---

It had been about two hours since Isaac picked up the case. Not one to hang around the precinct for social matters while there was work to be done, he headed to the scene once his necessary appearance at the retirement party had been met. Upon arrival his mind had already begun to work at attempting to recreate what events led to this moment. His eyes scanned the street corner where the theatre stood, a line of police tape barring entrance to the slowly growing crowd. News vans were already beginning to arrive and begin probing for information. At the epicenter of it all laid the body, one of many apparently waiting within the theatre, a scene that was all too familiar. For a moment he sat in his car, having parked it a short distance from the scene so as to not attract attention, and opened a box of cigarillos. Almost immediately, a heavy smell of berries began to fill the air of the car as he lifted one from amongst the rest. Despite its scent pervading the interior of the car, Isaac took a sharp whiff of its length before lighting the end and taking a long drag. As he exhaled his eyes continued to scan the scene before him and noticed an officer approaching his car. "Not bad. Pointless, but not bad", his words escaping out into the city as he rolled down the window for the officer.

"I'm sorry sir but this intersection is closed off. You'll have yo go around", the officer didn't waste a moment in directing Isaac away but a quick flash of his badge made it clear as to his purpose there. "Sorry Detective, didn't recognize you", the officer stepped back from the car door as Isaac made his way out, a look of slight embarrassment on his face. "No its fine, I wouldn't expect you to, I transferred here only recently. So, what have you found so far?", without hesitation Isaac made his way past the cordoned off intersection and towards the first body with the officer close behind.

"The victim is uhhh, Benjamin Coleman, apparently he was an actor who's group was rehearsing at the theatre today for an upcoming play. He and about every other cast member were killed inside. From the looks of it Evan was the only one who made it out the building but died from his injuries", the officer finished reading over his notepad when he noticed Isaac staring intently at the body, almost deathly still. "Uh detective? would you like to see the others?"

"No"

"I'm sorry what?"

"No, not yet at least. I'm waiting for my partner, she should be here soon enough. We're expecting an R&D agent as well so have your men lead them inside when they arrive. In the meantime I'll take some time examining this one", Isaac never once turned from the body as he spoke. His eyes were rapidly shifting up and down the body of the victim as he remained crouch over it as still as a gargoyle. The officer beside him simply exhaled sharply in confusion and slight irritation as he stepped away and back into the theatre.

As for Isaac, his mind had already put together a number of theories as to what had unfolded earlier today. "Throat was slit, not deep enough so as to allow him to cling to life. You probably got away before they got Someone wanted your final moments to be painful didn't they, Benjamin. But why? Most likely the answer is probably waiting inside isn't it?", his darting eyes shooting a split second glance at the theatre before returning to the body, never ceasing in their furious inspection of the departed. For a moment he almost missed it, a small clump of skin beneath a fingernail with some blood to go with it. "I'm sure the folks at R&D will be happy to have that", he muttered to himself before continuing on. "I might have a few minutes before the others get here", his deathly stillness ceased as his eyes cut a line across the surrounding area, hunting for any that might be watching. Satisfied he lay a hand on the body and as if she sun was snuffed out, darkness consumed him. For anyone watching it was but a few seconds that Isaac seemed to tremble violently while crouched over the victim. For him it was anything but a few seconds, in fact for him it felt as though an eternity would pass before he'd return to the land of the living. "I see, so its happening again", his words barely escaping his throat as he regained his grip on reality.

---

---

---

It looked as if progress had abandoned this place. While self driving cars, hologram projections, and towering skyscrapers dominated the East End and Downtown areas, the West End clung to the aesthetic of the prior decade with a severe degree of dilapidation. The cracked and buckling sidewalk gave way as nature had begun to envelope the area around the building. Despite the overgrowth taking over, to any who would approach it felt as if death radiated from this place. Police had already established a perimeter around the building and an OTO team had already been sent in once officers discovered what lay within. Throughout the entire apartment complex, in every hallway, every apartment, every room, strange and sinister symbols had been either carved into the walls or drawn with blood. The was not an inch of this place untouched by these occult sigils and yet despite all the blood not a single body was found. At this point investigators had already drawn conclusions that whatever body or bodies had been used were probably moved and were looking elsewhere for them. As for the building, R&D had been called in to document and analyze the symbols to provide investigators with any potential leads. The case, amongst others, was high profile due to the bizarre circumstance or it all. As such, the press had entered a frenzy of trying to get exclusive info on the ongoing investigations. So much so that Precinct Chief Daza Sendros was at the scene to make a statement before police.

"Chief, can you tell us if what happened within the apartment complex today is in any way tied to the mass murder at The Monolith Theatre today as well?", Daza didn't hesitate when the microphone was aimed at her, waiting for answers. "As of right now we cannot confirm that theory but my precinct has already put its best detectives to work on that case as well as this one. As of right now we are sending in an analyst team into the complex to determine the motive behind what happened here and once that's done we'll have more information available to the public but as of right now I wouldn't jump to conclusions that these two incidents are related in any way"

"But Chief, what about the ongoing development at the Beacon Hotel, wouldn't that be proof enough that these incidents are related? After all, a mass murder, blood rituals, and now a hostage situation? That seems like a lot of orchestrated violent crime to happen in the same timeframe and not be connected. Many people are wondering detective if this is the return of the Ronoth Cult or-", another microphone was shoved into the tiefling detective's face only to be cut off once her patience had run out.

"The situation at the Beacon Hotel is still ongoing and we have no concrete evidence to connect the perpetrators there to whoever is responsible for these other two incidents. The situation at The Monolith Theatre is currently under investigation and as of right now what's occurred here can easily be chalked up to a prank by someone trying to add onto the fears of this city and I will not grant them that. The people of this city have enough to worry about today, my precinct will not rest until we find who is responsible and until we do I will not add to the fearmongering of the press. This interview is over, no further questions", Daza strode off and away from the police line as reporters clamored over, hoping to get a final statement but to no avail.

Despite her statements to the press, everyone at the station knew what was going on was connected, but Daza wasn't about to come forward with that theory on nothing but a hunch. The call had come in earlier, before the rest, but on that day but the department wasn't in any rush to pursue it for at the time, the scale of it had not fully been known. It was clear at this point that something had occurred in that complex that was related to the other killings. The OTOs had sweeped the place clean and the detectives originally assigned couldn't seem to find anything of note there. Daza was growing impatient, after reassigning the original detectives to another case the only real choice was Caldwell and Aria. It was while she was looking through her R&D agent lists that she'd noticed Serene's file. The last they met, Daza's impression of the woman was that she was another science project her precinct had to babysit but after looking over her history her mind was made. From what she'd heard, the symbols didn't resemble anything of recent times, perhaps the two thousand year old dragon could be useful? Something like Serene couldn't be trust to Caldwell and Aria, so Devora and her pet would be brought in as security against whatever they might find as well as to keep Serene in check...if that was even possible.

"Where the hell is R&D?", the Precinct Chief grumbled to herself before the ring of her phone took her attention. "Sendros", she answered curtly while looking down the road for the R&D van.

"Chief, its Vhurdaer, the situation's changed at the Beacon", Vhurdaer T'sarren, OTO Captain of Daza's Precinct and current operation commander of the hostage situation underway at The Beacon Hotel. There was a noticable amount of concern in his voice though one could easily mistake it for stern focus had they not known the captain.

"What do you mean 'the situation's changed'?"

"A moment ago they were shouting something about Kaiwan or some shit and now they're demanding we send some of our people in or else they'll start killing the hostages"

"Anyakt S'zadi!", she cursed at the ground before taking a moment to compose herself "Did they give us a timeframe at least?"

"They said we have an hour to send someone in. They didn't specify how many or why just that they want someone in there with them. If you ask me they're probably trying to get more hostages for whatever fucked up shit they have planned"

"How long before Minos and his team gets there?"

"Last I checked they were about a few minutes away. Why? You sending us in, boss?", there was a silence over the phone as Daza contemplated the best course of action.

"We cant risk sending someone in and only adding to their list of victims. Do we know where most of them are?"

"Snipers tell me that most of them are on the ground floor in the lobby guarding the hostages. There are a few on some of the floors, likely searching for more hostages. Other than that they don't seem to be watching the other entrances. You've got a plan?"

"Something like that. Get a team on a helicopter and have them enter via the roof. Have Minos and his team enter via the rear entrance to the basement. Have both teams move towards the lobby, Minos and his team can secure any escape routes should these bastards try to run once the larger group arrive at the lobby"

"Understood, I'll get us ready to make the play", without another word Daza ended the call and without skipping a beat she turned to a nearby officer. "Have R&D speak to me when they arrive, I want this shit sorted by the end of the damn day!"

As if the words conjured them forth, Daza could see the OIA R&D van rounding the corner towards the site. She stood at the curb with a look of irritation in her glowing yellow eyes, waiting for R&D to exit so she can really tear into someone for whatever caused them to be late. As the team unpacked Daza approached the van before clearing her throat, "You're late. Why?"

The driver of the van, an officer who was unlucky enough to be assigned the role, piped up before the others. "Sorry Chief, I was just finishing up something at the precinct when I got the call", his eyes didn't dare meet the Chief's as he attempted to explain himself.

"So the city starts reenacting Jonestown and you what? Took the scenic route here? Forget it, just help R&D set up, I'll show them in", Daza didn't stop to greet any of the R&D team but instead headed towards the building. "The last two detectives I assigned to this case didn't see how big this shit would get. Professors, I need you to scour this place and find out what the hell caused this shitstorm, see if the dragon knows anything. I'm told these symbols are old as shit. Dev, If anything shows up here I expect you and your pet to handle it but call it in so we have a heads up. If you have any questions now is the time to ask. None? Great. Let's go people"

Without another word, Daza left the team to their devices. From the entrance one could see an innumerable amount of occult symbols etched all over the walls, ceiling, and floor. Some of these symbols, the ones carved into the walls, seemed to match if not follow a pattern while the ones in blood seemed to each be unique. At the other end of the main lobby, on the right wall was a rusted door, the entrance to the basement. The door, while heavily rusted, was painted over with what could only be described at the climax of all the other blood symbols about the complex.

---

---

---

"Kaiwan's will shall be made manifest! For far too long has our lord been denied the city which is by right his to rule!", a man cloaked in a bright yellow robe shouted from the entrance to The Beacon Hotel with great zeal. With one arm wrapped around the neck of a young boy another holding a twisted looking dagger he preached to the surrounding OTOs and onlookers as if the whole scene was a religious congregation. The line of officers held their rifles at the ready in the event the cultist actually did what everyone was fearing. The tension was palpable outside the hotel as memory of the Ronoth Crisis was still fresh in the minds of the city's inhabitants. "You all shall be witness to the ascent of our lord to his rightful throne! Any who dare intervene shall be met with the wrath of our lord for we are his will made manifest!", as the cultist continued with his ravings, Vhurdaer approached from amongst the other OTOs. The sight of the dark elf captain made the cultist retreat slightly into the hotel as he held the knife to the boy's throat. "Another step and the child dies, filth!", his words like poison with hatred in every syllable he uttered. Vhurdaer halted his advance halfway up the steps to the hotel with hands in the air to show his intent.

"My name is Captain Vhurdaer T'sarren, and that speech was nice and all but how 'bout you tell me what it is you really want, yeah? There's gotta be something you want right? Why else make a big show of all this when you could've killed the hostages already", Vhurdaer eyed the cultist to see if another attempt to approach could be made but found that even a twitch of his leg caused the cultist retreat even further back.

"I've no aim to negotiate with you, filth! Step back or the boy dies now!"

"You said that already but you and I both know that you are waiting for something. My guess is you're waiting to hear back from your other friends?"

"You know nothing, elf! You are but a denier of our lord!"

"On the contrary, I know your buddies are trying the same thing at The Monolith and at an apartment complex on the west end", it was all a bluff though, Vhurdaer had no idea if the cases were related at all but he had a gut feeling and if he could keep this guy talking till the teams were ready to move in then he'd take some chances while the odds were in his favor.

The cultist pointed the knife towards Vhurdaer before stepping towards him, "You will send us negotiators, three of them, with one being nonhuman. You will do it within the hour or these people will die, now get back down those stairs!" Vhurdaer had a satisfied look on his face as he back off from the entrance and towards the police line. Once the cultist had also retreated back into the hotel he immediately pulled out his phone to make a call.

"Chief, its Vhurdaer, the situation's changed at the Beacon"

The Beacon Hotel, East End of New Carcosa/April 20, 2028/2:30pm

---

It was by all accounts, a normal day in Carcosa. People going to their daily commute. Kiddos going to highschool. Grown ups going to their soul-crushing desk jobs. Some cult trying to kidnap someone and summon some horrific being. A Swat Van with its lights on going 90 down a city street.

...yep, totally normal.

“OUTTA THE WAY JACKASS.” Pulling hard on the steering wheel, its driver narrowly managed to avoid slamming into the back of a semi, swerving into the other lane just in front of another car and likely slamming around the passengers in the van. Clicking her tongue impatiently, Kat swerved once more, stepping on the gas as she pulled in front of the truck, getting back in the other lane just to make a hard right down a one way street.

“Christ,” She grunted, finally setting the van straight in a mostly stable position. “Y'think people would get outta the way for a police vehicle.” Beating on the wall behind her to get the others attention, “Hey you guys still alive back there?!”

As the van jerked, Thompson lurched upward about a foot in the air and promptly came back down to his seat with a small thud. Though his helmet still masked his expression, his face was a mask of pure terror mixed with queasiness. "Alive, and wishing I wasn't," Thompson replied. "... I'm going to lose my lunch if we don't get to the hotel soon."

Minos's face was not one of pure terror, it was the pale face of a man about to vomit his insides right away. Thankfully, due to his large mass, it was harder for Kat's sudden swerves to move him around, however, they were easily able to make the large minotaur man sick. From the look of things, he was trying to look as if he was trying and failing in maintaing his composure. It was why he hated driving in vehicles, especially when their designated driver was Kat. "Uhhh, Thompson, I think you might want to move a bit." He warned the man in front of him

"Just a question Thompson, can that helmet of yours filter out the smells?" The large bull man asked.

"... No, but I'm sure I'm going to start to wish so soon."

“Ahaha!” Kat seemed entirely oblivious to her teammates plight, or just didn't care as she laughed. “Man you lightweights wouldn't last a second dropping into a hot zone in some desert in the asscrack of the world.” Taking a hand off the steering wheel, she reached for a taco that had somehow miraculously survived getting tossed around like some salad.

“We'll be at the hotel in five minutes,” she said, mouth full of taco. “So what info we got on the job so far, bossman?”

"Not all of us were mercs, Kat." Minos asked, still able to maintain his cool demeanor, though on the inside he felt like he would soon see what his lunch looked like again, thankfully, Kat's question distracted him enough for him not to think of that anymore.

"Crazy bunch of cultists have taken hostage people at the Beacon Hotel. They seem to follow Kaiwan as their deity." He said turning towards her. "Captain Vhurdaer hasn't filled me in on all of the info just yet, but I think we might have to go through the basement and free the hostages before we are to go in guns blazing... speaking of, how good can you guys fight in close quarters?"

“Close quarters is my specialty, Bull.” Kaiwan, huh? Never heard of them. Probably some small time fringe cult. Kat took another bite out of the taco. She had a...curious relationship with cults. Being practically raised by one had given her quite a few different ideas about them. Most notably, was that she wasn't entirely all too put off by them. She could care less what they got up to as long as they didn't bother her, and today was just business. “Y'know, if ya read anything on me like you probably should've.”

"I was asking just how confident you all were about your skill because we might have to go in silent there, which possibly means no firearms or simply some small arms with silencers." The bull man said, his brow now narrowing as he focused on the mission itself. "If we get caught too early, I don't doubt that we'd be able to take them all down, but we might endanger the lives of the civilians in there."

Thompson waited for Kat to finish before replying to Sergeant Minos, mostly so he could steady his stomach, but it didn't hurt that speaking last helped his man of mystery vibe. "I know basic Sambo and have a penchant for knife fighting, but it's not my strong suit. I much prefer keeping at a range." The officer didn't have strong feelings on the cult, but it was his job to get rid of them, whether that be through arresting them or killing them.

"Alright, so you might have to stay a bit back for this one Thompson because if we need to go in there without firearms, I need to be sure I'm not putting you in danger. You and the rest will storm in once Kat and I are going to free the hostages, got it?" He asked, still looking a bit ill, though seemingly recovering.

"Got it, sir."

He nodded towards Thompson and turned towards Kat once more. "I don't mean to annoy you there, Kat, but are we there yet?" He asks. "Because if not, then I am afraid that Thompson's mask may need a cleanup before we join the mission."

Seconds after Minos asked the question, she pulled on the brake, turning the wheel sharply once more. The tires screeched, the smell of burning rubber filling the air as the large vehicle slid perfectly to a stop on the opposite side of the street of the hotel. Reclining in the seat and resting her arm on the steering wheel, Kat gave them both a grin.

“Thanks for riding Sinclair bus services. Please keep the contents of your stomach to yourself until after you exit the vehicle.” She grabbed the last of the taco, downing it as she grabbed her helmet, walking out of the van.

“...oh, and Boss man.” She turned towards Minos, a cold, emotionless gaze as she hefted Remy over her shoulder. “I don't save hostages. I take care of problems.” Strapping on her helmet, she exited the van and stepped onto the ground.

The moment that the car stopped, Minos rushed out to feel the fresh air, taking in a deep breath as he did. However, the joy lasted only for a moment when he saw the situation at hand from the distance. "Well, this does not look good at all." He said as he observed the situation at hand. He signaled the two to follow behind as moved on towards the captain. "Team Midas, sir, reporting for duty, what is the situation?"

"Midas, so nice of you to join us. While you three were enjoying a midday drive, the city decided to shit itself. I just got off the phone with the boss, you three are going to round the block and enter the hotel via the rear basement entrance. Another team will drop in through the roof to secure the floors on the way down to meet you at the lobby where hopefully this doesn't end in a fucking bloodbath. Minos, your team needs to secure the basement before we send reinforcements in. Blueprints of the building say its cramped down there so we cant risk sending half the force in there at once, next thing you know some asshole with explosives gets creative. You guys are good with CQC so you're the first ones in. Secure that basement and await further instructions once thats done. Lewis will take you guys to the entrance", the captain didnt waste time to wish them good luck, instead returning to his van where a team of operation coordinators relayed intel and orders to the other teams.

Minos simply nodded. "Ok then, you lot heard the captain." He said turning towards Thompson. "Thompson, you see if you can be transfered to the roof team, if not, stay with the rest here and storm the building once we're done with our part of the mission." His sights turned to Kat. "Kat, you prepare your equipment and let's go, we can't waste anymore time." He says, moving the truck to retrieve his personal melee weapon from the truck itself. "Oh yeah, Team Midas, after this mission we go at the bar, understood?" He asked, the other two members of his team.

“Yea, yea, if I ain't doing anything else.” Kat replied with a grunt, checking her pistol and other armaments. At least she wasn't going to be having to try and save hostages. That'd just be bad times all around. “Lets get on with it. My trigger finger's getting' itchy.” She couldn't use Remy for this right away, but she could easily just knife a fool.

"Alright boy, we've got another mission to do. Not as violent as the others, but I'm sure something will happen. Keep your wits about you." The half-elf instructed as she rode on the back of the Wendigo, leaning in and patting it's neck as they ran behind the R&D van. Naturally, there were onlookers as the Wendigo bolted passed, running on all fours like a beast of the wild with its antlered skull bobbing up and down as it raced after the speeding vehicle. It was clear the beast was expending a tremendous amount of effort to keep up with the automobile, the dense traffic giving it 'breathing' room to catch the distance. Twice on the trip it had been forced to vault over a vehicle trying to pull in front of it. It was a miracle nobody had gotten hurt from their unorthodox mode of transportation..

As the chief gave a quick rundown of events, Wendigo was still bunched into a ball as it sniffed at the air. Not being a living creature, it lacked a proper and thorough sense of smell but it recognized something in the air. Blood. Lots of it. There was no way for it to understand just how much blood there was on the vicinity but it was substantial enough to trigger the great monster's endless hunger.

"I... smell... death." It rasped, sounding like a mixture of groaning old floorboards shifting in the wind.

"As do I, Sir Fluffles." She responded curtly as she hopped off it's back. She quickly rummaged through her backpack, producing a large paper wrapped parcel, opening it to reveal a big slab of red meat.
"Open wide, boy." She said, before throwing the dripping flesh up toward the Wendigo's mouth. The beast lurched forward without hesitation, issuing a long drawn out scream of excitement that rattled the first floor windows before lunging at the offered meal, swallowing the entire piece of meat in a single snap of its jaws. Sated, Wendigo padded behind Devora as it continued to sniff at the air. "The blood... is... close"

Devora approached the others, gesturing toward the 'condemned complex', "Lead the way. we'll keep an eye out." She stated, Akash taking off from her shoulder. The half-elf closing one of her eyes as he did so. Wendigo, still on all fours, kept close to Devora as she always instructed but had picked up a bad habit of idly picking at the bloody sigils carved into the walls. For what purpose it was not clear but something in the burning lights of its eyes showed it was put on edge.

Another day, another donut.

A large grey hand reached out to grasp two chocolate dipped sprinkled donuts as he sipped his coffee. Clocking in at 7 o’clock on the dime, a large demonic man walked through the quiet office halls to his cubicle. For a man of his size and appearance it was almost comical how small his office space looked. But it was cozy. It had both his work and personal computer, as well as a little dancing robot. It’s moves changed depending on what sort of music it hears. There was another box of donuts here, these filled with custard, and a small coffee machine. There was an animesque calendar posted on the wall with various dates about things the demon had planned, such as summoning rituals, planar binding, occult blood rights that needed addressing, new anime episodes, and various moon phases for his profane ceremonies.

Just another day in the business for Darc. He sat down at his desk, booted up his computers, and saw that he had a good fifty odd new emails. Pretty low all things considered; he usually had a hundred or two, and some of them might not just be the hourly reports. Putting on his work glasses (redundant considering he doesn’t have eyes) he began to sort out his email. Hourly reports were reviewed for any abnormalities, spam were erased, and any personal messages were given careful scrutiny. Most was just the Underhaven network, with various users making requests and needing advice. Business as usual. Darc snapped his fingers and a large amount of imps swarmed his cubicle. Officially they’re interns, but in truth they’re just a few of his many familiars. He began to dole out orders and delegating tasks he’ll need them to do for today. Requests to answers, questions to solve, general contract jobs.

After commanding his imps to do their jobs Darc did his usual desk jockey job. Wandering emails, filling out paperwork, updating files. Lot of busy work. Working with OIA wasn’t all car chases and shootouts after all. At the end of the day it was just another government job with lots of pencil pushing and red tape. At least work was steady. At around noonish Darc clocked out for lunch, choosing to eat at a nice little Italian cafe. As he was in the middle of his four cheese and spices ravioli he got an emergency email. Turns out there was a bloody massacre at the Monolith. That was barely two miles away from where he was eating. Already Darc was intercepting some information via texts and blogs about the massacre, with people speculating, throwing around accusations, and generally spreading word about the incident. Darc would have to look through them later. It was time to work. Paying for his meal to go Darc headed over to the scene of the crime.

Using his human guise Darc arrives to the crime scene, flashing his badge to the officers as he approached the first body. There was already someone here though: Detective Isaac Hood, a new transfer. Bit of a mystery as Darc couldn’t find much info about him beyond his accomplishments. Still, the new guy was on his side, so Darc wasn’t going to press the issue. Handing a junior officer his take out he knelt beside the body as Isaac was doing his thing. A cursory glance gave Darc some information, though nothing Isaac didn’t already find out. ”What a shallow cut. Either an amateur or a sadist. Don’t know which one is worse.” Standing up Darc looked over to Isaac with a smirk. Practically the demon’s most defining creature regardless of what form he takes. Always had that huge shit eating grin. ”Detective Hood. I got five dollars saying that the blood bath inside isn’t just going to be a scene of general carnage, but yet another blood ritual. Betting another five it’s demons.” Darc took a deep, long whiff. ”Smells like demons.”

---

An abrupt ringing filled the confines of Nova’s room, at 6 AM sharp. Her alarm clock. Groaning, a hand weakly emerged from the duvet, stretching to the left side of the bed where Nova kept her cellphone. Upon securing the device in her grasp, her arm recoiled back into the warmth of her sheets, to shut it off.

There was a moment of silence, for five minutes.

Then the ringing began again. To make sure she got up, numerous alarms with different blaring ringtones were set in 5 minute intervals. Nova tried to ignore it for a few seconds, before becoming annoyed at the sound and turned it off again. The cycle repeated a few more times, and by the time Nova finally sat up on her bed, it was 6:20 AM.

Not bad, Nova thought to herself, looking at the time displayed on her phone. Despite having gone through police academy, Nova’s sleeping habits remained as terrible as in her college days.

By the time Nova finished getting ready and scarfed down a muffin, her Uber driver was already waiting outside. Normally, she’d take the subway - she didn’t own a car - but it was better to be safe than sorry on her second day. Subway delays have not yet been considered in her schedule.

The morning was filled with rather mundane tasks. Nova had gotten an orientation the day before, and was introduced to some of the other detectives at the precinct. At the moment, she was familiarizing herself with how to do paperwork for different aspects of a case. As she typed away on her computer and shuffled through a pile of papers, her eyes peered over to another desk nearby, belonging to a demonic fellow named Darc, happily consuming ring-shaped sweets. He was one of Nova’s superiors, or so she’s been told, and she’s been meaning to make a formal introduction. Today’s the day, she had told herself, a moment earlier. Her eyes narrowed. But it looks like he can harvest my soul as fast as those donuts. She shuddered at the thought, and ducked back behind the safety of the computer screen.

It was a bit past noon when Nova was ordered to assist at a newly discovered crime scene. She almost choked on her coffee when she received the call.

“A-are you serious?? Already?”

A mix of excitement and nausea twisted within her as she received the debrief. She hadn’t seen a real crime scene since that one time in high school, the rest had been photographs. What would a real one be like? What about the smell? She had been told to expect several bodies. As her cab pulled closer to the theatre, Nova couldn’t help but feel a giddiness rising up inside of her.

She approached the police line, and was expectantly stopped by an officer.

“Sorry miss, you can’t be here.”

A gleam shone in her violet eyes, a smug smile on her lips. Nova swiped her badge, which she had just received that morning, from her coat pocket, and flipped it open for the officer to see.

“I’m,” Nova began, making a quick side glance at her badge, “part of the OIA.” She almost giggled.

The officer promptly allowed her past the tape. Unexplored territory, Nova noted to herself. She found her mentor, Isaac, and another man perched over a corpse. The poor man lying on the ground had a drying red gash on his neck.

Nova stifled her reflex to gag, and cleared her throat. “Good afternoon, detectives,” she began, and glanced at the second man next to her mentor. Was she supposed to know who he was? The thought was pushed away as she continued, “I received the debrief before arrival. May I ask what has been ascertained about this victim?”

The time it had taken for the driver of the van to turn up had made Aria Wolfsbane wonder if it would have been worth calling a taxi. Then again, turning up in a taxi may have been a bad representation, and the quad-legged member of the team didn't want that for the precinct, or for herself. No, she would much rather let the driver take the blame and claim, rightfully so, that it was his fault. She had made sure to claim the front seat as soon as the van had arrived; both for the view, and to tell the driver how proud she was of his time management skills, making sure to comment about how positive she was about him turning up early. Only when she was finished did Aria hang her head outside of the window, letting the wind blow past her face.

It was amusing, to say the least, to witness the Chief talking to the driver. Fortunately Aria knew how to open a car door, so she slid her paw into the nook between the handle and the door and swung the door open before hopping onto the ground on all fours and briskly walking her way toward the chief, making sure to circle around the back of the vehicle rather than the front as to not be the victim of the driver 'accidentally' putting his foot on the pedal and claiming he hadn't seen her; revenge for the sarcastic flak that she had given him, no doubt if he tried.

Fortunately, the driver didn't attempt to lose his job, and Aria wasn't going to be sent to the vet. Instead, she listened to the Chief's take on the scene, before trotting away without a word to observe the scene; after all, Daza was already walking away after she finished speaking. Making her way closer to the blood. It was almost slightly light, very thin it seemed. If it wasn't all inside of the building too Aria would have guessed a single body was enough to cover some part of it, but the amount suggested several bodies unless there was an elephant hidden somewhere (she doubted that part). She took time to observe the blood and the patterns it was in, and particularly the amount that the blood had dried.

Despite the fact that the team's pet mummy had been among those summoned forth to the site, didn't mean it was all sunshine and rainbows. But somehow, they'd managed to convince the sometimes very aggresive ancient dragon nicknamed Serene to join them. Perhaps a promise of food, or another bribe involving technology. But either way, in the back of the truck, sat the pink haired ancient, dressed in the outfit that she'd been first found in inside her capsule, listening to music on a portable player that she'd been shown how to use properly. Wireless headphones saved the organization more than a few headaches if she tried to breach containment, but for once, she was on good behavior. Perhaps it was the whole bribe, the giant walking tree monster, or something else, but shortly after the talking wolf bounced out, "Serene" pulled herself to her feet, surprisingly fine for this being one of her few, if only, wheeled ride so far. She looked briefly at whoever else had been sent, saying something under her breath...was that amusement on her face, before she moved to the way out, and jumped down. If she understood what Daza was saying, "Serene" gave no sign, as she turned around after landing, treaded heels crunching against the ground, before she then looked towards the house. She seemed to scoff under her breath, as if amused by it all, and began following after.

Only there was one problem.

The moment her foot was about to "pass" over the threshold that was onto the property, or, if they already were on the propery, after a point, she seemed to pass an almost invisible barrier, and jumped back, letting out an inhuman screech, bearing her fangs, now hissing at the building, her hair standing on end like a cat's for a moment. She lowered herself to the ground, fingers pressing against the ground, ignoring everything around her but the building before. She almost looked...afraid. Something was wrong here, and while she couldn't place her finger, the ancient dragon was not happy at the thought. She was uneasy. She ignored any reporters freaking out at the sight of her, if she had achieved Hellboy levels of fame with the public or not mattered nothing to her. She muttered under her breath something that only those very close and straining would hear.

"Himinn móðir verndar mig..."
Translation: "Skymother protect me..."

A prayer, whether to an ancestor spirit or a deity was irrelevant. Perhaps there would be a sudden breeze after her prayer, or perhaps not, it didn't matter if a response came to the prayer. But she still didn't cross any further, instead moving back and forth along the "boundary" line, hissing all the more as she went. Unless someone made her cross over, she wasn't about to go any further...

Inside the apartment complex, Wendigo tensed up with a growl as it protectively wrapped Devora, hunching over its handler with fury burning in its eyes. Until it got orders to attack it would focus on defense for her. To which the half-elf placed a hand on her companions trunk-like leg.
"Easy, buddy."
Devora's eye opened again, showing a strange blue symbol on her iris, similar to the markings on the Raven. She decided it would be best to share half her senses to see through her flying companion's eyes. Perhaps it may see something strange around the upper levels.

It took a few moments for Aria to stop staring over at Serene after the screech that had brought her attention, but she turned away to go back to what she was doing - only briefly, however. With a sigh, Aria made her way over to to the door, over to the 'boundary' that Serene was pacing on. Knowing that Serene did not know any English, or didn't show that she did, Aria could do little through words to ask what the problem was. Human words, anyways. Aria let out a single bark to try and get Serene's attention, and tilted her head to the side inquisitively.

It took a moment, but just as quickly, Serene's head turned towards Aria, tilting her head to one side, staring at the talking wolf, before lifting an eyebrow in the universal message of "what?" She didn't do anything else, merely remained stationary, then paused, looked down at the boundary, then back up to Aria. She tried to gesture with one hand, before suddenly getting an idea. Scratching something in the dirt, she drew what looked like a pentagram, aka the rebranded anti-demon weapon from long ago(ask me on Discord, there's some history to that symbol), then gestured from it, to the house, while making a look that was like "I'm gonna throw up." All in an effort to commuciate her unease at this.

There were some things in Serene's communications that were obvious - that going further made her feel sick, or uneasy, however she wasn't quite sure about the pentagram. Aria took a few moments to think, but she wasn't entirely sure how she could make Serene pass the boundary - claiming it was a fast food resteraunt and that there were some remaining french fries inside was most likely not going to work in this case. Aria motioned with her head toward the door, trying to direct Serene in, as if that was going to do anything.

No budging. Serene refused to move. She wiped out the symbol on the ground, and hissed again. Though she did for a moment move her arm across the boundary, only to yank it back just as quickly. As if to try and show that while she could cross, it wasn't something she relished, or that akin to say, a monster with their non-mortal weakness, it would be difficult at best. She needed reassurance, proof it would be okay. That it was safe.

Aria had no clue what to do. At least it wasn't a physical barrier, one that Serene truly could not cross without it harming her. In some ways, Serene was like a fussy puppy with this, scared to cross a river despite it being an inch deep. There were two things that Aria could do: Be tough, which meant forcing Serene across the boundary to show her that nothing was happening to her when she was within it, or she could try and show it was okay. She picked the second option, with a little bit of what only a canine could do. Turning away from Serene, Aria walked toward the lobby - just slow enough that it could be picked up on that she was slow, but fast enough that it wasn't a drag. She turned back toward Serene when she was at the lobby entrence and quite simply just laid down, resting her head between her paws and letting herself give Serene puppy eyes. After a moment, she used a paw to pat the ground, gently, trying to show that she was laying there and she was fine.

Back at the police line, Daza had been busy on the phone directing the efforts of the OTOs at The Beacon. Despite the press, despite everything happening across the city, her temper had always been kept in check. I was common knowledge around the precinct that the Chief's temper was not something you'd want to test. But when her eyes drifted back to the entrance of the complex, it almost looked as if fire were to spew from her mouth. "I'll call you back", were her last words to Vhurdaer before stomping over to Serene. "What is the problem?", she asked holding back obvious rage "OTO cleared the building, the basement is clear, if there was someone or something here we'd know about it. For gods' sake, we even sent an investigator with warding knowledge and he cleared the place. Now if I leave here and still see you here when I look back, dragon girl here wont see another day outside for months. Now go!"

Trying to threaten someone who can't understand words, but can understand tone, is a mixed bag. Serene's response to that, which came right before she was about to step over and see what actually happened due to the puppy eyes...doing something to her, was to make some sort of eye roll. Then she just looked at the police lady, giving her a look that if eyes were met, would probably scare most people. Like the look of an apex predator, before a blink, and it was just another seemingly ordinary neutral expression. She looked back, sighed, cursed under her breath something unheardable, then reached over gingerly, placing one hand against the ground. When nothing happened, the other followed, then when still nothing happened, she suddenly scurried across the ground, in a weird, very unnerving way that would probably bring Japanese horror to mind, before she was next to Aria. She said nothing, then looked around, moving closer to the door. Peering inside, she noticed the nearest sigils, and the breath caught in her throat. She looked to Aria, and tried to mouth something untranslateable. But it was clear...what she was looking at was troubling. She had a fair reason to be frightened now. Something was very wrong with this place. Moving inwards, she let Aria do whatever, before she moved over to of all things, Wendigo, and looked up at the corrupted dryad, and gestured to the sigils, as if asking "do you recongize these?" Maybe she was wrong, maybe these weren't as ancient as she thought...

Now that Serene was finally inside, from Daza's work rather than her own, Aria was free to continue to explore knowing she had at least one member of the R&D team at her back - she had no sight of Caldwell, and wondered if he had fallen asleep somewhere with a book. Regardless, she was going to continue on with the case, whether alone or with allies. She trotted over to the rusted door to look closely at the blood there, careful not to touch it for it was still wet and could damp her fur with red. "If OTO cleared the building, how is this still damp without them finding anything?" Aria asked aloud. She leaned down for a moment, before bringing herself high enough to turn the handle and open the door, and using her paw to make sure it was opened the rest of the way.

"There's a reason why they're an OTO, they're not detectives." Devora commented, as she approached the door with the wolf. A dozen or so black rats started to scurry out of her shadow and further into the building, her eye changing symbol to a shadowy purple sigil choosing to scan the building with the swarm of shade rats, using her other eye to look around herself, even though she knew that Sir Fluffles had her back.

"But being dumb enough to miss something as simple as this? You know, at the beginning of my career, I thought that the people above me were a lot more experienced in their roles, and that they knew everything inside out." Aria halted, just staring into the darkness below. "There are some that meet that definition, some I feel I can rely on, some I can work with. But what did I discover? Looking good is almost as easy as I got the title of professor."

"You want to know how you can tell if you would make a good detective? You compare things that are not normally compared. You can tell that someone has been here recently just by how dry the blood on the wall is, it's as simple as that. I have worked with some that cannot even make that comparison. Our investigators need to pass training that, to me, looks too simple, too easy. Some are better at jobs than others, but we should all be at a standard."

"The normal people? They see a desk with paper. The police, the OTO, they see a desk with a paper with notes. Investigators like myself? We see a desk with a piece of paper on it, the notes on it being in bad handwriting and the little trembles in the letters as the person shakes as they write. We see the pencils on the desk, some more worn down than others, ink still wet on the end of a ballpoint pen, the gun hidden in the locked drawer, with a round missing in the chamber. But for all our different skills, our different depths, every one of those groups should be able to look at the paper and see that the notes on it read, 'I don't want to live any more'. It shames me to think that some, in all three of those groups, the normal public, the Police and OTO, and the detectives, cannot even make that distinction. That they are too blind to see the obvious."

"But those are only some of a much larger, grander number. There are many out there who are able to make the proper distinctions, who are able to see things through, and see things apart from the rest. An OTO team always has one person with a head, able to make proper observations, or has a person stupid enough to ask a question so dumb that it's brilliant. They have one person who will complain when he reaches for the door and gets the wet blood on his hand."

Aria did the math in her head. The scene would have had to been found and called in, then the police would have to arrive. The OTO team would then have went in, determined it as safe enough for detectives to enter. The first investigators would then have went in, chased their tails for a while, and then told Daza to call in R&D. There was then the travel time between the station and the scene, including how late the driver was. Aria quickly recalled the average time for blood to dry, and with how thin the layers were, it would have dried fairly quickly.

But it wasn't dry. And there were police sealing off the area.

"Well, Devora, I would prepare for things to be interesting. I do firmly believe that the culprit is waiting for us downstairs, or at least a lot more evidence." Aria took a step down into the darkness. "But based on the facts, he or she is most likely down here. And we're going to catch them."

With the door opened, the stairway into the abyss had been revealed. As the team peered down the staircase, light from the outside seemed to be swallowed up by the impenetrable blackness of the basement. Not even the shade rats of Devora's making escaped upon scurrying into the dark. As they rushed down the stairs the shadowy conjurations squeaked and squealed as they descended only for their sounds to be silence almost instantly after a series of clanking and clattering noises from within. Daza had been moving about the ground floor, inspecting the scene when she noticed the void the team stood before. Without a word she cast a simple candlelight spell on all of them, conjuring up a small but powerful ball of light over each of their shoulders. She did not need to speak, the intention would be understood.

And so they ventured forth, four souls down into what felt like the coldest level of hell. The smell as they went down grew from a faint stink of decay to the overwhelming stench of death, blood, bile, and rot. The stairs were of crumbling concrete; old and deteriorating, with signs of them becoming unusable at any moment as each step took with it a small chunk of the steps. The handrail was rusted worse than the door and broken in segments, with it being the only barrier between the team and what felt like a massive chasm beneath the earth. Despite, the light of the spell, despite the door to the surface being open. The investigators could only see each other, the dilapidated wall to their left, and the stairs beneath them. Beyond that, the room could have been as big as a shopping container or a stadium, they couldn't tell the difference.

Finally, they arrived at the bottom. The thick blackness suddenly gave way to a more gentler and forgiving dark as the room slowly allowed light to fill it. The building groaned from within its walls, as if it were alive and grumbling in anticipation of it latest meal. As the light enveloped the room, illumination gave way to clear perception. It was an old boiler room. The room itself being the size of the standard home car garage able to fit two SUVs. The boiler sat beneath the stairs, ancient and unattended as it slowly was eaten away by the elements. A corpse of an older time. The basement was cluttered, assorted broken furniture, goods, odd trinkets, stacked and scattered across the floor. This must have been a squatter's home for a time as trash, dirty clothing, and even dirtier needles laid about the floor. At the foot of the stairs laid a bloodied dagger, its blade warped and twisted with a bright coat of crimson covering much of it with a small puddle beneath where it lay.

The shadows that the candlelights cast, flickered about as the team dispersed. Twisted forms were made as the dark fought against the light, creating almost humanlike forms in the shadows that would appear and disappear in and instant. Throughout it all, there was silence. The deafening silence that seemed to stifle the air, making it thick and every breath sound like a desperate gasp for life. The kind of silence that left a slight ringing that you could hear but doubt if the sound was actually there. Footsteps sounded like stomping, the broken glass cracked harshly, the dust being blown off like a sandstorm.

Beneath all the filth, the trash, and the dirt, more engravings and blood symbols. These were different. The engravings were black unlike the ones outside which were simply scratches into the wall. These etchings were deep, dark, and almost like their surface was of obsidian. At the center of the room, amidst a clearing of the garbage, was a figurine. It was that of a cloaked, monolithic figure, its robe made from a piece of yellow cloth. From beneath it, lines of blood flowed, almost like tendrils as they reached out across the room weaving its way beneath the clutter. Lodged within a pile of stacked antiques was a wax statue, clothed in a curious robe. It was yellow, like the cultists at The Beacon Hotel, but tattered and old. It stood firm against the refuse, most likely a forgotten possession of a squatter at some point. At the far side of the room, a metal cabinet stood against the wall. It was old but not in such a state of deterioration as the door and environment around it. Scratch marks could be seen at its bottom, the lines forming a curve away from the wall. Accompanying it was a thin layer of dust, less than the amount around it and forming a path from the stairs to the idol to the cabinet.

---

At The Monolith...
Douglas pulled his car off to the side of the intersection, noticing Issac's car had gotten here first. He flashed his badge to the police officer as he got out of his car, opening the trunk for his forensic kit, and slowly walking off towards the scene. He bypassed whatever crowds had gathered outside the Theater, ducking under the police tape, and making his way inside just in time to see Issac crouching over the body of one of the victims. Douglas called out to the man.

"Detective Hood! Prepping my crime scene for me, eh?"

"You know me Finn, eager as always to get started. I was hoping to give my partner a go at this one but it seems you beat her to it", Isaac looked for any sign of his pupil but to no avail. "Anyways shall we be begin? I noticed something under our victim's fingernails, seems to be a bit of skin, possibly from our perp. His throat was slit but not deep enough to kill him quickly so either the perp wanted him to suffer or this was part of some sort of ritual, maybe both", a sinking feeling in Isaac's chest grew in intensity as he thought about his next words. "Call it a hunch but I think whatever happened to our vic is linked to whats going on at The Beacon right now. What's more I think that connection is waiting for us inside the theatre. But, I think I've said enough, I'll let you get to work on this one here, I'll be by the entrance should you need me"

The body that lay before Douglas, at first glance, showed little else in terms of damage to the body side from the slit throat. However, upon further inspection, his shirt sleeves hid a strange discoloration. His pockets were bulging slightly, barely enough to be noticed. Too add to the mystery was the slight glinting of something metallic by his neck. 

Douglas examined the metallic item: a necklace. The symbol on the pendant matched no known religion. A series of lines leading to a slender, robed monolithic figure. He'd have to check for DNA back at the lab to determine it belonged to the victim or not. He placed it in an evidence bag from his kit.

Next, Douglas examined the discoloration of the wrists: bruising. The victim was bound with a rope, it's imprint still left on the skin. He was bound pretty tightly. Noticing his broken thumbs, Douglas surmised that he possibly escaped his bonds. He took a picture with his crime-scene camera for further investigation.

Finally, Douglas examined the victim's pockets: a single item, a holo-locket, was found. Douglas activated it, and a woman appeared in the projection. She backed away towards a couch, where two children were playfully fighting. She gathered thier attention and the three began to speak to the recorder:

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Dear Daddy, Happy Birthday to you!"

The three clapped and cheered, and the mother went back to the recorder and picked it up.

"Happy Birthday, Ben. We love you so, so much. Don't forget that."

The children behind her got in a few extra shouts of "I love you dad" and "Happy Birthday dad" before the projection ended. The thumbnail was the three of them sitting on the couch, the image reflecting off of Douglas's glasses as he looked at it. He turned it off, and put the holo-locket into evidence. No clues there.

After a few more bits of forensic magic, like determining the time of death and grabbing the skin cells from underneath the fingernails, Douglas packed up his kit and met with Issac by the entrance.

"Detective. Seems I've gotten all I could for now. I only know one thing so far: this man was likely an unwilling sacrifice for a new cult."

"I figured as much, this has Ronoth written all over it. I swear this city is slowly losing itself", Isaac's gaze turned back to the body which lay upon the cold wet intersection. As officers attempted to cover the body they were ambushed by a horde of photographers looking to catch a shot of what would soon be all over the evening news. 

Not a moment later did Isaac notice Darc approach from amidst the crowd. The demon stopped to take a look at the body before continuing on to the two at the entrance. ”Detective Hood. I got five dollars saying that the blood bath inside isn’t just going to be a scene of general carnage, but yet another blood ritual. Betting another five it’s demons", the casual tone in his voice irritated the detective slightly but he didn't show it. Despite all Isaac had seen, cult related cases always got under his skin and it seemed as though they were becoming more and more frequent. "Oh its demons alright, either demons or something along those lines. Our vic on the street was bound, escaped what was going on inside but died shortly after exiting. I was telling Douglas, its Ronoth all over again", as he spoke, Isaac's attention shifted to behind Darc as he watched a young woman approach past the body and towards them. It was Nova, the newbie assigned to him. In truth, he wasn't looking forward to a teaching position, especially not for this case. But he had a job to do and it would be done under his watch. 

“Good afternoon, detectives,” she began, and glanced at the second man next to her mentor. Was she supposed to know who he was? The thought was pushed away as she continued, “I received the debrief before arrival. May I ask what has been ascertained about this victim?”

"Afternoon Nova, what do you make of our vic back there?", Isaac heard her question but was more interested in hearing what she gathered from that quick glance on her way to them.A slight chill ran down her spine as she glanced back at the body, her eyes analyzing what she could from that angle. "If I had to guess, cause of death was the laceration to his throat. It does look deep throughout, If he came from the theatre and died here then perhaps one of his carotid arteries were cut?", she knew it was a test, and while there was a slight annoyance to the impromptu pop quiz, Nova was glad to show off her skills before her superiors. 

"Not bad. As I said with Douglas, the victim was a member of the cast performing her. They were killed sometime today during morning rehearsals. Our vic was bound by his hands, had his throat slit, broke his thumbs to escape, and died shortly after exiting. There was a necklace placed on him, most likely the cult's and part of the ritual", Isaac thought about lighting a cigarillo and joining the group in a moment but decided against it, the tension was getting to him. "Alright, shall we enter?"

Once inside, the real nightmare began. The bodies numbered around fifty. Each one having had their lips removed to create constant smiling macabre statues. Some of the bodies had been placed within the rows of seats, positioned as some sort of twisted still life of attendants at a play. The others were fixed upon the stage with rebar in poses to mimic a snapshot of some sort of demented play. Each corpse was outfitted in clothing reminiscent of medieval fantasy. At center stage stood a victim in a yellow cloak with a golden crown upon his head. His hands were bound with rope and throat slit. From the center stage and out towards the ends the other bodies posed as if it were a photograph of a royal procession, with the king in yellow at its center. What was strange was that every body, every last body was drained, not just of blood but any liquid that would be in the human body. They appeared almost mummified, dehydrated and stiff as if they'd been sitting in this theater for decades. In the middle of all of this horror, this evil, a slight humming could be heard coming from the king in yellow.

---

The Beacon Hotel
The rear basement entrance was an unassuming metal door. From outside one wouldn't suspect anything out of the ordinary was occurring behind it. Once Minos and Katherine entered the reality of their situation was revealed. Whatever layout of the basement they were shown was not the case once they were inside. Beyond the door was a set of stairs going about two floors down into a deep blackness. No sound escaped but the smell rushed towards them like no other. The amalgamation of spoilt meat, blood, and animal excrement filled their noses and those of the second wave team outside. Once at stairs' end, it was as if the basement had been demolished in order for renovations to commence. Walls were broken down and support pillars damaged. Floors were dug up and pipes were exposed. In truth, the basement looked as if it had been ransacked by some sort of monster rather than subject to a demo. It was chaotic and obviously hazardous for anyone down here.

What was once a multi-room maze of wine cellars, freezer rooms, break areas, and other utilities had been reduced to a single large chamber. There were symbols, blood symbols written over the walls but many were scratched out by what looked like massive claw marks. Aside from the symbols were puddles of blood and excrement which grew in number the further they went into the basement. Something was down there with them. That was for sure. The signs of it were everywhere from the filth to the blood to the bones scattered about the floor. All the clues pointed towards something making the basement of The Beacon its home...something big.

At the center of the room sat a strange idol, a monolithic figure covered in a yellow cloak. At its feet, black tendrils of some unidentifiable liquid flowed outwards towards every corner of the basement. Passing through the piles if blood, gore, fecal matter, and trash. Yet its placement and condition did not indicate it was abandoned there. Whoever or whatever placed the idol there was meticulous in its placement and care, leaving it practically untouched by it's current environment. At one corner of the basement was a large pile of what seemed to be torn flesh, animal fur, and destroyed articles of clothing.

Over in another area was what looked to be a man, curled up into the fetal position, rocking back and forth in silence facing a wall. He shook violently but did not make a sound. At the far side of the basement, light peaked through the darkness of the basement to reveal another set of stairs.

Eyes narrowed as the inky blackness became visible, hairs once more standing on end. She didn't like this. But before any of the others could move, she did, almost bounding forward, into the shadows. The fresh blood was noticeable, and bothered her. She moved almost akin to a Japanese horror girl, low to the ground, mindful of each step, ignoring if anyone decided to check her out from behind. Although concrete was a concept that most considered at least to be Roman age in origin, she seemed careful enough. Probably enough escape attempts in the time she'd been around, mixed with free time, had given her proper experience. Either way, she had also accepted the fire's presence, grateful to not have to use her own powers. Fingers gripped the edge of each stair like claws, moving down "layer" by "layer" like an animal on all fours, until she reached the bottom, noticing a faint dust trail, but nothing yet as she moved away from the foot. Only to freeze as her eyes finished adjusting. Even as a dragon with senses stronger than the average person, she needed time.

"Jörð faðir, hvað er þetta?"
Translation: Earthfather, what is this?

Her expression darkened, as she rose up onto her legs, but rested the palm of one hand against the ground, studying it all. The ancientness of it all bothered her, though it wasn't familiar. Her breath hissed out, as she made room for the others to come down. Hopefully Wendigo didn't break anything on the way down. She scanned the space, mindful of the carvings, clearly on edge, and when the idol like object came into view properly, she moved back. "Serene" snarled softly, teeth being bared. She didn't know what she was looking at, but the wrongness of it was clear. She scanned more, seeing the blood track, following the dust trail to the cabinet that was turned away. She looked over to Aria whenever the wolf-human hybrid came down, and gestured towards the moved furniture, clearly interested in it. Language barriers be damned, gestures worked. Serene glanced back to the Wendigo, wondering how the other was fairing, given all the blood. Despite how aggressive she could be...understanding at least. But just as quickly, she returned her attention to the idol, growling a bit more, refusing to move her gaze away, as if expecting it to suddenly move.

~Katherine~

Kat got prepared easily. Remy. Her pistol. Two frags. Extra shells and bullets. Incendiary. Shredder rounds. Explosive rounds. If there was one thing she learned in Fenrir, is that you could never be too careful when dealing with potentially supernatural threats. No power was ever to little, and you could never be too prepared. Rich, coming from a loose canon like her, perhaps, but you didn't live as long as she did without some manner of forethought, as much as she'd just like to badass her way through everything.

Approaching the metal door that served as the hotels basement, Kat inhaled sharply. She'd prefer a much stealthier, solo approach. Each person in Fenrir had their specialties. Her was infiltration and quick assault. Taking out targets before anyone knew what had happened. Working with people, she could do, of course. Teamwork was mandatory in any situation...still, it made her slightly uneasy. Especially Thompson. She was glad he stayed behind for now, at least.

"Head open," Kat said pointing to her temples, taking a position by the door. "I'll keep in touch through the usual means." It was no secret that she didn't like speaking on a the job. Her telepathy was much better suited for special operations like this. Relay orders, information, enemy positions without the need for some sort of fancy electronics that could potentially also be hacked. Before either of them could say anything, Kat pushed open the metal door, rushing quickly inside with Remy at the ready, looking down the metal sights.

She was not expecting what she saw at all.

The rancid smell of spoiled meat, flesh and waste filled her nostrils. A smell that might have bothered most people, but it was a smell Kat was wholly used too. She frowned under her helmet. Whatever it was, it had caused a bloodbath. And it had been doing it for a long time, just from the smell alone, but once she reached the end of the stairs she was immediately caught off guard.

There, standing in the center of a demolished basement was something that made her eyes go wide. It...it couldn't be. The longer she looked at it the more different it seemed. It was the same, yet vastly different. It made her head hurt, honestly. The yellow robed figure filled her with unease she hadn't felt since...she tore her eyes away from it, fearing she might tear them in the process as she glanced at the symbols and eldritch messages on the walls.

But then, a subtle movement. Not from the man in the fetal position. No. Kat ignored him. He might have been dangerous - it was always the least obvious things that got you in the end, but right now she had to make sure they didn't wake whatever it was that looked likt it was sleeping. Kat readied her shotgun once more, aiming it at the pile of rotten flesh and clothing. It moved. Ever so slightly. Breathing?

"Minos," Kat's voice echoed in Minos' head as she quickly stopped walking, making a motion for him to stop. "Quiet. Movement." She made a quick, small movement to the pile of rancid flesh. "Breathing. Whatever it is, it's alive." The former mercenary slowly moved towards the monolithic structure. Her hand gripped tighter on Remy.

For the briefest of seconds, Kat contemplated her actions.

They had been told to clear it, so...clear it she was going too.

Minos would only have a handful of seconds to order her to stop before Kat reached for one of her grenades, and lobbed it in the direction of the beast.

"Ronath?" It was a name that Darc wasn't familiar with, at least not intimately. There was a possibility that he might've heard it in passing and pulled up his phone to access his database. An online Wikipedia of sorts encrypted in his own home-brewed demonic language so he could have a ready access to information at his fingertips. Now that was an invention humanity had over demons. Usually demons just had to have a really good memory or written it down somewhere. These information databases were like the akashic records for mortals. Sort of. Soon showing up was the newbie, Nova Amherst. He vaguely remembered introducing himself to her back at the office, however he was in demon form at the time, not his current human guise. For a bit of a laugh he'll keep that a secret; he loved messing with newbies by going demon mode when they least expect it. So he simply nodded to Nova as Issac took lead in the investigation and guided everyone inside.

As Issac lead the others in Darc messaged his familiars in the nearby area to begin overwatch, investigation, and interviewing. Various imps using invisibility magic would swarm the area watching civilians and investigators alike, ready to swoop in and assist or apprehend as needed. And it wasn't just the imp familiars that Darc had on hand; various birds and vermin had also arrived to lend their assistance. Thanks to their heighten mental abilities due to the familiar contract they could communicate with other fellow beasts and learn what they might've seen. After all, even the most fanatical and vicious cultist tends to ignore flies on the wall. And Darc had trained quite a few flies to become his familiars. Finally for Darc's human familiars, instead of letting them wander around the crime scene he had them gather information about cultist activities. If what Darc thinks is true, this cult might've brought in new initiates from the city's homeless, vagrants, or just the desperate. After all either the victim was bled out by a sadist who wanted him to run, or a novice new to this whole cult business and hoped none of his contemplates noticed his mistake.

Once inside Darc saw the gruesome scene before him and scrunched his nose. "Yuck. I didn't even finish my lunch yet." It was another massacre. Not the first time Darc's ever seen one, but they always had a way to give him a bit of a shock. Definitely a demon cult though. Your run of the mill koolaid cults wouldn't have the stomach to arrange all of the bodies like this, even if they were willing to carry out the slaughter. This took some devotion. Still didn't rule out that they might've recruited some newbies into the gang brought them here to get them bloodied. It was a common enough tactic to at least allow them to see just how "hardcore" they could be. Cults would do this for two reasons: to show new guys they mean business and what may await them if they betray the cult.

Darc took out his business touch pad, which was a fairly bulky device that also served as a camera and communication device. He made sure to take picture evidence of the scene without touching any bodies, getting images of everything he can. Each body, all the costumes, ever corner, even underneath the seats. No place left unseen. As he was taking images of the body Darc held his breath. "Oh no... Look how they massacred my boy..." He recognized this corpse. Lenny Duran, and his cross shape birthmark on his neck. He was only twelve when he first met Darc. A was a troubled youth who smashed his dad's head with a fire extinguisher during one of his drunken rages, ended up joining a street gang. When they left him behind after a run in with Darc's demons, he took the boy in a contract and had him work as a spy on the inside of various street gangs. When Lenny was eighteen he wanted to become an actor and seeing that Lenny did Darc a lot of good, he gave Lenny the skills and knowledge to make it in show business. Since then Darc had never called Lenny up again for any familiar work, though he was still under contract. Everyone is always under contract. Sometimes Darc simply forgets about them.

"Real shame Lenny... Would've loved to see your act." Darc reached out to touch Lenny's head. Even if he was dead Lenny was still under Darc's contract, which meant that he could still extract and examine his memories. In half a second, all of Lenny's memories would flash into Darc's mind, allowing him to know everything Lenny knew in his life. Though all Darc wanted to know was anything that happened in these past few hours up to Lenny's demise. Anything he heard, saw, or thought could provide Darc some valuable clues to what happened here and who's responsible.

---

When it came to equipment, the large minotaur did not need too much in his missions as he himself was a living battering ram. Normally, cultists like these would not warrant the use of heavy equipment on his part, there other people in his squad much better suited in using firearms than he was. This time, however, he had a bad feeling about what awaited them down in the basement, so he packed his favorite weapon, a large custom-made anti-tank rifle he liked to use when there were targets that were too big even for him to tackle and pummel into the ground.

He nodded very briefly at Katherine's remark. He had known her for a while now and he knew that she was not a very social person, she preferred working in solo missions, doing her own thing. He had tried with a very limited success of having some outings for Midas in a bar, just drinking, discussing and playing a few games with the other members of the team.

He came in directly after Katherine, however he found it slightly uncomfortable to walk through what felt like narrow staircases. He had worked in this line of work for 20 somethings years now and he liked to think that nothing would surprise him anymore after everything he had seen thus far, however, whatever was inside here gave him a feeling bad enough to still make him nervous.

And his sense proved him right.

The smell was first to hit him, the smell of rancid, spoiled meat. He frowned at that, not because of the smell itself, he had gotten used to smells like these whilst serving in the OTO for so long, however, he was more worried about what could have possibly caused all this.

Thankfully, he did not have wonder for long as the large monolithic figure came in sight. He froze completely as his eyes locked on on whatever the thing in front of him was. Even at his own stature, he still felt a tinge of fear as he stared at the figure in front of him. That fear quickly vanished as he shook his head for a bit however, he had seen things far more terrifying than this in line of work, or so he liked to tell himself right now to stop himself from feeling any sort of fear towards the creature.

His attention was once more drawn away as Katherine once more contacted him telepathically once more to draw his attention to something else. She warned him that whatever was in the pile of quick rancid flesh was breathing and was alive. He nodded as she slowly approached whatever the monolithic figure as well, he prepared to draw the AT gun on his back should things get ugly, however, before he even had any time to contemplate things properly, he saw Katherine moving towards one of her grenades.

If she threw that, not only would it probably piss off whatever was down here with them, but it would most likely alarm literally all of the cultists above them of their location, which would mean that their mission will have failed right at the start. He could not order her to stop, it would be way too loud and would probably alert whatever was in front of them of their position.

Thankfully, he was close enough to Katherine to stop her from lobbing a grenade at the figure and advertising their position to everyone, he simply moved one of his long arms and grabbed Kat by her own arm and shaking his head for a moment as a way to tell her to stop.

~Katherine~

Minos was lucky she was in a good mood.

She had barely gotten the grenade off her belt before Minos' arm met her own. A quick glance and a shake of his head was enough to tell her all she needed to know that he, was being an idiot. She frowned beneath her helmet, glaring up at the large minotaur with a slight, mildly unsettling grin. Not that he could see it.

"Bossman. Minos. Steak tips." She replied in an unsettling friendly tone. "We were told to clear this place. Whatever the hell that is, needs clearing. As in boom bang. Dead. Burning, preferably." She hefted Remy, glancing over to the man in the fetal position. "We got plenty of reinforcements outside, too, sure, but we need to save the cavalry for after the less glamorous work." The former merc reached for an extra magazine on her belt - this one filled with incendiary rounds. "And I got enough firepower to cook whatever that thing is."

But that was enough talking. If he wanted to not do that, fine then. They wouldn't get the jump on it. They wouldn't get essentially a free hit on something they needed to kill anyways, and he was quickly becoming annoying.

"Do whatever, but the moment that thing makes a move I'm lighting' it up." With that, she turned her attention back to the creature, not taking her eyes off it or the unstable man.

Ugh. Just shoot them and be done with it, really.

---

As the wolf continued to rattle on about.. Something; Devora couldn't help but frown as the shade rats perished in the darkness of the basement. Sure, she had more where that came from, but she felt a fraction of their pain as their lives were extinguished. She turned to her large companion, patting him on the leg reassuringly before proceeding down the stairs. The half-elf muttered something of a small prayer for her fallen comrades, under her breath as they descended. Her hand slowly unholstered the revolver at her hip as their footsteps echoed into the dark chamber.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, a flutter of wings echoed throughout as Akash landed on the Operative's shoulder. The bird's form seemed to slowly melt away, it's body being absorbed by Devora's. A glowing, blue circuit-like pattern slowly flowed down her arms, the cylinders of the revolver glowed with a faint blue light as the pattern reached her finger tips. Just like before, a blue sigil appeared on her left iris. For whatever lurked in this darkness, she needed to be ready for things to get... 'Interesting.' She took a deep breath to relax herself, allowing her body to fully assimilate with her familiar.

"Sir Fluffles, on guard." She instructed, her eyes scanning the room for any kind of threat before deciding to do a little investigation of her own. Not really something she usually does in the OTO.

What caught her eye was track that formed a small path from the stairs to the idol.. to a cabinet. She slowly followed this path, before stopping in front of the metal cabinet. She inspected the scratches at the bottom to try identify what kind of creature or tool could've made the markings. Perhaps such clues would tell her what kind of monster they could be dealing with, if any. Another aspect that interested her was the state of the cabinet itself. Old, but not as destroyed as everything else.

---

"Listen , I know you're ready to see this thing burn, I want to as well, that thing is creeping me the hell out." He replied, glancing ever so briefly at the monolithic figure. "However, our overall mission is to secure the hostages, any other objective is secondary and if you threw that grenade, then the cultists not only would have been aware of us and killed the hostages, they'd run down here to help whatever this thing is in dealing with us, so that's a no go." He shook his head as he spoke to her.

He moved away and back from Kat and the figure as slowly and as quietly as possible, placing himself behind one of the pillars there. Once there, he would draw his AT gun from his back and aim it straight for what one would consider to be creature's head. "For now, you just focus on getting some cover and signal the secondary team to sneak in through to the other stairs up into the hotel while we make sure this thing doesn't move, do you understand?" He asks, staring straight towards her, hoping she would not try to attack the creature while he was away from her.

"By the way, you seemed to recognize this thing for a moment there, want to explain something?"

“...I've seen something like it before.” She grunted in response. “Long time ago back when I was taken off the streets.” She didn't seem to care to elaborate, though. “Don't matter. We should just get rid of it.” She didn't seem overly concerned about the hostages.

“And I don't do cover. I'm gonna shove Remy into that things gut, and watch it burn from the inside.” Reckless? Foolish? Maybe, but that was how Kat always had dealt with things, and for now she didn't seem intent on changing her style. “You wanna signal the others? Be my guest...but I'm not letting that thing move a single goddamn inch.”

Minos closed his eyes and took a deep breath for a moment to try and contain his annoyance at his subordinate. She was stubborn was reckless and from the looks of things right now, refusing orders from a superior. "Then signal the secondary team to get past us already, every moment we waste here arguing means higher the risk of our mission failing." He said, now glaring towards the reckless young woman before him. If their first barrage would not kill this thing, then she would probably be quickly terminated by the thing in front of them, at least quicker than he would be. He could easily try to order her as her superior to get into cover, however, he doubted she would even listen if he did so considering she had ignored his first order.

With that, feeling stupid for having even moved back in the first place, the large Minotaur once more moved slowly closer and closer to the large creature in front of them, keeping his gun trained on the thing all the while doing so. After this was all over, he would have to think for a punishment for Kat, maybe something relating to their late night bar outings, still, that would have to come later on.

Says the one who stopped her from finishing this problem in the first place.

Rolling her eyes, Kat placed a hand to her temples, focusing on 'feeling' the people outside. As she couldn't see them, it was a little more difficult to accurately relay any sort of information to them, but she had been using it for years. A small distance like this was child splay.
”Captain, this is Havoc.” She pinged the captain from her position, using her old alias out of habit more than anything. All people in Fenrir went by their codenames. For safety, after all. ”Get the secondary team moving. Quietly. There's...something down here. Minos is ain't lettin' me kill it so tell them to move up the stairs quietly unless they want to get felt up by some tentacle monster.”

While relaying the information, she didn't take her sights off the creature for a second, still holding her armaments at the ready.

As Minos approached Katherine once more, the secondary teams slowly descended down the stairs as silently as possible. Their sights first moved on to the figure in the center of the room, then to the man in the corner of the room, pausing only for a few brief moments to make sure these targets were not hostile in the first place before they turned towards Minos. The minotaur man simply confirmed the orders that Kat had relayed and signaled them to move towards the staircase on the other side of the room.

Without even waiting another second, the secondary team moved to the staircase as quietly as they were able to. In the meantime, Minos simply frowned as he stared at the creature in front of him. "This thing have any weaknesses I should know about, Katherine?" He asked as steadied his aim towards the creature itself.

”You act like I know what that thing is.” She replied. ”I don't, but in my experience fire works on most things.”

"As good as anything I had in mind, I suppose." He shakes his head as he keeps his eye on the team. The moment they cleared the area and were past to the stairs, he turned towards Katherine. "Ready to light this bastard up?" He asked, his sights fully focused on the creature in front of him now. "I'll even let you have the first shot there, Havoc!" He grinned widely as he used her old callsign.

“Heh,” She reached for the frag she had reached for earlier. “And here I thought you were gonna make this date boring.” In one swift motion she had lobbed the frag to where the thing had been laying.

The Monolith
While there wasn't anything special about the positioning of the bodies in the audience, the characters upon the stage had been carefully tailored for whatever reason. Aside from The Yellow King, there were a number of other characters alongside him. To his immediate right was a knight, clad in an armor most likely to be used for the play. Over the pieces of armor were large portions of human skin, most likely from the audience as none on stage were missing any of theirs. To the king's left was a female body wearing a cloak and clutching a dagger. She was coated in dried blood and stood slightly behind the king, lurking in his shadow. To the left of the knight was the body of Lenny dressed as a priest, in his hand was bound a severed head. Finally to the right of the bloody woman was another body, this time dressed as though he were a wizard of some sort. He wore a large wizard hat and tattered robe, in his right hand he held a key.

Isaac went ahead and examined each and every one of the bodies, his mind trying to hold onto reality. As he went from each of the characters, his mind kept reminding him of where he was and what was real. "They wouldn't put this much effort into arranging the bodies if it didnt mean something. They must correlate to something. Key figures to some sort of cult belief system. Douglas, do you recognize any of this?", despite his words, the detective had a theory growing in his head. He glanced at the rest of the team, hoping they wouldn't notice what he was about to do. Laying a hand on the yellow king, Isaac became deathly still for but a moment before trembling slightly. It was only for a moment but when he came out of his trance his eyes were alight with concern and focus. "The bodies most likely are themes to various rituals. This is something like a list, a list of rituals the cult wants to perform if they haven't already. I'd wager that whatever is going on at The Beacon is a part of these rituals"

---

The Beacon Hotel
The second wave of OTOs made their way up the staircase, their formation moving fast to close the distance between themselves and the lobby staircase. Eventually the sound of their footsteps gave way to muffled orders being given with the occasional gunshot ringing out. Katherine's grenade detonated against the creature's flesh, its breathing ceased as it sat there motionless. Almost instantly the pitter-patter of barefoot against a wet floor made it's way towards Katherine. "NONONONONONO WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! IT WANTS QUIET OR WE DIE! QUIET OR DIE QUIET OR DIE QUIET OR DIE!", the man who at one point had been cowering in the corner now had his hands firmly clasping Katherine's neck. His eyes were bloodshot and frantic as he stared into hers. He did not hold onto her long, only long enough to scream out what he had to say. Not a moment later did he dash past the two OTOs, hoping to make an escape out the back door from which they came. The mad hostages managed to get halfway up the stairs before something flew past Kharon and Katherine. Whatever it was had snagged the man's leg and jerked him off of the staircase, pulling him back into the darkness where the creature laid.

Bloodcurdling screams filled the basement but only for a moment as the sound of flesh being torn and bones shattered replaced it. In what lasted only a few seconds, the man had met a fate worse than death. The beast that once laid before them now stood towering over the OTOs. The abomination was so tall, it was hunched over as it's back pressed against the ceiling. An amalgamation of the corrupted flesh of its victims and it's own beastly form, the body of it had human flesh fused to it as if it were some sort of living armor. Its head was shaped like an alligator but instead of a leathery hide there was fur to resemble some hideous fusion of wolf and alligator. Despite most of its body being humanoid, the legs were like that of a goat but in place of hooves were talons like a raptor.

"Lord Kaiwan, these interlopers shall be silenced. Your word is absolute, and the only to be heard", its voice was low and mimicked by the heads of its victims, fused into its armor. Their pained voices repeated their killer's words out of synch and repeatedly. The flesh armor covered the monster's arms, thighs, shins, upper torso, and tail. Its eyes glowed a vibrant yellow as it peered down at Katherine and Kharon with emotionless indifference. Without warning, the creature's tail, tipped with a serrated organic blade, came hurtling towards Kharon. Whipping back and forth as the creature itself stampeded towards Katherine with an open maw of broken teeth and bones.

Whilst she was happy that she had made some mental progress on the case, albeit not that much in her opinion, Aria was never happy going into dark, unexplored areas. They had been told that OTO had swept the place, but Aria didn't take that for granted, not when the unknown was involved or they hadn't found anything. What they hadn't found was still out there, and possible lurking, either to bite the newcomers to it's lair with it's teeth, or stab them with some rusty blade left down there, all from the darkness.

But she walked down the stairs anyways.

The room was definitely dark, the candlelight cast by Daza barely helping with anything but making sure that she can see the muzzle in front of her eyes. It definitely gave a sense of creepiness, and she felt like a character in a book, about to go down the rabbit hole to a whole new world. As it was, it wasn't a whole new world, and it was nowhere near, but it could still hold the secrets a new world would hold. Boiler rooms were key places to hide anything; Aria had been to cases where evidence had been hidden inside of pipes.

It was not the silence, the engravings or the boiler itself that caught her attention, nor was it toward the furniture that Serene was gesturing for her to look at. It was, instead, the idol sitting in the center of the room that caught her attention. Despite the other suspect items in the room, it was the obvious that she wanted to look at first, to see if she could discern anything from it. She trotted up to it, pretending that Serene wasn't glaring at it, to examine it closely.

It was certainly unique, and definitely not something that a squatter would leave laying about in the middle of the room. Aria had the brief mental image of a squatter shoving it against a door to use as a barricade or lock, before dismissing the thought. No, the idol was definitely not normal.

Aria found particular interest of the cloak that the idol was wearing. She had found idols of varying meanings and differing materials, but using a cloak meant two things in her book; that the idol was not yet fully complete, or that the cloak was a part of the idol. She always suspected the latter; work in a statue was rarely halted, as they often had much meaning to their creators and those who praised what it represented. The former could however hold many answers; Maybe it was still in progress, maybe something had forced them to abandon it.

Aria still had to look to find this out, so she circled the idol. If the cloak didn't come off, then it was clearly a part of the idol, and she could start identifying what the idol meant. Placing a paw onto the top of the cloak to pull it off, Aria suddenly felt a stabbing sensation on her paw, and let out a surprised yelp, backing off quickly with her paw held above the ground. The stab had been enough to draw just a pinprick of blood, which had dripped onto the idol. She knew a blood sacrifice when she saw one, and was just lucky she hadn't decided to thrust her paw at the thing, or had a hand to clasp around it.

The blood seemed to cause a reaction from the idol, or at least, something connected to the idol. There was a sudden strong gust of wind coming from or behind the cabinet and causing it to rattle a little, before the wind calmed down gently, as if it was never there. Testing her paw on the ground and finding it not to be too painful from the pinprick stab, Aria stares over at the cabinet. "Someone move that, please," she asks. She could have done it, but why bother when there were people with her that could do it without her having to do anything?

In his final moments Darc saw what Lenny saw. He was just moving some props around the back when her heard a struggle. Lenny barely had time to even ask what happened when suddenly men in yellow cloaks surrounded him and the other actors and stage hands. Some of the stronger men tried to fight, but were easily killed. Those who tried to fight or run were killed almost instantly. Those who surrendered were tied up with ropes, some forced into strange outfits the strangers pulled from the costume room. And that’s when the slaughter began. One by one the others were killed in various gruesome methods, either by slit throats, stabbings, or other methods that Lenny didn’t have the stomach to watch. But he’d hear it. Their choked screams and cries for mercy.

Soon it came to Lenny and some of the others. There didn’t seem to be any purpose for why these people were chosen; Lenny himself didn’t even have an acting role yet. Then he felt something sharp enter his body. He didn’t know at first but a few seconds later the agonizing pain wracked his body as he was barely able to look and see he had been impaled by rebar spikes. Between the pain and tears however Lenny did see something, something that Darc needed if he wanted to find out who did this.

Lenny saw a man, a sophisticated looking man. Perhaps in his early forties, black hair, grey eyes, trim goatee. A face that Lenny didn’t recognize but Darc saw enough that he’d be able to try and match it to the OIA database later. He heard the man say that their work was done, that they needed to head to the chapel and help their other “brothers” there. Once they were finished there was only one more thing left to do before their lord was back. Lenny tried to hold out for longer but the wounds he sustained were killing him quickly. The last thing he saw was one of the other actors who managed to crawl out before any of the others noticed him. And with him, the prayers that someone will stop this madness. And with that everything turned black.

In the span of that one second Darc gained this information and immediately brought up his pad to store the information into his database. Accessing his digital spellbook he stored Lenny’s memories within and uploaded the data to the OIA cloud storage. Once he gets back to base he’ll be able to break down and process this information individually. Lenny was diligent in using his dying moments to give Darc as much info as he could, though it wasn’t fool proof. Lenny was a regular human and there’s a good chance that the man he saw might’ve been in a mortal disguise like Darc is right now. His fear and horror also would warp Lenny’s perception of reality so that was something else Darc would need to process through. But it was evidence nonetheless. Better than nothing.

”They have one more ritual before they’re ready to summon their dread lord, or whoever it is that caused them to do this.” Darc said outloud as he took pictures of Lenny and the others on the stage. ”Men in yellow cloaks did this to them. Guessing it might have to do with the King in Yellow from the old stories. Some harbinger of misfortune or some such, I’m not familiar with the elder mythos. In any case they have a chapel too. And more importantly, I have a face to look for.” Darc pulled up the image of the man that Lenny saw, showing it to the others. Hopefully they might recognize it. Even if they didn’t Darc will make sure to have his familiars know this face so they can either find information or even better, find him.

”Recognise it?”

~Katherine~

"Son of a bitch-!" Before she could react, that madman had somehow managed to sneak up on her, wrapping his weak little hands around her neck. His frantic look did nothing but cause her to snarl. Thankfully for him, he didn't attempt that long, otherwise she'd have put a bullet in him. "Fucking hell..." She snarled, watching apathetically as the man ran, only to be snagged by the now presumably awakened creature and dragged back into the darkness.

Screams filled the air, but it wasn't anything she hadn't heard or even seen before. The beast presented itself before them spouting some nonsense about Lord Kaiwan. Thoroughly unimpressed, Kat's mouth slowly turned into a sadistic grin as she imagined just what fighting this beastie was going to be like. It lurched forwards, amalgamation of teeth and obscene flesh intent on making a meal out of her. Well, unfortunately for the beastie she wasn't quite an easy snack unless she was drunk.

Kat dove to the side, sprinting and making sure she was clear of the beasts charge before turning, firing a few rounds from Remy at the beast before moving again, intent on staying mobile.

---

After giving a quick assessment of the scene, Isaac led Nova and the other detectives into the theatre. It was dark, and a little colder than she expected.

Then the smell hit. A sharp metallic, coppery, like old coins.

Bodies littered across the interior of the room, all staring with their grotesque, coerced smiles and glassy irises. She didn’t have enough time to turn back out the door before involuntarily retching at the scene. A scene - that’s exactly what it was. The murderer was the director of a play, and the victims his unwilling actors.

Nova’s knees felt weak. As much as she didn’t want to, she forced her legs to wobble closer to the corpses. If she couldn’t do at least this much, she would be in the wrong line of work.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Nova spoke solemnly, as one of the detectives stood beside Lenny’s body. She was devastated to hear that one of the OIA’s detectives would be connected to one of the victims here. She couldn’t imagine how it must feel if someone she knew had been defiled in this way as they died.

Isaac brought up the correlation between the scene and some sort of ritual, or cultist behaviour. Nova twiddled her thumbs - she didn’t know enough about cult belief systems to pitch in a good lead, but Darc easily pulled up a photo of a suspect. Her head tilted slightly to the side in confusion. Maybe he had some ability she wasn’t aware of.

“I don’t have any leads on the guy, but I think there are other ways we might be able to track down the people involved.” Her eyes scanned the room, stopping at the yellow centrepiece of the stage. She gulped, before continuing, “If you say we’re looking for men in yellow cloaks, maybe we can start by looking at local fabric stores for particularly large purchases of yellow fabric dated back to before this incident, or similar incidents started happening. Well, I doubt H&M is selling cultish yellow cloaks.”

Nova managed a chuckle despite the situation, but quickly cleared her throat and continued. “Um, well, I’m not sure if that will get us any leads but it’s worth a try. We might also have some luck looking through past cases for similarities; my intuition is telling me that a cult would do smaller test runs before a big, 50-person ritual to summon their demon lord.”

Douglas had already taken a few pictures before he began piecing them together. Something about this scene had seemed so familiar. That's when it hit him: he'd already seen it before. He's looked over countless occult texts, and he remembered this cast of characters in particular. It was from an old tome OIA had found in Syria and stored away.

"Hold on a second, I recognize this..."

He approached and gestured to the bodies, quoting from the Tome:

"His Holy Knight, to enforce his divine rule... His Royal Spymaster, to seek and destroy those who would oppose him... His High Priest, to spread his good word... and his Royal Mage, to seek out the lost knowledge and enlighten him on the ways to spread his influence..."

Douglas stops just in front of the main figure.

"... And King Kaiwan himself, divine ruler of the city-state of Carcosa."

He turns to his coworkers to elaborate.

"Well, his version of 'divine' and 'holy' is more akin to 'indulgence', allowing rape, murder, destruction... and unnatural creation."