(no subject)

[wildestmods]

[The attic door, which was so firmly locked, opens.]

Ugh.

[Up in the attic, she appears, sprawled on a throne with an imperious, contemptuous expression on her face: the vampire queen. Her hair is in voluminous curls, her lips are red, her nails and long and painted, her dress structured and embroidered. She looks as if she might have been dropped in from a fashion magazine from a different time period, if the 1800’s had fashion magazines. She sneers, and her fangs are visible.

Her face appears on every communicator mirror.

Elsewhere in the house, the rats become docile; the Nosferatu vampire and ghouls crawl into the darkness, ceasing their assault; the phantoms evaporate. Those under the psychological and transformative effects of the house suddenly find themselves returning to their normal forms and temperaments, with memories restored - no matter how much they may wish otherwise. The rain outside continues to pound down.]

I was really hoping you wouldn’t find the amulet. I would have destroyed that thing, but it’s indestructible, which is very inconvenient for me. Go on, go on, give your friends in the basement a round of applause. You'd have been screwed without them.

Look. Here’s the situation. Things are about to get bad out here, and I, personally? I’m not into this whole dying thing just because the big dogs are throwing themselves at each other. I’m doing what any smart person would do and- well, I guess I can’t take for granted that you know what a smart person would do- putting together a backup plan. I need an army.

That was supposed to be you.

[She rolls her eyes and sighs exaggeratedly. The image on the mirrors zooms out, and several sad looking ghosts, Pat and Robin included - corporeal, but evident by the clear signs of their demise - are cowering in the corner. They’re evidently terrified of her. They look towards the mirror as if begging for help.]

Whatever. I’ve been using their power to try and mold you all, but since you found the one antidote to that, you’re not going to be very useful to me, are you? It’s not even going to be worth expending my resources to kill you, and since half of you aren't even human draining your blood is like playing Russian roulette, and that's a loser's game.

I guess there’s a long shot that you could take out Sauron, but honestly, I wouldn’t bet money on it.

So get out.

[She disappears off of the mirror, leaving the channel open for everyone to communicate with each other. Those in the attic can see her bark an order in something that sounds like Russian to the ghosts, who, trembling, all scuttle ahead of her through a doorway behind the throne, which closes behind her.]

Comments

cw: casual misogyny

[rambles_on]

[To say Dean's pissed is an understatement. This goth bitch got into his head-- everyone's head-- and for what? To have them play soldier in her little army?

At least she's hot. She's dressed like she's straight outta Little Women, but she's hot. Points for hotness.

Dean turns to his mirror. No, he's not avoiding eye contact with Dan, what the are you talking about?]

So we're going in there and ganking this bitch, right?

[He flips his silver candlestick-- how the fuck did he forget the word for candlestick-- in his hand.]

[unsealthecatbox]

What this woman tried to do is the same thing the Unfinished Princess does: forcing people to join her by force.

We're supposed to stop the likes of her.

[Ange seems pretty fine with this vampire queen being attacked, apparently. She's not right it's the same thing the Unfinished Princess does, but she felt there were enough similarities saying that was fine]

[credit_not_blame]

We're supposed to save the Green, which involves stopping Sauron and the Unfinished Princess.

[Stacia shrugs.]

I'm not saying we shouldn't stop this lady too -- I don't like anyone fucking with my head -- but it's not a foregone conclusion either. Anyone who doesn't want to throw down with a vampire can start hauling supplies back to our home base instead.

[millenyal_pink]

Also, she's clearly not a big fan of Sauron. Taking her out means we lose a potential ally in the future. She may not believe in us right now, but we might be able to come back with some leverage, or at least proof we have a half-decent shot.

[The whole enslaving-ghosts thing isn't... great. Pretty fucked up, really. And she fucked with everyone's heads, and Elle hates that. It's all pretty upsetting.

But it also sounds like she's scared as hell of Sauron and the Unfinished Princess and that could be useful. She's clearly somewhat powerful. Elle doesn't want to write her off just yet.]

[ahelpingpaw]

Yeah, exactly! I mean, I'm not trying to sell ourselves short? But it's saving a world, we'll need all the help we can get.

[.......]

Problem is how to convince her. She's not gonna accept it today or...anytime soon. I don't think we're gonna get anywhere with her unless we prove we do stand a chance.

[And that's supposing they meet her at all in the future, and in circumstances that don't involve them being enemies]

[hallelujahjunction]

[The dismay is obvious on Dan's face as he realizes he's getting roped into this argument again, into once again feeling backed into a corner arguing for the less violent option.]

She already said she ain't about to kill us. Why ain't we prioritizing this like a rescue mission instead of a revenge quest?

[Because the ghosts need help, and Dan'll be damned before he leaves them behind to continue in servitude to this woman, but killing her might just make the situation worse. They don't yet know what hold she has on the ghosts.]

This lady knows something about what's happening with Sauron. Shouldn't we might be trying to get information out of her instead of just axing her?

[Getting information is a secondary concern to Dan, but he figures that appealing to strategy is a more promising option than trying to force people's better natures.]

[credit_not_blame]

[Stacia pauses, then gives herself a little shake.]

That's a good point, Dan. Thank you.

[She'd been trying to give people an out, but he's right: this doesn't have to be about revenge and violence. Dean set the tone, but she'd responded in kind, and that's a bad habit to get into.]

She's a mind-fucking, enslaving asshole, but there's an argument to be made for "the enemy of my enemy". She and her people can go places that obvious allies of the Green like the Elves can't. That could be valuable.

[rambles_on]

Dude. Vampire. Tried to mind-whammy us.

[Dan's a hunter, the math on this shouldn't be difficult.]

What's stopping her from doing the same thing to the next poor schmucks that stumble into this place?

[funhinged]

[ Finally, Stede's expert wheelhouse. Getting insulted and being confused and pretending he wasn't having a full breakdown in a closet less than an hour ago.

In hindsight he doesn't know what he expected. That's clearly on him. ]

Well, her management style seems terrible, so good on the crew below decks for getting us out of a jam. Very helpful, guys, thanks!

[ Are they even listening? He has no way of knowing. That's not his job. ]

If anyone's got inklings on how we might free up the ghosts while we're still here, that would be fab. No reason to leave them with bad company unless it's absolutely unavoidable.

[ahelpingpaw]

I dunno what this woman did, but she said she was trying to mold everyone to be her army. Maybe she has the ghosts under her thrall too, and all one's gotta do now is break her hold over them.

They looked pretty scared, you know? Even if at some point they joined her because they wanted to, right now they're terrified.

[Maybe anyone who had joined willingly in the past has second thoughts or something now]

[funhinged]

Just so, Filbo! It's a real multi-tasker. We help them out, she hasn't got any more lackeys to use for this "molding." Saves a load of trouble for the next walking castle full of kidnapped people that comes along. However many of those there are. I'm thinking it must be at least four.

[ Plus he wants to see if the ghosts would come hang in their castle for a while specifically. Get a lift to wherever. It's probably cool and fun to have voluntary ghost pals in a rag-tag crew. Real status symbol in the walking castle economy that he's literally invented himself. ]

So if anyone's holding out on a ghostly second amulet, now's the time for a dramatic reveal. Do you like our odds?

[credit_not_blame]

Whatever hold she has on them, it's different than the one she was trying to get on us. She was messing with our heads, but they're clear enough on what's going on to be afraid of her.

[rambles_on]

Find their graves, salt'n'burn the bones.

[It'll get rid of the ghosts and give this vampire-chick less evil minions. Boom, perfect solution.]

[funhinged]

Ooh, wow. Salt and burn? I mean, it sounds thorough. Bit desecrate-y. I don't know enough about ghosts to say. I'd have to go dig out some better grave-robbing footwear.

[ Sadly lacking in readily available appropriately gloomy grave-robbing outfits, but the footwear in this house has all held up well enough... he guesses he does have the magic sword that sets stuff on fire for like. A reason.

God, was this the reason? Wasn't on his list of potentials. ]

On a scale from helpfully ushering them into the afterlife where they're safe from whatever-her-name-is to obliterating their immortal souls from existence entirely, where does salting and burning their bones fall as far as... hurting ghosts?

cw: casual misogyny

[rambles_on]

It's less desecrate-y then letting their spirit be trapped by some psycho vampire bitch.

[Dean thinks of the ways ghosts scream as they go up in flames.]

Doesn't hurt 'em much, that I can tell. Gets rid of 'em quick, though. Never seen a ghost come back from a good ol' salt'n'burn.

[credit_not_blame]

There's a lot of countryside here. You have any ideas about how to even find their graves?

[rambles_on]

[The attitude coming from this kid reminds Dean of Sammy at his most annoying-- bratty and holier-than-thou.]

I don't see anyone else coming up with a better idea.

And don't you have super-senses? Can't you just- [he waves a hand] --sniff 'em out?

[unsealthecatbox]

I know nothing about ghosts but aren't they supposed to be unable to wander too far away from places significant to them? The graves might be nearer than we think.

Put it to a vote!

[credit_not_blame]

[Stacia claps her hands to get everyone's attention. It's easier in person, but it'll probably work over the mirrors. If not, she can always yell.]

I think we're about at the end of the brainstorming session, at least if we actually want to do anything besides loot the place and take back what we can carry.

So let's put it to a vote: do we try diplomacy, attempt murder, or wash our hands of the whole thing?

[millenyal_pink]

Diplomacy. [No hesitation whatsoever. She was waiting for someone-- likely Stacia-- to try and organize them all.]

cw: misogynistic language

[rambles_on]

Put the bitch down.

[She's done enough damage already. No point in letting her do any more.]

[funhinged]

[ Lesson learned, Stacia was being 100% legit when she said she's basically the one in charge. ]

I think I'm gonna vote for diplomacy. The worst that happens is it ends up turning into attempted murder anyway. And I mean, in that case there's no reason not to try it out, is there.

[ Since, thankfully, everyone does already seem to be on the 'we are going to loot for our lives on the way out' priorities page. ]

[ahelpingpaw]

If we're careful we can try diplomacy first!

[Definitely go with the pacifist, civilized option first. No need to show of force unless it's the only option! This vampire queen maybe isn't like Sauron or the Unfinished Princess, maybe she can be reasoned with!]

[unsealthecatbox]

[Ange definitely hesitates for several seconds before answering]

...I'm abstaining. Sorry, too bothered by the whole thing about our heads and hearts getting messed with. It was bad enough that weird castle we're living in did it, this woman doing it too is just too much.

[So she can't say she feels too forgiving right now. Still...better back down instead of risking making things worse, so Ange figures everyone else will be able to decide what to do]

[hallelujahjunction]

You know what my take is. [Dan looks tired and dispirited, and to punctuate that he takes a drink from his flask.]