Bartimaeus

Royal Rumble!

Samoth walked down the hall, towards the last room, which door was open. He peeked in to see Cyan looking at a photo, presumably of the former residents.
"Come, Cyan. We're done here. Every room is clear." he said behind the younger boy. He started his slow stroll down the hall, waiting for Cyan to catch up. He looked town at his coat, which was filthy. There was dust all over it, a few cob webs clinging to it as well, accompanied by specks of imp blood.

This is too easy he thought. We didn't need six people for this. But..there has to be a reason those students went missing. We'll have to stay on our toes, despite how nonthreatening the residents here seem so far.

He would walk with Cyan to their established meeting place at the stairs, and wait for anyone who had yet to arrive.

______________________

Samoth and Cyan arrived at the stairs, appearing to be second in their arrival, only to the Fireteam.

"Cassius." he nodded, glancing at the other student.
Samoth leaned against a wall nearby the stairs, looking over to Katherine."Hello, Katherine. I trust that you two didn't get into any trouble while I was gone?" he said, eyeing her. She was...wet.
"Why do you choose to waste so much energy on such insignificant beings? You're even persperating.." he said, pondering the thought himself. He found it unnecessary to expend so much effort if it wasn't needed.

Royal Rumble!

____________________________________________________________

King was...and odd character. Aram didn't quite get him. However, his backstory was intriguing, even as unbelievable as it is. Apparently he was an alien from another planet..It wasn't..entirely impossible, per se. But the probability of King actually being an alien was..lacking, to say the least.

Despite being very new to the Vigilantes, Aram had confidence that even if he under-performed on this mission, his peers would be able to cover for him.
Not that it appeared they would just disperse as they please to show up at the target location completely of their own choosing helped in that case. King didn't seem to take much control of the Vigilantes. Mostly leaving them to their own devices. On one hand, Aram could work with that. But on the other, he prefer to have someone cover him while he made his transmutation circles. Having someone assigned to it rather than having a loose agreement was much more reliable. But he supposed he could work with how things were.

King presented the group with an object he called...the "Bing Bong sword". An..odd name. But nonetheless, it seemed important. He handed it to the boy they called "Brutus", who took it in his hands, seemingly hesitant. Aram would have to take that later. He could probably use it more efficiently.

King left them with little information, besides the fact that they had to succeed at this assignment to join the tournaments. Aram had never been in a tournament, and to be honest, was a little excited to do so. So he'd try to do his best on this mission.

Brutus seemed to be the first of his peers to take initiative, strapping the Claymore to his back, and began running towards their destination. Aram decided it to be lucrative to follow suit, and walked from his pew to the front of the building, where he drew a wooden plate from the messenger bag at his hip, splaying it out in front of him. He focused on the plate of wood, specifically on the intricately designed circle affixed to it in a red paint. His hands began to glow black, as well as the Transmutation circle upon the wood slate. The ground wavered beneath it as his outer coat disintegrated around him.

In a flash of black, a skateboard appeared over the wooden plate. Aram approached, putting his transmutation circle back into his bag as he stepped onto the skateboard, beginning his short journey to the haunted apartments.

______________________

He arrived shortly after he set out. Upon approaching the grounds of the building, he performed the same display as he had to get his ride here, his outer coat returning to his body. He spotted Brutus up ahead, seemingly waiting for the rest of the Vigilantes.

"Hello Brutus!" he called out to him, as he started to approach the other boy. He didn't know much about Brutus. He didn't seem quite as social as himself. Perhaps they could become friends? Aram was always open to it.

Royal Rumble!

_____________________________________________________________

Samoth took more significant strides as his fellow students seemed to be prepared to go their selerate paths. With each step, dust and undiscernable debris was flung into the air, clinging to his pants, and heavy military boots.
He approached the first door within his section, it appearing as if him and Cyan had made it to their objective before the others. He laid his gloved hand against the door, and then he side of his head. He didn't hear any discernable noise. He took off his right glove and shoved it in his pocket. His slightly thinner left glove still allowed him to dispel magic through it, while also reissting flames as well as various other cuts and scratches.

He quickly turned the handle and pushed his body into the door, expecting it to open up swiftly allowing him quick survey of the room on the other side. It didn't budge. It did make him look a bit silly though. Hugging a door and all.
He backed up a couple feet, and slammed one of his massive boots against the rickety door, smashing it in. The door hung off its hinges to his left, as he stepped through the threshhold of the decrepit room. The windows on the opposite side were heavily boarded, letting in little light.
Samoth could feel the presence if something close. But with all the entities in the proximity, it was a bit hard to tell where exactly. He turned to his right, a dusty bed with well-devoured sheet lain before him, and beside that a rotted nightstand, and a lamp. He turned to the doorway, where Cyan still stood, approaching it once again.

"Looks clear. Let's move-" he was interrupted by a wooden scraping sound, and then was struck in the back with a chair. The chair was heavily rotten, much like everything else here, seemingly. It helped that Samoth's learher coat didn't let much rotten wood through, too.

He turned on his heel quickly to see a stark-white entity, seemingly levitating a lamp post, and it was accompanied by a small, red, knife-wielding, devilish-looking creature only several feet away.

Samoth lunged forward, right hand reaching directly for the ghost, second hand moving towards the Imp, yet not intending to make contact with it.

The ghost weightlessly evaporated under Samoth's grip, the lamp post falling harmlessly to the ground, and the Imp crumpled to the ground, seemingly not even being struck, screeching in pain.

Samoth stepped closer to the Imp, eyeing it sourly. "Pest." Was his simple statement, as he lifted his heavy left boot, and plowed it violently into the creature's skull. There was an assuring crunch, as its screeches ceased.

He turned, and look to the doorway, were Cyan had been expected to stay. He hadn't.
"-to the next room." he said, as if that hadn't just happened. He strode towards the door approaching the threshold, and advancing to he hallway, hoping the next room hadn't held too much for Cyan to handle.

Royal Rumble!

________________________________________________________________________

Aram hadn't been with the Vigilantes for long. But what he did learn, mostly from other people's advice, was that King was usually right. Hopefully he was right. For the news he gave wasn't the greatest.

First off, they were broke. Apparently they had spent on their money on...candles. Well, at least it was for a good cause. A church. Aram wasn't religious himself, he believed strictly in the sciences. However, he put credit to the opinion that people could believe in whatever they wanted. Who was he to reject their way of life? Anyways, churches helped people. He respected that.

He listened from a pew that was more towards the middle of the congregation area, to the left of the entrance.

One thing that worried him about King's announcement was one word. Ghosts. Technically, if Ghosts were to exist, they would have no mass. But that wasn't scientifically possible..was it? He didn't put much credit in ghosts but...he had seen some weird stuff. Hopefully there would be some scientific explanation. He didn't really like fighting things he couldn't touch..it freaked him out.

"So...how exactly do we get these ghosts? Unless you want to throw some salt at them and try to punch them while they're not looking?" That was Ria. Aram didn't know what to think of Ria, completely. On one hand, she was kinda rude. On the other, she seemed somewhat truthful. But what creeped him out the most was when she looked at him. He felt like he couldn't make a move without her somehow knowing. Something about her gaze..

"I-i have some salt!" he shouted down the aisles, throwing his right arm up into the air, and standing from his seat. "You can borrow some if you want!" he exclaimed.

Royal Rumble!

_____________________________________________________________

As soon as Samoth stepped foot onto the threshold of the building's double-spaced doorway, his Telepathic connection blurred slightly. His brow furrowed.
"There are many entities here." he said, slowly scanning what part of the lobby he could see.

He looked down and to his side at the much smaller Cyan as he asked him a question. "So I know you have some magic-stopping type power, do you think that would work on the ghosts?" Was he nervous? Probably. There would be a decent amount of entities in this proximity.

"If you're wondering if you'll get hurt in here...I doubt it." he said, slightly less harsh than normally. He heard a slight scraping as his companion picked up a detached chair-limb. "And you probably won't need that." he let out a miniscule smirk at Cyan's attempt to arm himself. As he did so, he turned his head towards his left, away from the boy.

"But to answer your question. Yes. My power allows me to touch incorporeal beings..disperse them, even. Imps will take a little more effort, but still..of little relevance."

Samoth paused mid-step as a short gust, and a familiar voice hit the back of his head. ”D’ya guys mind taking the North Eastern section?”

Samoth slightly nodded, his jaw tight. And then Cassius dashed off. "Come, Cyan. Take it slow and stay close to me. Tell me if you see anything suspicious." he ordered, lightly.

They would take a slow pace until the rest of the group was through the threshold, then they would start clearing rooms in their section of the first floor.

Royal Rumble!

Samoth watched as Andreim raised his arm suddenly and shouted out his wishes to be Liselotte's partner. He saw it as a wise choice, though he didn't think it was wisdom that brought the other male to the conclusion. He seemed to have an odd fixation with her..

"Yes, good thinking, Andreim. Lady Liselotte can protect you from getting yourself hurt in there. Wise choice. he said. He chuckled, on the inside. He looked to his right, down to Cyan. He didn't ever really prove himself as much of a fighter, but Samoth didn't blame him for that. He couldn't help it.
"You can come with my Cyan, if you like." his words were sharp, sentences ending abruptly. Ending as suddenly as they started.

He looked to his left, eyeing the two that arrived first. "And I suppose our "Fire Team" won't have any objections to teaming up together.." he left a pause, for any interjection. Seemingly there was none, so Samoth turned towards the building, and began to walk towards the door at a leisurely pace, leaving time for the rest of the group to follow suit.

Royal Rumble!

As Samoth stood, separated from the others of his school, he witnessed a black limousine pull up, just outside the grounds of the building. Out stepped Liselotte, accompanied by a familiar face, Cyan.

As they approached the other group of three, pleasantries began to be exchanged, and Samoth himself approached the others, as a proposition of splitting up was made.

”Do you guys want to tackle this in a three groups of two? It’s best to make sure every room in each floor is clear. We can take out floors more efficiently if we move in groups of two, and meet up at each staircase when we had cleared out our sections.”, Cassius proposed.

"That seems like an appropriate course of action." Samoth confirmed. "It doesn't put us too far apart, and allows us to get this over with in reasonable time." he nodded. He looked around for any signs of objection, as well as possible teams, and a partner for himself.
It shouldn't be too hard, so he thought Cyan might make a good choice. He trusted himself to protect the small boy more than anyone else here. Liselotte or Katherine could be sufficient, however.

"Who's with who? I personally don't mind." he said, in a bland tone.

Royal Rumble!

Samoth pushed open the door of the local public library, stepping into the warmth of the afternoon sun. He did quite enjoy the library. It was quiet, and had much opportunity for improving himself. And since there was a library on campus at St. Laurels, he rarely ran into anyone he knew here.

He stepped away from the doors, and made his descent down the several stone steps that led up to the impressive building. He admired the historic beings depicted in the large bronze statues at either side of the ascending stone stairs. He had seen them dozens upon dozens of times, yet he still admired them. When he looked at them, they exercised his memory on the subjects they depicted.

He looked away from the figures, and began a slow stroll down the sidewalk, towards the campus of his school. That was when a young boy ran up to him, sticking his arm up to him, grasping what could only be thought of as a letter addressed to him. As he drew close, Samoth looked down to the boy, "What is this? he asked.

"It's a letter, Mister!" he said, maybe a bit too excitedly. He was small, and looked to be very young. Couldn't be more than 10.

"..Yes. But who gave it to you? What did they look like?"

"Umm..I don't know him Mister, but he gave me a dollar!" he exclaimed, holding up a crumpled bill in his clenched fist. "Oh! But his shoes were black." he said, as if it were a deciding factor of this person's identity.

"...Ok. " Samoth breathed heavily. "You can go home now." he ordered, as he looked down at the letter, now in his hand. He was being summoned. And to a haunting, at that. He took note of the address, and crumpled the paper, tossing it in a nearby trashcan, as he changed his course to his new destination.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Samoth came within view of his destination. He took step onto the grounds of the large building. He felt a slight digging pain pierce the surface of his mind. He gritted his teeth in discomfort.
He could feel many wandering consciousnesses here. This would be...interesting..

He spotted Cassius, resting against a derelict wall, seemingly waiting for someone. It appeared as if he was chatting to Katherine, who was standing near him. Seems like he wasn't the only one summoned here.

Samoth took his own resting position against a nearby tree, plucking a leaf of a hanging branch, softly twisting and folding it between his fingers, expecting more students to come. Maybe some consensus on how they'd go about this would be made.

Royal Rumble!

nvm >.>