groovygamers.com

Saturday October 27th, 2007

The Janush Party is scheduled to start at 8PM.  The location has been passed by word of mouth, and directions were provided on a web page in an obscure sub-directory of a local band's website.  The location is an old abandoned home for wayward girls that was closed down in the 70's.  The building itself has been boarded up for twenty-five years and left to the elements.

Cars line the access road leading to the main building, and music can be heard faintly from outside.  The property itself is off the road a good distance, and the whole place has an eire feel to it. 

Inside you see strings of Christmas lights are draped all over the interior to provide shadowy illumination of the halls and rooms.  Generators sit in the back yard of the place, humming away to provide the power for the various lights and musical gear.  The party occupies three main areas, with lights strung between them.  The main entry hall is where food and drink are found.  This area is warmed by electric heaters and the presence of a good number of partiers.  Down the hall there is a small auditorium room with a stage, this is where the bands is setting up and the main floor is occupied by dancers. Further down the main hall is what used to be a library.  this room is filled with folding table sand chairs and is just far enough from the music to be able to hold conversations, but close enough to still hear the band playing.  This room is warmed by a fireplace, and there are always at least two people watching it at all times.  It's a very cozy place.  Many other areas of the house have some lights, and there are about five working bathrooms on this level.

In the main entryway, along with the food and drink are several flashlights sitting on tables, in case people want to go exploring the unlit areas of the house.  Blankets can also be found here.

Lisa Janush is dressed as Cleopatra, and she's acting the part as well.  She has five bearers that carry her from place to place, and she's being the perfect hostess greeting everyone either as they arrive or as soon as she learns of their arrival.

EDIT:

The Oak Park vs. Glenbard football game final score was Glenbard 7, Oak Park 5.

About 9:30, during a break in the music, a familiar voice comes over the speakers.  "Hey, listen up everyone."  It's Elrod.  "I hope you're having a hell of a time."  This is met with cheers from the crowd, "Excellent.  Listen, I'm supposed to be looking for someone.  I have until midnight, but it dawned on me that I'm wasting a perfect party chasing after her.  So, if she's listening, I'm headed to the roof in about five minutes.  I'd have a lot more fun if she met me there."

Elrod leaves the stage and gets some cups and a bottle of soda and disappears in the crowd.

After waiting a little bit to see if Lisa was going to demand that Elrod do something, Sammy decides its okay to go up to the roof.  For a moment she thinks about flying up there, but decides against it.  On her way to the stairs she tags Heather.  "Come on -- one last puzzle.  Then you can take the mask off if you want."  The two girls go up.  From the doorway, she calls out "Can't make things too easy for you, dude.  Which one is Sammy?"  Together, she and Heather step out onto the roof and take up identical band at-rest positions.

About 10PM a different band takes the stage, the old band begining to mingle in the crowd.  There is about ten minutes where the music os supplied by a DJ, who tries to keep the pace and tempo that the band had set with a selection of pretty modern rock and alternative stuff that could be danced to.

When Donnie and Sylvia arrive in the main entry hall the crowd here is still pretty thick.  It doesn't take long to spot the witches, they seem to be travelling in a pack.  Their costumes are matching 'witch' costumes, very sexy and meant to draw looks.  They even have the pointy hats.

Sylvia sighs and rolls her eyes.  "Jeez, could you be more obvious?"  She looks at Donnie, squeezing his hand in a gesture of solidarity.  "Do we wait until they split off?"

Megan makes her way out to the main entrance area, looking for Donnie or Sylvia.  She finally manages to stop Donnie, though it takes her a few more moments to recognize Sylvia in her costume.  She also spots the group of witches without too much trouble.  Giving Donnie and Sylvia a slight nod, the blonde teen moves over to talk with Lance and his girlfriend to try to be less obvious for the moment, though her costume was one that was likely to draw attention like the ones the witches were wearing.

"Yep. I think we go for the newest one first. Where's that little freshman bitch who pretended to be Rob's girlfriend?"  Donnie pulls Sylvia close and sways to the music, using the premise of 'pretending not to stare while secretly checking out the new arrivals' as an excuse to be close to her and dance. His eyes grow unfocused for a moment as the heady perfume of Sylvia threatens to overwhelm his senses, but he takes a deep breath (and the scent of her hair and skin) and lets it out slowly, returning his baslisk gaze towards the witches. He makes a count, and tries to determine if the priciple players were here as well as the little fish.

Donnie catches Megan's eye as she nods to him and he returns the nod.

Sylvia falls into step, expression cool while she tries to come up with a way to untangle the knot of witches.  There's comfort in closeness.  All the pent-up anxiety and frustration of being a teenager, being paranormal, seems to fade as she rests her head against Donnie's shoulder and thinks.  "United they stand, divided they fall.  I could--"  She licks her lips, hesitant.  "I could try to sow the seed of discord.  There's probably a pecking order.  I bet it wouldn't take much to ruffle their feathers."

Sammy, masked, sidles into the entry hall.  The target couldn't be more clear.  She tastes a bit of acid in her mouth when she sees Donnie and Sylvia side by side, obviously together again.  He's gonna let her hurt him again.  Idiot.  Oh well!  Nothing says I have to hang around and watch it happen.

She takes up a position by the front door.

"Let's give them just a little time. After all, they are here for the boys, right? We'll snag a little one when the witch flock seperates to forage. Your idea will definately be useful, especially when we do the rite. Make us all invisible or something to the outside crowd, or make us look like we aren't standing in a circle of power."

"I can try."  Sylvia's not sure she'll be able to see it unless Donnie plans to inscribe the circle in glow-in-the-dark paint marker.

A little Japanese couple arrives behind the pilot and the elf.

Donnie frowns seeing the elf put her head on Donnie's shoulder, until he realizes...

"Sylvia?!"

There's an awkward moment as in his brain the realization of seeing them back together fights with the images brought forth by her costume, images he immediately tries to wipe from his mind before Sarah can even suspect them.

"Ehm... Hi!"

Thinking best to find something else to focus his attention on as soon as possible, he turns his ghost sight towards the witches.

The witches begin to make their way around the room and chat.  Colin's ghost site shows most of them look fairly normal, except for one.  She has an aura that looks like a pair of wings stretched out behind her.  She's one of the older girls, probably Sarah Bailey the girl you think might be the leader of the coven.

Sammy isn't sure the others know who she is.  None of them were around when she arrived at the party and spoke to Dave.  She casually wanders up behind Sarah and Colin and quietly says "Hi guys."  When she's sure she has their attention, she asks "What is the plan?"

Megan tries to position herself talking with Lance, his girlfriend and some other football players so that she can see some of the witches past them and makes some occasional glances over towards Donnie and the others, using the pretext that she is looking for John to come back from the restroom.

Kel arrives behind Donnie and says, "You know, I figure this is like really important, but still, I was in the middle of something.  Sure not life threatening like this probably is, but you know, important."

"Hey Col, Sarah. Colin, any of them have any hovering spells about them to be prepared for?"

Donnie looks over at Kel. "Sorry, man. Just thought you might want to give us a hand here. Hopefully we can do this without too much screaming and yelling. Wouldn't want to screw up two Janush parties." His solomn look breaks for a slight smile. "We might not be invited back."

"The boss has a weird aura, something like wings. The others are clean. What would you have us do?"

Seth, complete with cape manges to find his way to the rest of the group...

In a rare deja vu moment... "You know, I figure this is like really important, but still, I was in the middle of something.  Sure, not life threatening like this probably is, but you know, important."

Noticing a couple of strange looks...

"What?"

Is it the contacts? ...I can take them out.

Sammy stifles a giggle at Seth's words.

She looks over in the direction where she last saw Elrod.  Unless somebody tells me what to do SOON, she thinks, I ought to just plant myself between the coven and the bulk of the crowd.  I can at least try to keep an exit clear.  It'll get ugly quick if the crowd panics and starts stampeding towards the doors.  If things get bad, I'll just blow open all the doors and windows, and try to give folks as many chances as I can for them to get out of here. The Suspects can fend for themselves.  Someone has to think about what might happen to the innocent bystanders.

"OK, uh. Plan. If memory serves me correctly, none of my minor castings on the coven will stick unless I cut off their power. To do that, I need to take out their leader, the focus of the entire coven. Sylvia will cloak Sarah in the guise of some cute older boy, who will approach her with a glass of punch in her hand. In reality, Sarah's gonna thwack her hard with her staff, hopefully strong enough to knock her out. Otherwise, Megan can hit her with a thousand punches or something. ALL of this will be under the cover of Sylvia's Illusion of the two of them standing close and chatting. If she stays up, I will blind her with a handy little spell I have and we continue to try and take her out quickly. Once she is down, we circle her, I act as the focus of all your intentions, cut her off of her power source, and hit her with the binding. Then we disperse. I'll toss some bindings on the little fish, but hopefully they will start affecting each other as soon as they run to tell the other ones.

I need all of you to basically will to me your strength, your intentions of keeping this girl from touching th Power weave that fuels all her spells and that of the coven. Hopefully this works."

Donnie gives a weak smile.

Sammy is glad of the mask that hides her expression.  THAT's the plan?!  Right.  Crowd control it is, until it's time to join the circle...

"Will you my intentions?...And how exactly does that work?

Seriously. Do i just think at you real hard? I've never willed anyone an intention before.

Sarah grins, "Cool I get to thump someone!"  She pauses and reflects, "Wait... um, as much as we all dislike these people this is a fairly hostage abundant area.  If somebody blasts and misses an innocent could get hurt.  Do we have any way of avoiding that?"

Sammy blinks behind her mask.  "I'm the only one of us who can 'blast' anything," she says, implying that she doesn't intend to miss if she does, "but I was planning more on keeping the crowd as safe as I can.  You magic mindpower guys just think about your wills so the rest of them" she points at the partygoers with her chin "don't have to write theirs."

"That's exactly right Seth. How do you think covens get their power? By the will of the women involved."

Donnie looks oddly at Sammy. She was being particularly waspish. Perhaps she was pissed off that he had pulled her away from smooching with Elrod.

"For all you who want to bitch about me pulling away from your partying, may i remind you that these girls have been at the core of a number of incidents at our school? That they instigated thugs to attack students, myself and Kel included, have messed with peoples minds, shoved hostile spirits inside innocent kids? Not to mention what they did to Colin." Donnie's lip is curled in anger, and Sylvia feels a faint backwash of it, a heat wholly unlike that which was shared minutes before.

A second later John is standing next to Donnie with a hand on his shoulder.  "Focus, save your energy for what you have to do.  Okay?"

"Donnie, are you sure about the whacking her up part? I know you thought this over and over, but I wouldn't like, well, if there were consequences because of this, what with coming back three times and all of that. If you're sure, I'm ready."

Sammy takes a deep breath, filling her lungs, then counts to five and lets it out slowly, calmly.  In a neutral voice, she says "I wasn't saying I wouldn't help; nobody said that.  I just said that Sarah was right; somebody needs to protect the innocent bystanders.  When its time to join the circle, I will, but until then, I'm putting myself on crowd protection and control.  We don't want people hurt or trampled to death because a fight causes them to panic, right?  I can blow open every door and window in a couple of rooms around me if a fight breaks out.  I can throw up an air wall to keep things from hitting large groups of people.  There are others here who can deal directly with the girls from Salem Sorority until its time for your circle.  That's all I'm saying.  OK?"

She stretches a little, loosening up her neck and shoulders.  "I'm ready when you are."

Sylvia takes note of Sammy's concern that there may be some running, screaming, and trampling going on.  She squeezes Donnie's hand in silent support, then lets go and steps back against a wall where she's out of the way and can concentrate.

"The whole reason I suggested Sarah is because she can take out someone without bloodying them up. Blood is power in witchcraft. The head of these witches is powerful because of what she is tapped into. We need to cut her off, neutralize that power before any binding I may lay upon her can take effect. I don't want her hurting you guys while I'm trying this."  Donnie squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them. They remain blue. "Let's do this."

Megan was still off by Lance and some of the other football players as John finally returned, also going over towards the crowd around Donnie.  Well, lets hope that’s not to obvious, gathering all together like that.  She thought while she continued talking, having no idea what exactly they were going to do, and just waited for someone to either signal for her to do something or come join them.

The hand on donnie's shoulder is gone, and John is once again no where to be seen.

The witches have started to settle some and spread out.  The initial interest in their joint arrival is fading and they start to make their way around the room some.

Kel stretches a little and says, "Well, I'm not really too familiar with this whole willing people stuff thing but whatever works I guess.  Out of curiosity, should we get heading over there now, make it seem like we're dancing or just wait till Syl and Sarah do their thang."  Kel begins to wonder if his will is going to be affected by the whiskey, and the beers, and then shakes his head deciding to let his irish heritage sort it out.

OOC:  My post from last night apparently blew off into space *poof* 

IC:

Sarah takes a deep breath and lets it out with a sigh.  "I'm ready to go when you are."  She looks to Syl, "Want me to duck behind a couch or something for you to do the presto chango thing?"

Sarah glances over at Sammy, "You're the only one of us that can blast anything.  What about them?  Have we got a Plan B?  I'm not trying to change this plan but some ideas to fall back on might have some merit."

OOC: To help move things, I will get out and push.

Sarah moves around towards the leader of the coven.  She passes behind a few people and then is gone, instead a smiling teenage boy is walking towards the girl now.  The boy is a collage of Kel, Seth, Donnie, Colin, and someone else.  His smile is broad and his costume is the same kind of thing that one of the Jedi Knights from those movies might wear. 

Sarah doesn't feel any different, but she knows she doesn't look like herself to the world around her, since she's been getting the attention of entirely too many girls.  The leader of the coven has turned and seen her, him, Sarah.  She smiles in reply to something.

Her guard is down.  Strike fast, then vanish.

OOC: Need an attack roll.  Take a Bonus of +2.

Sarah is a little disturbed by the immediate attention. Syl is too good.  No wonder she's... Focus!  

She moves in close and brings forth her staff in a quick short thrust.  Sarah discovered a while ago that it didn't matter how she attacked, only that she made contact to be effective.

1d20+7=19 (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=920484)

The action is startling and violent.  One second, it's a boy and girl flirting, the next second Sarah is holding the sllimped form of the witch coven in her arms to keep her from falling, but no one else seems to react.  To the rest of the world, the boy and girl are dancing close.  Sylvia's eyes are glassy as she leans against the wall, her attention focused.

Jedi Guy, formerly Sarah, gives a thumbs up and hopes for some help soon.  Cripes I need to start lifting weights if I'm going to be doing this stuff!

Sammy takes Sarah's thumbs up as the signal that its time to move in and form a circle.  She moves up on the other side of Sarah, incidentally helping her to support the unconscious girl, and waits for the others to do whatever it is they're going to do.

Once Kel sees Kat move and the thumbs up go up, he walks over to Megan and interrupts her conversation with the football player with a, "Howdy Cap'n, need to talk to you for a second, John's been looking everywhere ya know."  Before there can be a reaction from her or anyone, he grips her as gently as he can near-dragging her away as he begins to talk, "So apparently we're taking down the witches and stuff.  You probably know, but the deal is Sarah just took down their leader and Syl's hiding it, so we just walk up and project our will to Donnie who's gonna do a whole buncha hoobajoob."  They're standing close to a couple dancing, and Kel says, "Yea so we had to form this circle thing, and ya, this whole will projection thing, you just think about power and giving it to Donnie and if you could do that like...oh...well now I suppose."

Megan was a bit surprised when Kel showed up and began pulling her away, but didn’t say anything as he mentioned John looking for her.  She gave Lance and the others a smile and waved goodbye.

She listened as Kel explained what was going on, feeling a bit annoyed that John had not come over to tell her what the plan had been.  At least Kel had the sense to do so.  She nodded at his explanation of what to do now and pulled her arm free to start moving around where the illusionary boy was with the coven leader to form the circle for Donnie, trying to think about helping him with his spell and stopping the witches, hoping she was doing this right.

"Ok, it's time."

Colin looks at the spirits and tries to draw their attention.

"I hope you can understand me. Otherwise, I hope that the blackbird will tell you what I'm saying. I'm looking for your help. There is a coven of witches here, that used their magic for despicable things. We are trying to bind them, so they won't hurt no one else. My friend there- " he points at Donnie "-has strong magic, but it's the first time he tries something like this, and he probably needs all the help he can get. Can you help us with this, through me?"

Colin sees the attention of the spirits turn towards him as he speaks to them.  When he's finished they nod, and begin to move towards Donnie.  It's like a Christmas wreath, a ring of the spirits touch him with thier wispy hands, and then a ring forms around them, and they touch and each new ring of spirits touch the last forming a star-like pattern of ghostly energy around Donnie.  Spirits have come from outside and upstairs to join the ring.  Men, women, and even a few children come to join the circle.

Donnie feels a surge of elemental energy flow through him, grounded and harmonic.

OOC: To add your energy to the caster you simply need to make a Will Save with a DC of 6.  If you fail you can spend a Hero Point for an automatic success.

"Thank you."

He takes his place in the circle, smiles at Donnie, and sends him his friendship, his concern, his gratitude. He wills his energy to make him strong, to make his spell effective and a true act of kharma. There's no desire of vengeance, this is just what needs to be done.

Seth closes his eyes....And activates his other sense. This is more personal. He can feel everything going on around him. He can feel the witches....

Seth focuses on the form of Donny. He sends a shiver along that psychic skin. All his will all his intent, all his training, and discipline. All of it.

He thinks he does a pretty good job....

Seth's Intentions (1d20-1=16) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=920890)

(OOC- Do i feel anything weird from the witches??? Or anyone else from that matter?)

Kel hummed to himself as he starts thinking about what exactly is it lik eto project your will to someone.  He makes a few screwy faces as he tries to make his will something tangible, eventually thinking of it as a very large sandwich that he gives to Donnie.  As he thinks about handing it to him, he begins to wonder exactly why he thinks of his will as a sandwich, shaking his head.

(( http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=920892 15 baby))

(OOC yes, like I predicted, the 20 for the dance made important rolls bad, got a natural 1 for the will save, must be because Megan did not get Donnie's direct instructions :)  http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=920918)

Sammy pushes hard.

Will save (1d20=18) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=920902) +2 for a total of 20

When you reach out with your other sense it almost feels like you're moving through cobwebs.  Slightly sticky strands of something that is there, but not easy to grasp.

The witches themselves feel like hot spots in the room.

OOC:  Aw, man!  I wanted to roll the one!  Only basic honesty kept me from re-rolling until I got a bad number!

Donnie extends his hands, feeling the strands of energy, spun through the air as they slip into his skin. He feels the power building inside his chest, a golden swirling maelstrom of energy, intention, cool whispers cross his skin as cold magic blends with the hot of his angry core. He keeps reign on his emotions, as he does not want to let anger rule his actions. Concern and protectiveness takes the fore, as the magic combines into a golden sphere inside his chest, smooth and growing.
Taking his time he says a prayer. Despite his constant verbal blasphemies, inhis heart he still believes in a greater power. Lord, let your will workk through me. Let not my actions be in anger, but in protection of others.

He reaches inside himself and pulls for the energy, in his mind forming a sheath of sparkling magic, one he lifts with his hands, and brings down upon the dazed form of the coven leader, slicing through whatever cords or spells connecting her to the Great Spirit of Colin's belief, he Weave of traditional Wizards, and the underpinning of the world around him. Sever and shield her from her power. Let karma weild me and this power. She has done harm and evil; let it end now, and hold the binding fast.

He opens his eyes to see the effects of his will. If he cannot see it, he says to Colin in a strangled whisper. "Is she still sporting the wing-like power, Colin?"

For Sylvia, producing an illusion of this complexity is no trivial matter.  She is utterly still against the wall, lulling those around her into a kind of waking dream, but with the first and trickiest stage of it done, she reaches into herself and finds a little more to lend to Donnie's spell.  He wanted her to be there, to give him her strength, and so she does.  She taps the pure and potent strength of her feelings for Donnie and channels that power toward him.

Donnie can see the faint tracings of magic as the threads that tie her to the power she has are severed.  There is a faint shadowy form that materializes behind her, and it reaches forward and pulls in the silver threads of her stolen power, putting them back where they belong.  All those connected to the circle can see this as well, a slight glow coming from Donnie.  The world around them seems to be moving slowly, as though time's pace were altered outside the sphere of power they've woven.

(ooc: Does the phrase 'putting them back where they belong' mean that the shadow form re-attaches them to the witch, or attaches them somewhere else? I am a little confused..)

OOC: Sorry.  Back where they belong is the cosmos, they don't belong on the wirtch.

Megan watched with a bit of amazement as Donnie cast his spell, a faint glow coming from him and then traces of, well, she guessed it was magic, move away from the coven leader to be pulled away by some faint shadowy figure.  But what really seemed to grab her attention was everything else beyond the circle the group had formed around Donnie, Sarah and the witch.  When operating at full speed, the world seemed generally slow to the blonde teen, right now it seemed to almost be moving at a crawl.  She had to wonder if someday this might be how things generally seemed to her, a thought she was not all that sure she found comforting. 

Samantha wondered briefly at the effects, then refocused her attention on the now de-fanged witchy-poo.  They needed to get this girl out of here, put her someplace away from the crowd where she could wake up and more importantly, where nobody in the crowd would guess what was going on.  Maybe that steel table upstairs, if they put a blanket under her head and another over her to keep her warm?  It was that or make it look like she passed out over a toilet...

In a quiet voice Sarah asks, "Are we done yet?  She's getting a little heavy."

She keeps holding up the unconscious weight of the head b... witch. 

Donnie steps towards the witch, tracing glittering letters in the air and murmuring quietly. At the end of his spell, he says "By the blood that binds thee to the blade, by the blade that binds thee to thy sisters, let this quicken. By the hand of the fates that ride thee, so mote it be."  The glowing symbols sink into the half-conscious girl and Donnie drops his hands, eyes closed. The glow about him starts to ebb and a small smile is on his face.

"She is finished. Now for her sisters. Thank you all, for the binding is set. Her connections have been walled away, and she cannot hurt anyone or herself by magic any longer. Thank you" he says to all who lent him their will. Donnie smiles at everyone. "Let's hope this will scrub away some of their manipulations."

As if in answer to Sarah's query the girl is gone, with a slight breeze.  No one seems any wiser to her disappearance and the crowd continues to move about, music playing.  It's still a party.

OOC: Megan can make a Notice check DC 21

(ooc Well, I can't make the check right now as I can't access IC here at the exchange.  But, even if I could, Megan could not beat that DC anyway :)  Even if she was able to take 20 scanning the crowd :))

OOC: She went poof?  Did she leave her hat and shoes behind? 

IC:
Sarah stumbles from the sudden change of holding up a heavy weight to grasping air. 

"What the hell?"

Sammy jumps back in surprise as her share of the girl's weight is suddenly removed.  Eyes full of questions, she looks from face to face and stops on Donnie.  "What did you do with her?" she whispers urgently.

Colin was about to turn and thank the spirits, but clearly something happened. The kimono's loose sleeves let his arms free, so he puts together the Eye, and prays that, if something is hidden, it is revealed to him this way.

Blackbird? What happened? Did we do something wrong?

Donnie looks surprised. "Nothing! Nothing I did would have done that."  He looks around, concerned.

You've done nothing wrong.  Perception is faulty, it is not always up to the task at hand.

Donnie's Phone chirps with a text message, from John.

Moved her to a nearby bathroom to sleep if off.

Unaware of the message from John, Sammy swears in a most unladylike manner.  Daddy wasn't a sailor for nothing.

She braces herself for an attack from assailants unknown.

When Sarah asked for help with the witch and suddenly the unconscious girl was gone, Megan began looking around the room as well, trying to see if she could spot what might have happened, tensing slightly for a possible attack.

Sarah remembers to put her arms down... finally.  Feeling kind of stupid.  Idiot.

Donnie pulls out his phone and looks at it. "Aha. John snatched her. It's all good." He looks around for the other witches. Now, time to spread some love." He has a somewhat sinister smile on his face, but his eyes sparkle with amusement.

Megan was only a little surprised as Donnie stated that John had taken the witch elsewhere.  He had show he was much more used to using his speed to his advantage than she was, even if she was twice as fast.  With time and practice, she could likely be even better at that than he was.  Of course, this line of thought got her thinking some about the thief at school, maybe Brendan had been right that whomever was behind the thefts was only moving really fast.  She would have to talk with him about that, maybe together they could figure out some way to try and catch the guy.  Actually, it probably would not be all that hard given John’s enhanced senses. 

This line of thought only took her only about a millisecond as she focused back in on Donnie as talked about “spreading the love.”  She gave him a grin and asked.  “What do we need to do for that?  Knock out more of them?  Or is it easier?”

Colin sighs, shaking his head, and turns to the assembled spirits.

"Thank you for your help. My name is Colin Crow, I am the Spirit Dancer. Look for me, if you need me to return the favor."

He goes back near Donnie, waiting for the answer to Megan's question.

Whew  Sarah relaxes.  "Okay then lets get moving.  We have a preference for who's next or are we just picking off the ones that stray from the herd?  Oh, and can we find one sitting down next time?" 

She rubs her arms.  "I didn't know there'd be so much heavy lifting."

"I can actually handle it from here on out. The coven leader was the one I was most concerned with. Now that her power is neutralized, the lesser ones will be susceptable to the binding. Than you all for your help."

“Well, as much as I do want to get back to enjoying the party, you sure you don’t want us to hang around just in case things don’t go as smoothly as you expect?”  Megan asked.

"Yeah, the only reason I came here was to kick ass and dress up like a geisha.  We can just scope them all out for you and whoever finds the one you're working on can act as backup.  If Sylvia can keep going a disguise everytime you approach would be pretty helpful," says Sarah.

"Actually, if you have Sylvia, you certainly don't need me hanging around to hold your hand," Sammy says.  "So I'm going to go spend some time with the boy who likes me even though I keep blowing him off because somebody else always seems to need my help.  Let's not plan any showdowns for Homecoming night, 'm'kay?"

She starts making her way through the crowd, looking for Elrod.

He smiles at Sarah and Megan."If you wish. I don't want to keep you all from having fun too."  He looks at Sammy as she makes her speech, then nods.  "I'll try to coordinate my hand-holding so as not to interfere with your dating."

Turning away, he zeroes in on the closest witch, murmuring words to himself as he closed in. He stands near, but not next to, the closest coven member and completes the spell. Golden symbols sparkle and dart out towards the unsuspecting girl.

Donnie was on a mission, and sour grapes attitudes on the victory of the Usual Suspects was not going to spoil the evening for him.

Megan watched Sammy make her way back into think of the party for a moment and then focus back on Donnie and the others.  “Don’t worry, I’ll have fun, just want to see things through to the end is all.”  She said in reply to Donnie.  As the blond boy started towards the next witch, Megan looks to Sarah.  “You watch left, I’ll watch right and someone else can watch that no one comes up behind us.”  She says, glancing over at Seth, Kel and the others to see what they think before she moves to follow Donnie slightly to his right, keeping her eyes out that direction to be sure no one might be coming up to interfere with his casting.

"I'll watch your backs then. Seth and Kel should go back to their important matters as soon as possible." he says with a smile.

"Let's look for Jane and Laura. Donnie, what's gonna happen to the spells they've cast, or the spirits they've bound?"

Donnie turns back to Colin. His eyes seem luminous in the half-light of the Halloween party. "Gone. The coven head was the source of it all. Now the lesser ones may have tricks to play, but the main source of their power is sleeping off the bender Sarah gave her somewhere in a girls bathroom thanks to John. Remember how this spell works? I don't need to get them all, just a fair number of them. They should do the rest to pass it on." He turns to Megan and Sarah. "Don't worry about me. Thanks to a spell I have active, nothing they can cast will affect me. Just watch out for the bystanders."

"Wonderful. Let's go. The sooner this story's over, the better."

"I think I'm coming too. At least to the first one.

My important business can wait a few more minutes...

I can hold them, while you complete their "binding". Or i suppose I should say, I can do some binding of my own until yours is complete.

After the first couple If it seems you can really handle them on your own..I'll leave. But there is strength in numbers. Their coven proves that."

Seth says with the genuineness in the world

“Watch to be sure bystanders are safe, right I’m good at that.”  Megan replied as she continued after Donnie, keeping an eye towards the right as she indicated, just in case there were any bat wielding thugs nearby and to be sure no innocents were in danger.

"I'll keep an eye on things from afar, if things turn to shit, well I'll be back." Kel says slipping into the crowd trying to find Breanna again.

It takes less than ten minutes to find the others and cast the binding spell.  None seem the wiser, absorbed in the party and the attention they're getting from various boys.

After Donnie finishes the binding on the last one John joins them.  "All done then?  We should probably spread out and not group up for a while, reduce suspicion if they realize somthing has happened."

"Right..."

"I'll see the rest of you around..."

And then he is off

"Sounds good to me."  Megan replied, looping her arms around one of John's.  "Awsome job Donnie."  She told the blond boy with a smile.  "Just give a shout if there are any problems.  Enjoy yourselves everyone."  Looking up as John as moved away she asked, "well, would you like to dance more?  Or go exploring some?"  

Sylvia eases her illusion away and drops her head against the wall behind her.  Her eyes roll back.  Her tongue is sticking out.  "Ugh," she says.  "Head rush."

Colin looks at Donnie and Sylvia, smiling a bit.

"So you two... talked?"

"Ah, I need some food before we do anything."  John says, heading towards the main hall and the buffet.

"Yes," she tells Colin, wary of the yenta gleam in his eyes.

"I'm so glad of that." he says sincerely.

"You don't mind if I take Sarah away and leave you to some more... talking?"

He takes Sarah's hand and gently pulls her toward the dance floor.

"I think we were interrupted, weren't we" he says at his beautiful geisha.



... and goes back their thread.

Sarah waves to the crew, "Bye bye.."

The party begins to wind down about 1AM.  At Midnight the band is packed up and seven horn players go up on stage.  These are New Orleans jazz musicians of considerable talent.  They are the lead out music for the party.  People start to make arrangements for rides home and leaving.

Elrod says he'll take Sammy home, and they make sure to get the costumes changed back before Heather leaves.

Lance takes Megan and John, dropping them both at Megan's.  John says he can walk from there.

Breanna is getting a ride from Elrod, who offers to take Kel along as well.

Emma had gotten a ride with friends, but stuck around when they left to spend some more time with Seth.  Dave offered to take them home on his many trips.

Mitzi picked up the girls and will offer Donnie a ride home.

Sarah's dad came to get her, and offered to put Colin's bike on the roof rack and give him a ride home.




OOC: I've got a few of the other threads at good places to stop.  I'm going to wind the party down.  I have no official plans for Sunday, so if people want to skip it and pick up again Monday that would be fine with me.  If there are things people want to do sunday let me know.  Further posts in the assorted couples threads that are ready to closwe should be the good-nights.  I'll post the general party ending post here.