open | jeaaaaalousy

[cozen]

WHO: Anyone.
WHAT: Ferreting out imposters.
WHEN: Drakonis 9:50
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: This is a catch-all for anyone who needs a place to put logs related to the envy demon plot. Use CWs in your subject lines.

art

Some number of Riftwatch's members are, presently, envy demons in disguise. Better find them.


RECAP
Previously, all these things happened on one day actually:

• Julius was poisoned and Flint, Yseult, and Marcus killed the culprit.
  
• Marcus ordered the Gallows on lock-down. No one's allowed to leave, but Riftwatch members outside the Gallows at the time are required to return.
  
• Yseult announced the possible presence of shape-changing imposters.
  
• Byerly encouraged identifying people who might be affected.
  
• Templars had a huddle.

Comments

[thereneverwas]

Well, that's a relief?

The groan and the puking sound means Cedric is still present in some capacity, which Barrow is choosing to categorize as Good, sight unseen, until they're able to manage the intricacies of the situation. In the meantime, he's pleased (sort of) to see the demon turning its attention once more to a target on its other side: he's tired, depleted, only has enough mana left for maybe one more good strike, so this is going to have to do it.

He takes a breath, his sword glowing white in the instant before he hacks at the creature from behind, bringing the blade down with enough force to sever a thick spine-- assuming demons have any kind of sensible anatomy, spines to be severed, and all that. He's going to have to hope, because he's starting to get lightheaded himself, and the real Vanya looks a walking corpse.

[wearyallalone]

Whether or not the demon has a spine in the way they understand it, the blow is powerful enough to make it scream in pain and rage. Hauntingly, its voice still has just a hint of Vanya's timbre, somehow. The attack also drives the demon to its knees, whether from losing some of its motor function or just the agony of the injury. The thing lashes out with a long arm in Barrow's direction, a blow meant to throw him backward.

The combination of getting the demon down and turning its head away from Vanya is, however, just enough. Vanya knows as well as Barrow does that time is not on their side in this fight. His feet planted, Vanya brings the sword down two-handed on the demon's neck, with power boosted by rage and fear and whatever was in the potion Gwenaëlle had handed him earlier. The cut could be called clean, as neatly as it divides the head from the body, except for the sickly black ichor that flows from both. It's the wrong viscosity for blood and carrying its own particularly vile smell.

Vanya nods once and seems like he might be about to say something when he, too, collapses to the grass. (He does, at least, drop the sword without landing on it.)

[thereneverwas]

It’s at least thirty seconds or so before Barrow, who was thrown aside, realizes he’s still alive. And that it’s quiet, and that the fighting has stopped, and Orlov—- the real one—- is lying motionless on the ground across the lake of ichor.

Hauling himself to his feet, Barrow inventories his wounds: he’s sore, might’ve broken a rib, is bleeding profusely from the scores down his front, but is otherwise intact. He thinks to pick up his crystal, mutters something into it, then goes about the process of shuffling from one fallen ex-Templar to the other, hauling them up under his arms like the sacks of grain he used to carry on his family farm.