15776/When the weird calls, the peculiar replies.

When the weird calls, the peculiar replies.
Date of Scene:	06 November 2023
Location:	Unregistered Civil War era grave yard
Synopsis:	Harry drew in a crew to take out some unknown monsters. Shenanigans ensue.
Cast of Characters:	Harry Dresden, Thomas Raith, Willow Rosenberg, Faith Lehane

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Harry Dresden has posed:
There have been stories about peculiar happenings in an old grave yard. There isn't any real markings on a map to point it out. Harry went out there with Mouse one day to have a look. He did a rubbing on a few headstones to take names and dates back to study. After the study part is done he decides to make an appearance in the evening to see what is happening.

Normally he would probably go himself, but Mouse's behavior in the grave yard as well as when me says something about going back leaves Harry more open to the ides of help.

He contacts Thomas who in turn tells Faith about the plan. He calls Willow and tells her about the situation. He suggests she can contact Buffy if she wants or thinks they should. Otherwise, the brotherhood of brave prepares to look into things.

The last warning he offers, Mouse is uneasy about this place and there are stories about strangeness from ghosts in the grave yard to various humanoid sightings. He assures them if anyone wants to sit it out, he's not holding it against them.

That being the case, Harry stands by the Blue Beetle about a quarter mile from the grave yard. Sitting next to him, the horse sized Mouse watches the area warily.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith is complaining... because of course he is. He is also armed with his favorite toys and there was never any doubt that he would be here. "I'm not saying I'm not happy to help. I'm always happy to help. But why is it no one ever needs my help in /nice/ places. Aren't their any haunted Massage parlors? Maybe an all you can eat steak house with an imp infestation. why is it always cemeteries. Or Sewers." He points his kukri at Faith, "Wanna know one thing dating you has over Buffy? You never once dragged me to a sewer." He let's Faith get her own gear from the back of his new White Hummer, since he turned the last one into a fireball and launched it at the monster of Col. Sanders nightmares. "I mean at Least Splattercon!!! was in a nice-ish hotel."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow tried to call Buffy.

No go.

So she wrote a note, stuck it on the fridge, and headed out. It didn't take long after the public transit got her close to it.

"Hi Harry! What are we looking at here?" She waved at Faith and Thomas. "That bad, huh?"

Willow had been practising her fire spells - which after she had a switch in her focus, they had actually fine. Who knew, fire was just another element. Call by another name and it probably would be easy then too.

At least in theory.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane rolls her eyes, sipping on a beer, offering him a sip . "He k, I can't complain, haven't seen any action in forever.." she arches a brow as her beloved rival is mentionned, "Wow, a sewer, really? Sounds romantic..." she peers around impatiently, "Are we there yet?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry glances towards Willow and raises a brow,"Next time, tell me you need a ride." he tells her softly and pushes away from the car,"I keep hearing weird stories about this place and I heard about two missing kids that I found a few miles away...well what was left of them anyway."

He takes his blasting rod and settles it inside the duster. His walking stick rests in an easy place to grab as he walks around the car and takes it to hand. A shake of the opposite wrist and his shield bracelet falls down his arm to his wrist for easier access.

Mouse walks over to Willow and slurps her hand a time or two. Rather than follow Harry, he settles next to Willow and walks along with her when she starts in with them.

Looking over at Thomas, Harry shakes his head,"Even I am not that dumb." he muses about something.

Off in the distance is the grave yard, nothing seems too out of the ordinary right now, but the night is young. Harry checks his duster pocket, producing his .357 magnum and checking the load status and then putting it back in his pocket,"The way I see it, the sooner we get there, the sooner we're back at Mac's for a drink and sandwich." he says to nobody in particular.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith takes a swig of the beer his lover offers him and glances out at the ancient grave yard. He glances around nodding to Willow and Mouse but raising an eyebrow. "No Carpenter tonight. Isn't ghost hunting you two's thing?" He asks mildly amused. He has both a respect and a certain level of antagonism for the Holy Paladin. He watches Faith gear up with a certain... fondness before asking "So any idea what sort of Spook, specter, or Class five floating vapors we are dealing with?

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane checks her own equipment, nodding to Willow and Harry, although Mouse is given a wary look and a bit of distance. "Yo, what's up. So what's the plan, we just gonna wander about a spooky graveyard til we bump into a big scary monster?" she makes a face, finishing the rest of the beer, before checking her equipment. These days she's prone to wearing a utility belt, equipped with wooden stakes and a holster for those clawed gloves Thomas once gifted her, as well as a silver dagger just in case.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"I'll remember." Which she probably meant. Would she? Probably not.

Willow frowned as she listened to Harry's tale. "Eww. You mean.." She runs her fingers across her throat. "That kind of what's left of them?" Her hand slipped around Mouses collar to protect him.. or was it her?

"I can ward us, but it is better if I know what I'm warding for." There was warding(genenic) and then Warding(specific).

Harry Dresden has posed:
"There wasn't a lot left. I wish I knew what sort of warding for us to set, but we're still blind. I doubt it will be human." Harry mutters about the bodies. Mouse makes a chuffing sound when he mentions that. When Willow takes his collar, Mouse looks up at her with that 'I got you' look and looks back at the others. Thomas gets a casual glance and Faith's gaze is met, but he doesn't respond to her. He just takes vigil with Willow and waits.

"I wish I could have had him and the rest of the knights as well as Molly. There are too many unknowns. Normally my first thought would be vampires and probably wouldn't worry. The level of damage done, no evidence of where it might be, I just don't know. I wish we had Sabrina as well." He shakes his head and starts towards the grave yard. He looks to Faith and nods,"Unfortunately it looks like we just might be going into see if we scare something out or tempt them out." he tells her,"You two come in on the right about 20 feet on the right." He looks at Willow and nods,"The same for the two of you on the left. I'm getting you in to this so I will go up the center and in the main gate."

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith grins slightly at Faith, "see, and I didn't even make a Poultry-gist joke." He says teasingly, even as he draws his Kukri in one hand and his Cavelry saber in the other. He gestures to their left and adds, "Magically augmented super natural killing machines first. Sounds better then Ladies in the current situation." He says with a playful grin, following Harry's suggestion for them to make a 3 pronged search and attack pattern.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane yawns and stretches, fastening the clawed gloves on her hands, flexing her hands to test them before setting off in said direction.

"Oh joy, I do so love these hide and seek games, but hey, if there is anything out here that gets relatively close I'm sure I'll sense it coming. All the same.." she checks her weapons, making sure everything is in place as her gaze sweeps around, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

"Soo we have no idea what we're up against, except that it left nothing behind that could have given us a clue..This gets more and more fun?" she grins, peering around.

"Come on then, if you're out there watching us, quit being a coward and come play..Nothing I like better than a good ungh!" she emphasizes her grunt with a forward thrusting motion.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Mmm." Willow thinks. "Normally vampires don't do anything to the bodies. They are too pristine. They like their victims as though they could invite them over to tea. Werewolves on the other hand take extreme relish if ripping and tearing their victims. It may be because there is a long history of fighting between them."

She nods to Harry. "Gotcha."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry nods and replies,"The whole thing seemed weird. The bodies were fully exanguinated and not a lot of blood on the ground." he admits and starts walking. He looks at Thomas and rolls his eyes in regards to the bad joke.

Considering the deployment of everyone, Harry walks into the front gate and sweeps the area with the walking staff to fire off if he has to. He frowns and looks around the area.

When people enter the grave yard, the air around the place seems to change. Mouse lets out a deep rolling growl that thunders into a bark that echoes through the night. Something has the big dog on edge and he looks ready to kill.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith stops his quipping as things move foreword. To be perfectly honest he loves this stuff. He twirls his blades once and nods. "If things go spooky, you go high and I'll go low." he says calmly to Faith. The same basic attack strategies they used when attacking the Phobophages. He glances over towards Willow and Mouse, staying aware of their positions, as well as Harry's.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane frowns and shakes her head, "Werewolves savage their prey but even they are not so thorough, there would be *something* left.."

Indeed, when she enters the graveyard, she pauses, looking around, tending visibly. "Okaaay, either this is a major coincidence or we overthought things. I'm sensing vampires, lots of them. Close by. Be on your guard!"

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow shivers - not because she is cold. But because her skin tingles up and down her spine.

"There are several kinds of monsters beyond vampires to take your blood." And she names a few of them.."

Faith, though, is quite certain they are vampires. And since she is a Slayer, she probably knows best. Willow nods as she looks around, always near to Mouse.

Harry Dresden has posed:
The sensation of many vampires is at the same time right and wrong. Before Harry can reply or the like four vampires appear at the end of the grave yard and behind them is one, huge, humanoid frame. As it walks closer, light from the moon marks it as a 7' tall vampire that is beyond muscled bound. The look in his eyes make him look less than sane.

Mouse growls deep in his throat again and takes a step towards those closing, realizes Willow is still with him, looks up at her, and then his eyes focus past her and he turns her back the direction the came from, fury growling beyond reason and two more vampires were trying to sneak up.

Harry mutters to himself and growls,"I think that points out the one doing the eating." He levels his blasting rod at the big one and shouts,"Fuego!" Unfortunately, something is thrown at him and a large rock knocks the rod aside and the blast hits a tombstone and the rod hits the ground.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane narrows her eyes, sifting through the vamps, trying to figure out who the big boss is, and he sure is big.

"Shit..Is that an ancient vampire or something else?" but she wastes no more time in small talk, whipping out a stake and hurling it towards his chest at breakneck speed while rushing towards him, no doubt coming up against many vamps in her way..

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith is not human. For all his protests that his status as a Vampire is a purely political situation, he is also not human. So as Faith rushes the big guy, he's on her flank, his own blades going snicker snack and trying to make sure that he and Faith stay out of the line of fire of the spell slingers.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow barely had time to begin parsing the huge vampire. At 7' tall he wasn't a normal vampire/ Could other creatures be vampired?? They looked to be.

This was a problem.

More so, the creatures seem to have surrounded them. The biggest vampire seemed to be in charge of a plan. Separate, and attack each member of the Scoobies. At least Willow seemed to have had a few circling around her, with Mouse growling as he circled Willow keeping her safe.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Without the blasting rod Harry is missing focus. That doesn't mean he can't use fire magic, it just means he shouldn't. One of the normal sized vampires slips past Faith and Thomas and runs at Harry. Harry looks for the rod for a moment longer and sweeps to the side to miss the oncoming vampire contact. It stumbles madly and almost trips over a gravestone. Harry levels the staff and calls,"Forzare!" A strike of invisible energy hits the stumbling vampire and causes it to go head first into a headstone and promptly no longer be awake. Not dead, but unconcious.

The monster vampire really looks like he should have been a professional wrestler, but he looks crazed and so he charges at Faith since she throws the stake at him. Two of the vampires race at Thomas.

Lastly, the two vampires that tried to flank Willow and Mouse a re shocked to see the big dog turn on them. He growls and lets out a loud snarling bark. Energy surrounds the dog and blasts towards the vampires.

From beneath the ground one new vampire starts to crawl out of its grave just off to Willow's left, effectively a blind spot for her if she is watching and preparing to fight the ones that tried to flank her.
e

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane is pretty sure her first shot wouldn't hit or if it did, it probably wouldn't kill a vampire of such size so easily. "Damn, it just had to be another Kakistos..Where do they make 'em?"

Still she soon finds herself locked in fierce combat with the vampire, using her claws to hack and slash at the beast, hoping to slow it down enough for her to pull out another stake and aim for its heart. "Might need a bigger stake, anyone see any long sticks..?"

Thomas Raith has posed:
"Fresh out... unless..." He severs the arm of one of the Vampires attacking him and preforms a 12' vertical leap, slashing with his kukri and when he lands he lands with a large length of branch from one of the shade trees hitting the ground beside him... It's green wood and not sharpened but it is at least big... He also drive the cavlry saber down into the head of the second vamp attacking him, the blade entering it's left eyeball and coming out the back of it's head.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Of course Willow was watching Mouse. Of course.

Mouse looks to be fighting them off. And Willow? Normally when she goes out with the Scoobies she stands back while they do their stuff. It's not like she couldn't do something.. just she hasn't been necessary.

Harry had been trying to knock that idea out of her head. But it was one of those thing that are easy in theory; hard in practice.

And that third vampire was taking advantage of Willow not paying attention, and not letting offensive spells fly.

Ooops?

Harry Dresden has posed:
The vampires Mouse barks at are shocked by the energy. One goes bouncing down the nearby hill, the other manages to trip over a headstone, but come up with some sort of weapon to throw at Mouse. The big dog lunges, breaking the collar, and going on seek and destroy mode towards the one with the weapon.

It is in that moment the one crawling out of the grave grabs Willow from behind and tackles her to the ground. Her arms are pinned to the ground and his head lunges at her neck. From a distance nobody can see beyond that.

Harry turns towards where Mouse is, just in time to see the new one tackle Willow. He is too far to safely use the blasting rod even though he has just taken it up. Instead he shouts,"Mouse...Willow."

Mouse look back, forgetting the vampire and lunging towards the attacker. As he ducks, Harry shouts,"Fuego!" and this time the fireball blasts the one Mouse was just engaged with.

The big one seems all to enamored with Faith and Thomas and though little vampires fall easy enough, this one looks like he's going to be a problem. The vampire Thomas slices down isn't exactly dead yet, but definately not in the fight now.

The big one grabs a headstone and throws it at Faith's head with bad intent. He is strong, but also a little slow. If it hits her, it's going to hurt like Hell. If.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane moves lightly on her feet, almost as if she's dancing. Anyone who is wise enough knows by now that when Faith dances, people die, one way or the other.

But so far she probably hasn't done much more than irritate the mega vamp, not having laid any major wounds on him yet. And while she is not breathing heavily yet, she's already sporting sone ugly bruises and cuts as well as a small gash in her shoulder, not like she can feel it once the adrenaline kicks in..

When Thomas tosses her the large stick she grins and nods, "Thanks!" sending a mighty jumping kick at the mega vamp to push him back long enough for her to sharpen the stick's end with one of her claws, Faith makes a near fatal miscalculation, and looks up a second too late underestimating the mega vamp's speed and agility as it hurts the chunk of Rick, throwing it at her with breakneck speed.
    Eyes widen and she utters a curse, ducking and rolling, but gets a glancing blow from the chunk of rock which sends her slamming into a nearby tree, momentarily dazing her.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Oh fiddle faddle!

By the time that Willow is aware of the vampire, it is too late to do anything about it.. Almost. All of a sudden her brain clicks in. She's been practising for *just* an occasion. However the vampire was just a little too close for what she had planned. and the hand-to-hand was really only to escape, not have a fight.

And certainly not to fight with a vampire latching onto her neck.

She tried.. really she did.

If only she had at least arms length between him and her. Frankly she was getting scared. So scared she might just use the fireball regardless!

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith sees Faith take the hit... someone is going to be spending quality time in the jacuzzi later. He winces, changing paths slightly to put himself between Big, Dumb, and Ugly and the Dark Slayer while she shakes the bats from her belfry. "Willow you still okay over there?

Harry Dresden has posed:
The big monster vampire sees Faith falter and lunges, but pulls up short when Thomas gets in the way and so he takes a slow, but certainly debilitating strike at Thomas' head.

In the distance, another vampire looks on. By the light of the moon it is hard to see much about her other than she has long flowing hair that is too dark to be blonde, but she's too far away to say for sure what color. She has a cigarette in her mouth and she exhales thoughtfully, giving no example of being willing to enter the fray.

Danger. Mouse knows that one too well. He plows into the vampire, his mouth opening wide and clamping around the vampire's neck. While that isn't enough to kill it straight away, the vampire screams and thus withdraw his fangs from Willow's neck. Mouse notices the change and bodily drags the vampire up and away, then shaking him like a snake he is trying to kill. His jaws release the vampire and it flies head first into a grave stone. Mouse stands between him and Willow and a level of rage in his eyes would make his allies uncomfortable. The vampire tries to get to his feet, but stumbles.

The fireball Harry shot flies into the vampire Mouse had been fighting and sets it ablaze. The scream is unsettling and the monster races towards a pond in the distance, but a few steps past the edge of the grave yard he results into a pile of dust.

Harry turns to look past Mouse,"Willow!?"

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane takes a pretty bad hit, one that might land the average human in a hospital for a few weeks or at least knock 'em out pretty good..

However she just grumbles, uttering a string of. curses under her breath, climbing shakily to her feet and grabs the large stair as she hears for mega vamp.

"Thomas look out!" she calls a warning to him as she charges full speed towards the mega vamp, attempting to impale him strait through with her giant stake.

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith is watching BDnU's attack and slips past the attack like a ballerina slipping past a football player. He spins bringing both of his blades up in an X and tries to quite literally "dis-arm" the Giant Vamp with a sissor like motion. Success or fail he thel leaps to the side to give Faith a clearer target. He goes low, while she goes high. They have a system at least.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
By this time, Willow was ready. And peeved. Very. Very. Peeved.

Not only had the vampire tried to turn her (she would have two marks on her neck for a little time while she healed), but he had tried to hurt his friend. Who cared if he was a dog. She was going to stop him from hurting Mouse.

(Willow always cared about others before herself.)

Holding out her hands and scooping them she began to collect fire out of thin air. "Don't. You. Dare. Hurt. My. Friend."

The fireballs - as big as her head - flew across the graveyard and imbedded into the vampires chest before exploding with a thunderous *crack* of sound. Where once had been a vampire? There was only wafts of smoke.

"Yeah," said Willow. "I almost forgot myself. I'm okay now."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Then, as fast as it had started, it was over. Willow strikes down the last of the vampires. Mouse settles and leans against her leg. The stake missile Faith launches strikes the large vampire direct in the chest and he grumbles before falling to the ground into a pile of ash. The good guys win. Well the good guys are standing and the bad ones are not.

Harry looks at Faith and Thomas to make sure they are ok and then fixes his blasting rod inside his duster and walks towards Willow to check on her. That sort of close quarters contact can only result in new holes in her neck and he wants to make sure nothing vital was struck. Mouse looks at him and he pats the dog a few times,"Let's see where you were hit." he tells her. He glances at the pile of dust and then back at her,"That was a helluva shot."

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith glances at Faith to make sure she is okay... but if the Slayer is on her few5t she'll likely be finem so he heads over to check on Willow as well, more accurately get a look at her neck. "You might wanna put some holy water on that just to be safe." He comments with a smile, giving Mouse a "Good Boy" ear ruffle. "You know Harry, you could let me pick an outting for a change. There is this nice Gentleman's club, and I here they love tall guys..."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"He was going to hurt Mouse." Willow almost sounds angry at herself. "I almost forgot that I'm better than that."

Letting Harry check out, she leans her head to the left. "I think he bit me. Or tried." And sure enough there are two bite marks on her neck. "I think I stopped him before he ate. I'm so stupid. I almost didn't make it. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid."

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry take a rag from his pocket and puts it on the puncture wounds and tells her,"He definately took a bite." Harry grumbles. He nods to what Thomas says and replies,"Probably a good idea, but not something I keep on hand as a general rule. Faith do you have any holy water?"

He dabs the punctures with the rag and scowls,"Well, at least it didn't hit any major vessels."

Harry rolls his eyes when he registers what Thomas said,"You going to convince Faith to let you take me there?"

For his part, Mouse looks unscratched and not even bothered other than the fact he is right on Willow's hip now and watching for any other reanimated abominations to thrash.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"I want to go out. Somewhere that.. that.. different. Not me."

She scrounges in her satchel. "I've got some holy water. You might have to cut open the puncture wider to make certain nothing gets missed." Although she is Jewish by birth, and pagan by religion, sometimes you just had to use holy water.

"Don't worry, Mouse, it was my fault. Harry told me, and I forgot."

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane peers around, doing a quick headcount, "Think we got em all? Thought I saw some long haired chick standing over there somewhere, but then I got distracted.."

She smirks at Harry and nods, pulling out a bottle of holy water and tossing it to him. "of course, I always come prepared."

Thomas Raith has posed:
Thomas Raith nods and offer's Harry his Kukri, handle first. "Probibly the sharpest thing we got on hand." Then to distract Willow he gives her his 1000 watt smile and adds, "Be glad it was just a shovel head and not one of the Red Court, or you'd be blissed outta your mind right now. He grin's back at Faith and nods his thanks for her having the Holy water. He really should update his battle bag.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry turns to catch the holy water throws to him. He takes the rag off Willow's neck and opens the bottle,"Everyone survived and lessons were learned." he tells Willow seriously, almost sound like a teacher suddenly,"That said, if you do it again we're going to have problems." Probably teasing...well maybe. Possibly?

He soaks the rag and places it on the wound and tells Willow,"We'll got back to the lab and make sure you are safe then you can go wherever you want. Hang on to your holy water because I want you to treat the punctures with it for a few more days even if there isn't any indication of infection."

He takes the khukri and considers it for a moment,"You sure you are up for this or do you want to wait until we can get back to the lab first?" he asks Willow seriously.

Faith Lehane has posed:
Faith Lehane grins, "Wow, I've never seen you so mad before Red, you're pretty scary when you're mad..Remind me never to get on your bad side..Those fireballs we're pretty badass!." she grins and winks at her.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Don't worry. You should go out with Thomas. Besides, I'm really not dressed to go out clubbing."

Does Willow have something that is suitable for clubbing? Probably not!

She tells Faith, "It's happened a couple times now. Once I helped to save Superman. I got so angry I wanted to kill a man. I try not to let my anger get the worst of me." She shrugs as if to say 'for reasons',

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry shakes his head,"Thomas was being Thomas. He really wants to take Faith with him, he just won't say it." he assures Willow,"I want to check at he lab and let Bob have a look too. I can't do that at a club so you're stuck with me for at least an hour or two more."

Mouse looks towards the distance and growls deeply and like Faith said, there is a woman looking down on them, but once everyone else sees her she will slip off into the night.