Welcome to Gaia! ::

Patrick gave a small smile. "thank you. Normally, they're not this... eccentric but... I think they just really want to impress someone." He gave her a short wave, returning to the throng.

The cider helps you feel a bit warmer- it also seems to take the edge of fear off.




The staff too slow to stop her, the painting comes down to reveal three long gouges into the wood paneling behind it. They did about 1cm deep, and go for five inches, each an inch apart. It looks like maybe a bird's claw? Whatever cause it certainly wasn't a mammal at any rate.

"Excuse me- Oh no-" Patrick arrived eyes wide. "Please put that back, if my aunts catch you- Oh no." He keeps fretting, torn between reaching out to take the painting or coving the talon marks.


The other books looked more traditional in terms of mainstream consumption for 'magic' or 'witchery'. Only the old tome seems even semi-authentic.


Maria had given a curt look and replied with a firm "Let us hope so." Before she'd left to give the group address in the entertainment room.


As Mahogany would wander the garden, they would feel eyes on them the entire time- The ground was muddy and the walls far too high and slick to climb- no to mention the iron work on top was imposing. Fashioned like spears almost.
A lone raven came down to caw at him, staring before with one loud caw- attempted to land on his head.



Jeff shook his head. "I mean usually bit this was.. odd. Usually it's to keep the party secret, but they announced it. When its cases like that its the kinky stuff you know? Sex parties. Orgies. Crazy Cult rituals or high gatherings of the Mary Kay makeup line. This? We couldn't know anything about the party and whats happening, nor, could we tell anyone any secrets we found. Frankly, it made no sense. Still doesn't. But, Maria took the contract anyway." His voice waivered.
"I- I maybe shouldn't telling you this, but... I wouldn't put it past those sisters to have something planned. They didn't mention any of this to us- and for us, it's a safety issue. So if this was planned... it's a contract violation." Jeff started to look a little green around the gills.


The waitress shook her head, eyes wide and panicked. "No I- I can't do that!" For all her reluctance, she still did what Bo told her, taking the offered bottle before taking a long swig.
"Just don't tell on me?"


His attempt to wave someone down resulted in getting the attention of Maria, who frowned at his question. "We tried. I think someone might still be trying. From what Taylor said, the tree might have knocked out more than just road. It might be why the power and phone line went out as well. For now, we're stuck."

Beatrice Kellye in the Foyer


It was too late - Marnie managed to get the painting down before the staff could stop her and when the flicker of light from nearby candles shown across the wall, Bea couldn't help but raise both hands to cover her slackjawed expression.

"What the hell...."

There were gashes. Legitimate, scary scratches across the wall and the man who yanked the painting from Marnie's hands started to fret something crazy about some lady or something -- Bea couldn't tell what he was going on about because wide eyes couldn't peel themselves away from the jagged lines the painting had clearly been covering up.

"M-Marn, what do you think caused those?"

The feeling of eyes on him made Mahogany's hair stand on end. He searched the grounds for the source of the feeling but, alas, found nothing but wet, muddy darkness. He walked a bit further until, with a squelch, his new canvas shoes sunk into a particularly cruel patch of mud. It took him a minute and several irritated grunts before he finally freed it, muddy up to his ankle at this point.

But that wasn't the end of Mahogany's struggles, it would seem.

Having been so irritated, Mahogany hadn't heard or rather hadn't registered, the angry call of the raven heading right for him until it was too late. The first thing that he felt were the wicked little talons digging into this scalp, which shocked him into silent stillness for an instant before he screamed and made to run. Unfortunately, the ground trapped him again, grabbing on to his still-muddy ankle and keeping him there. Mahogany had no choice but to fight the raven off, his ankle still caught in the mud.

Jada (outfit)- Entertainment Room - has arcane journal

White magic was good magic, hmm? So Healing should be good, but... something about this was distinctly not... good feelings. After a review of the other books, she began to shove them out of her way, returning her attention to the journal. You shouldn't be handling those, someone said, and Jada instinctively cradled the journal closer as hands reached for it, before they withdrew.

"How can you tell if an intention is to harm?" she inquired curiously. "I mean, I've only skimmed, but between the cancer guides and what looks like magical healing rituals, I'm not sure that something bad was the end goal. Unless..." she flipped towards the back of the book slowly, keeping an eye out for dates or familiar faces or names among the clippings and pictures, muttering "The warnings come after the spells, don't they?" Doctor Strange hadn't exactly been a movie relevant to her life until this very moment.

Thanks for making her watch it, Zora.

Also, the Negaverse and Dark Moon were using Black Magic? Of sorts. That was news for her arsenal- maybe she'd see if there were any protection charms against black magic she could use to pelt the Negaverse.

"What do you mean by shielding myself? Like smudging sage and making salt circles and stuff? We aren't terribly far from the kitchens, and we were told we could walk around. Do you think this actually a spell book, or just a journal?" she had a million questions, and shifted the book she was looking at closer to the middle of the small circle of Mercy, Nick, and the mysterious third-generation Wiccan- but was clearly unwilling to give up the book entirely. "And Mercy, what's a Dragonsoul Pendant?"

As the raven cawed and attempted to find purchase on top of the man's head, Mahogany would find himself pulled back inside by a haggard looking Maria.
"What are you doing?" Concern is etched on her face. "There's no way out of the gardens- now you're soaked! Hand on, let me get you a towel." As she darts off, he feels the sting of talons in his scalp, though, no bleeding. In his head, he thinks he hears a caw from inside the entertainment room- but the raven is no where to be seen.

The only sign of what happened are his muddy shoes, soaked clothes, and a raven feather stuck in the the collar of his top.

The door to the gardens is now locked.


Where once was a new looking pool table is now something dirty and worn. The green felt is ripped in several places and the only ball on the table now is the eight ball; it looks like it was chipped and worn. If you pick it up you think you see something glisten inside of it but when you run your finger over it, there's only the sliver of a crack and the black of the ball.



The dates of the articles stand out- many are from the 80s. They detail strange events happening in Tokyo. Then, they skip forward to the last 10 years, all about strange events and cancer treatments.

Heather Beauchamp -- Entertainment Room

Heather smiled softly at the younger of the two other girls (Mercy), clearly very used to the questions about the validity of magic. Her response wasn't nearly as unsure as her introduction, either from a feeling of comfort within the topic or repeatedly answering questions along the same vein.

"I believe that it does. My family does too, all the way back to my grandmother. Same way other families believe that prayer works. But it's really not so much magic as it is the purposeful manipulation of various energies to achieve a goal. Everyone has a vibration. Tapping into that frequency through whatever, prayer, meditation, spellwork, is all magic really is."

Jada's question, however, was much harder to answer. How did Heather know when things were wrong? She just kind of... sensed it. And granted it was slightly easier for her here where things seemed to be bubbling so close to the surface...

"Well... I suppose under normal circumstances I would real the spell, paying attention to what tools and ingredients were being used... Not that it really seemed safe to do so in this case." But then came the mention of sage... still her mother's voice rang out in her head, cautioning her when using magic she wasn't certain of... but this didn't seem like normal circumstances.

"Normally I wouldn't advise messing with unfamiliar spells but... I don't think we have a choice," Heather glanced at the other two in the group, one, Sita, looking particularly tired. "I think the kitchens are a good idea, sage and salt are a good way to start. We can cast a circle with those some water, and a candle. The four elements should protect us at least a little... the rest will have to come from us. I can guide you through psychic shielding when we're ready..."

Mordred Pendragon - Dinning room

Banks smiled, and she couldn't help but smile back, strained as it was. She could do this- get through this. Her parents- they didn't have a clue. But Peitro did. Banks might be nervous but he was a lawyer, he had faced down demons of his own no doubt.
"Milkshakes- we could go to iHop." Breakfast for dinner. That sounded nice.

Then everything went tits up- and a guy straight up and died. Death Mory could do. Death she was numb to, at least the deaths of strangers.
"I-" She reached out, pushing herself between the men. "I ******** hate this party. No free food is worth this." A tug she pulled them towards the kitchens. "Let's find a place to hide out. I don't- I don't want to look at it." It was still a dead body of course.

Those near Jeff's body would see it happening.
His body, slowly becoming encased in dark red, pulsating crystal that seemed to feed off of it's host....the now wide eyed and very much alive Jeff, who once encased, was trapped in his crystal cocoon as it ate away at his flesh.
The pool table slowly becomes a morbid and grotesque altar of sacrifice as Jeff writhes in obvious pain as red crystals eats him alive.

A scream comes from the basement, and the raven's voice echos through the building.

"She wakes! She wakes! Her time to feed has come! Hurry hurry! Grab what you can else you'll never make it home again!"

Outside, a large shadow looms over the estate, eyes peering into the windows before vanishing with a clap of thunder...