there, lives in the basement. He owns it, always happy to help his moms. He's a good son." They both actually have some pride showing for the guy.

"Came home with some new books he said was gonna help him run a table top campaign." the other, a greying redhead with tears streaming down her face explains.

The suggestion to be wary of anyone calling her by name gets Cassie nodding. Hushed tones to her voice. "He obviously read something out loud. That's always bad right?" she asks back. It's usually good advice but sometimes you gotta double check.

There is some movement from the rubble. Then the ungodly screech in a high pitched sound.

It's a cat jump scaring by wiggling out. Another neighbor seeming happy. "MOGGY!" they yell out. Must have been caught in the collapse. One less thing to worry about.

The Wonderous Blonde smiles reassuringly to the couple missing their son and then to Zatanna. "Well I'll start digging. Hopefully there's no gas mains or anything leaking. " she says while she has her back to the house, which does start rumbling on a slightly larger scale. Like a few things, big things are coming up from under the detritus.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna looks at the older women gravely. She nods at what they're saying, attentive, thoughtful. She looks a little ridiculous, but hey: Justice League. And she's with what looks like a real traditional superhero!

Right? Right.

"Thank you," she tells them. "Don't worry. When we're done, talk to me about your homeowner's policy and we'll figure something out." She grins.

Zatanna then turns around towards Cassie. "Roleplaying games! Ughhh," she groans. "They're the worst thing that's happened to the community in fifty-two years. I understand they bring fun and joy to tons of people without much outlet for their brains, but the ideas they teach about how magic really works --"

Zatanna shakes her head.

"Cat!" she says quietly, with apparent pleasure. Then she looks to the wreck. "Let me save you a little time." Then she speaks strangely while making a twirl of the wrist: "Llits dnats egakcerw emoh!"

Glimmering purple light shines out! The air sort of - sparkles lightly; and Cassie will have to worry a lot less about gravity in her wreckage clearing for the moment. Putting her hands on her hips, Zatanna muses, "I wonder where he GOT these books. Most of those games don't really use the occult, do they?"

Wonder Girl has posed:
The blonde herself has no worry about gravity, both in regards to flight and the front of her tank top. She still binds her hair into a quick little bun just in case it gets in the way but once done she can get to work.

The spell cast works as intended, anything fragile to not survive being held up in a small woman's hands not as likely to break or break other things.

"Guessing it has people looking at stuff they shouldn't just to try and find inspiration for their games." Cassie suggests in hypotheticals. "I never had to go to fiction for that myself. Mom's an archeologist. My sisters. Diana and Donna are about as inspo as it gets for a young girl." she says while she works, neatly moving rubble to one side or another to get down towards the basement.

This is about when things decide to show why Gygax had a lot to answer for.

"Hey anyone down there?" Cassie is yelling out just as a red glow starts to show.

Another muffled voice yells from below. "NO DON"T IT'S..." before a wide beam of energy blasts up, catching Cassie and sending her skyward.

Climbing out of the rubble a trio of humanoid shapes seeming to have been made of mud. No faces but a sliver of a line where their eyes would be, all glowing though one is brighter, clearly having been the one that just launched Wonder Girl.

Mindless Ones. One of the most virulent invasive species in any plane of existance.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"You're not THAT young," Zatanna answers Cassie while thinking about this. Thinking and frowning, which at least sort of suits her features and doesn't seem to be reaching her eyes. "But what kind of inspira--"

A column of light!!

Though she had been standing a ways back, the blast is still enough for her to be thrown backwards, landing on an ash-dusted lawn with an "ungh!" as her backside hits turf. She then looks upwards as the humanoid shapes crawl forwards. Barely shaped. Vicious. Glowing slits instead of eyes.

"Run!" Zatanna calls, turning and reaching towards the onlooking women. "Forget about your insurance rates -- The NAMELESS ONES have come to your town!!"

...

And then a moment later she turns her attention back to them even as she pulls herself upwards. "Crap crap crap craaaap," Zatanna mutters to herself, even as she adds, "ylf" and begins to walk on air, semi-literally. "SIR!" Zatanna shouts downwards. "Did you call them? Is there an opening or a Sign on the ground or anything like that?!"

Wonder Girl has posed:
Amidst the open wreckage the poor fool that summoned these things is hiding with a book way to mystically advanced for most people hiding under a table. Turns out he's mirroring Zatanna's own mantra of low level expletives while he flips through pages.

"It was supposed to be some research for a campaign. I couldn't even read it at first then a circle got drawn, the words just started and then a portal thing opened these things came out. I guess the house coming down closed the portal. How do I send them back? how do I send them back?" He's pretty frantic. Understandably.

The shambling monstrosities start looking around, the siren of a cop car just arriving is their second target, the three charging those eyebeams again but just as they discharge that energy. Wonder Girl is between them and the panicking cop cars, bracelets crossed together and blocking and deflecting the combined beams upwards.

"Uhh, the hell are these things? They look like they can take a beating." Cassie asks with a mind for possible tactics. She's seen a lot over the years but there's always something new that's also really old.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Research for a campaign! Dungeons and Dragons claims another life, and, Zatanna thinks, maybe more than that -- "Yes! Hold on!" she calls to Cassie as she flits down a little nearer to the wreckage.

"You don't," Zatanna tells him. "But it's good that the portal's shut. Hold on for a minute, the cavalry has to clean up." And with that she twirls around and sets the hat on her head more firmly. Her eyes narrow.

"They can't," Zatanna says. "The threat of the Mindless Ones is that they come in an endless tide and their death gaze can sunder -- well, I don't have to explain it to you, you were just dealing with it. Do you have bruising or anything?" (She did mention Diana, so Zatanna isn't that shocked, much like a certain estimable deliveryperson.)

"AHEM:"

"Bust 'em," Zatanna says, as she raises up her hand. "Trad nwal!" A sudden mass of sod and turf appears above her, crunches down to something almost rocketlike, and is then HURLED down at two of the Mindless Ones that happen to be kinda close to each other.

Wonder Girl has posed:
The cowering man, late thirties, light brown hair and eyes. Solid build. he's staying where he's been hiding for now. "Sure. Imma stay here. Are my moms okay?" There will probably be hugs and yelling. And then dealing with Insurance and temporary housing. But that's not exactly their immediate priority beyond family safety.

Cassie awash in firey red light looks like she's been hit with a meteorite. Clothes and skin look like they have a few scorch marks but generally the demi-goddess herself seems unhurt. Just dirty and smoking here and there. Thankfully the beams of two of them are cut short as that solidified javelin of earth pushes through two of the creatures. the excess energy causing a small explosion of muck and red energy but with no one that close all it does is rain mud, mostly over Cassie and the police car behind her.

The cops having already clambered out and away.

So with the solution plainly simple and one Mindless One remaining, Wonder Girl pushes on up close. Bracers deflecting and dissipating the energy around her with all those fun enchantments the smith's of Themyscira cribbed from Hephaeteus himself. Up close enough, the bracer of one arm is shoved in it's eyeslit to contain the blast almost like a sleeper hold, the other is raised and then brought down. An over head hammer strike that just smushes the creature.

The subsequent release of energies from the ensuing explosion forces Cassie to tumble back end over end. Wonder Girl landing on her back close to where the ruined house is piled up.

Looking up she lets out a sigh. "This is still better than demon bugs and stuff." she states coated in gradually drying mud. Head to toe.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
SLAM! BURST! The lawn is breached - BREACHED! The turf integrity built up for decades is sundered in a single thoughtless blow! The police are helpless to save your lawn, suburban co-residents! And then Wonder Girl pushes forwards -- shoves her hand in -- and --

Smoosh.

"You're saying that now," Zatanna mutters as she comes to a landing and turns back towards the wreckage.

"Dren, egreme!" Zatanna declaims, another wave of sorcerous might causing the pinned man to surface from the wreckage like he's being pushed out of wet sand. Zatanna wipes her forehead after with a heavy breath.

"Go say hi to your mothers if you can walk," Zatanna says, with a smile. "No offense to your party, but if you don't mind, I'd like to take those campaign materials off your hands."

Wonder Girl has posed:
The blonde rolls her eyes. Sitting up she flicks some gunk from her face onto the paved road. "I still have to shower. This stuff gets everywhere." she shakes one leg and flicks some of that mud gunk out of one leg of her jeans. A few rips and holes showing how it got in painted on denim. "I'm not saying it's not icky but there's a scale of gross. I'm gonna be tasting this stuff a while too." Cassie points out.

The Nerd Guy is brought up and he's clutching the book while he's moved until eventually he gets set down.

Take it, take it! I'l just use PDFs from now on!" he states and is all too eager to hand over the book. Old and leather bound. Probably not a good idea to inquire what the leather is from.

As the man runs to check on his mothers and vice versa he leaves the two Heroines to look at the mess just made.

"Sci-Fi settings! Play Sci-Fi!" she suggests loudly. By now emergency services are coming out of the wood work to start doing their thing. Other than bruises and scorched hair and clothes, no body died.

The cat may plan vengeance later though.

"Soo uhhh, we should probably get that thing away from here. Guessing you got like a vault of something to store it?" the blonde asks curiously. "We can probably find somewhere in anycase."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Can you get holy water? I'd use holy water, just to be safe," says Zatanna, grimacing a little. She has grass stains on her ass, but that is a small price to play.

Zatanna steps forwards, takes the book, "thank you," and she takes off her hat to drop it INTO the hat. Then the hat goes back on.

Huh.

"Yeah, what she said!" Zatanna says with a nod. To the ladies, she adds, "Good luck -- here, this is my mailing address in case insurance needs a statement." The card is, of course, pulled out of her cuff.

"Oh," she says, "I keep them at my father's house." ("My actual, human father's house," Zatanna adds in smaller letters, for obscure reasons.)

Wonder Girl has posed:
Holy water gets a hmm. "Think I saw a church like five streets over. We're in suburban New York so churches should be everywhere." Cassie points vaguely eastwards. "Always kinda wanted to see if I can make Holy Water. I am a demigoddess. I'm wearing another demigodess' symbols. So there's belief. But probably not being we're Olympian deities, not Abrahamic Judeo Christian." somehow she manages to sound nerdy as she considers the rules on holy water.

The book being stashed gets a giggle. "It's bigger on the inside!" that is definitely nerdy.

The saved family accepts the card, gives it a quick look. One of the women nodding her head. "We'll make sure he watches good Sci-Fi as well! Thank you both so much for saving our son." the man himself looking very sheepish and nodding along. Not much he can say they aren't already.

Looking around Cassie hmms and then nudges around. "You know we should probably bail. Otherwise we're gonna get swamped with photo opportunities." Fan appreciation is one thing but when you have a live landmine of a tome it's probably safer to get it away from crowds.