Whispers From The Veil

Something would seem to be stirring in the world of magic, inciting various factions, people and entities into acting on and against Earth. There seems to be no connection to these happenings, but nevertheless these magical incursions, plots and schemes are becoming more common then they have been in recent times. And whilst there is no visible rhyme or reason behind them, something must be to blame.

Elysium - Holy Sanction

Part 1: The Gospel Truth

Investigating the golden pulsing light and deafening cacophony coming from the Millennium City Cathedral, the heroes, Grimoire, Casta Blasta, Chivalry, Armoury, Havvik, Danger Deer, Professor Midnight, Judge Di, Aldenard, Suicide King and Forsaken quickly came to the conclusion something of great magical power was happening within. Attempting to gain entry and investigate the surrounding area, they quickly became swarmed by small angelic beings, with white china doll-esque heads and razor sharp golden wings. The heroes dealt with the hundreds of small creatures that seemed to come from the sky, with magic, copious amounts of fire, a rain of Grecian spears and good ol' roundhouse kicks. Judge Di, who had been imbued with demonic might by Grimoire, had not the patience of the other heroes, he swiftly punched the Cathedral's door down, allowing them all entrance to the main hall.

As they entered, they could see a scruffy looking man standing at the Lecturn, chanting in Enochian and before they could make a move he seemed to finish his spell. One of translocation, he brought a specific part of Elysium to Earth, in the Cathedral. The heroes now stood on a golden path, surrounded by light and with clouds above them, the man much further away down the golden path now, walking towards what looked like a throne. The heroes did their best to try and reach him, as some of them realized his goal may in fact be the Throne of God. Grimoire began casting a spell to try and reverse the man's own. The heroes seemed to make very little headway on the path, despite their running, jet boots and chariot. As the man drew ever closer to his goal, an imposing golden figure, with a massive wingspan blocked his path, pointing past him. As Grimoire's spell began to take effect, the imposing Angel banished the heroes, and the man, the Cathedral returning to its original state.

Back in the real world, the man raved and ranted, before disappearing in a gout of golden fire. The heroes, investigating his book, filled with Enochian sigils and scrawly mad man text, found his drivers license bookmarking a page. Revealing the man to be a Reverend James Cross!

Investigation

The heroes Judge Di and Chivalry, along with the mages Dana Doomsday, Casta Blasta and Grimoire investigated the house of Reverend James Cross, through their...less than incredible detective skills, they activated various magical traps in the house, before discovering a hidden room, filled with magical tomes, and a rubbed away summoning circle. At this point the mage Architect arrived to see why they had broken into the house. Using a mirror, Dana Doomsday cast a spell that would allow her to see the past, complete version of the circle in the mirrors reflection. The spell revealed that the circle had been used to attempt to summon an Angel called Zedekiel, however the fruits of this could not be seen. Grimoire also discovered a note, with details about the location and time of a meeting. After gathering all the information they could, the heroes made to leave, but were stopped by what they had thought to be an innocent old lady. But was in fact a powerful Celestial Mage! Turning her magical staff on them, aswell as turning her small dog into a great angelic beast, they did battle. The hound was killed by Chivalry, with the aid of a summoned Greek fire thrower, courtesy of Grimoire. Casta Blasta and Judge Di turned their attacks on the old lady. Grimoire casting illusionary hair so Judge Di could get his groove back. Judge Di used his regained fighting prowess to soundly beat the old woman, Casta Blasta using his magic to steal her magical staff. Dana Doomsday's imps finished the fight by driving a car into the elderly mage.

Reveling in their victory over the magical pensioner, the heroes parted ways, with knowledge on how to contact Architect and more importantly, with the information about an mysterious meeting.

Part 2: Tell It Preacher

Grimoire, Forsaken, Casta Blasta, Suicide King, Dana Doomsday, Nightfang, went to the location of the supposed meeting, using the information Grimoire provided. Entering the building they were asked for a password, using tact and guile Grimoire gained them entry. Inside they found what appeared to be a alrge makeshift chapel of some kind, filled with people. Their entry didn't go long unnoticed though, quickly they were attacked by armed cultists. Using their combat skills, aswell as a healthy dose of magic, the heroes allowed the unarmed to leave safely, protecting them from the hail of gunfire. After punching, blasting, slashing and turning guns into snakes-ing their way to victory, the heroes moved on into the sanctum. They found a ring of cultist around a carved circle, The Reverend standing within, talking to him they discovered his plan was in fact to bring The Throne of God to the material realm, to create Heaven on Earth. Understanding the irreparable damage this would cause they tried to attack him, as he killed his willing cultists, their attacks passed right through him. Only an astral projection, The Reverend was far away. Engaging him in conversation, the heroes kept him occupied as Grimoire traced the magic back to its source, discovering he was somewhere in the Vatican. Casta Blasta, kindly asked the wall for Architects help, telling him where The Reverend was. The shoeless mage soon came tumbling through the wall, unable to get close to The Reverend, as the astral projection disappeared.

Interrogating one of the cultists, it was discovered he would probably be in one of two locations, The Vatican, or Tokyo, two apparent hubs of a network of his followers. The group agreed they should split up and investigate further.

Part 3: Vatican Sabbatical

Following one of the leads given by the cultist, the heroes Nightfang, Paradigm, Aelith, Forsaken, Chivalry. Casta Blasta and Danger Deer met up in the seat of the Catholic church's power, Vatican City. Quickly drawing attention from crowds, they were approached by an agent of the church called O'Connel, a fighter of the supernatural who had been told they were coming. He hastily led them through the city streets to the building his informants had discovered The Reverend's cult to be. O'Connel quickly left the heroes outside the buildings large ornate garden, in search of another entrance. The heroes entered the perimeter unmolested, and made their way into a central square in the middle of the building, greeted by the sounds of shouts, a group of cultist ran into the courtyard, unaware of the heroes presence. A pitched fight ensued as the cultists received reinforcements, however their meager firearms were little match for the skill and strength of the heroes present.

As few cultists remained standing, the fight came to an end, only for those few still alive to to be torn apart by an unseen force. The magically inclined present could see a large demonic creature, with the body of a spider and the head of a jackal. As the heroes chased the demon, they came upon another battle beneath the building, cultists fighting humans playing host to demonic creatures. They soon found the demon cowering from a man emanating holy light, an angel in the body of a human. At the angels side was a crucifix, and upon it O'Connel, heavenly magics flowing into him. A very brief fight occurred between the angel and Paradigm, before a mysterious yellow eyed man appeared, and cut the angels throat. The heroes freed O'Connel as the man introduced himself as Camulus, doing his best to assure the heroes he was in fact on their side. He revealed that The Reverend would be in Washington D.C soon, to use the cities laylines to cast a powerful summoning spell. He gave Casta Blasta a ring that would reveal when this was happening, so that they could stop it.

His parting words were ones of aid, telling the heroes that no man could muster such heavenly forces without aid from a powerful angel in heaven.

Part 4: Big in Japan

The other motley team consisted of Grimoire, Mr Ghost, Suicide King, Azunai, Aldenard and the lich Blashpherion, who all met up in Tokyo, outside the Kojimachi Catholic Church. They quickly made their ways into the building, through back and main entrances. Once within they could see that several of the dozens of patrons were in fact possessed by angels, who soon turned hostile. The heroes gathered the civilians and directed their efforts to protecting them, as the church became displaced, dragged into a heavenly realm from which dozens of angelic creatures manifested and attacked the heroes. The fight dragged on as wave after wave assaulted the interior of the church, traveling down on a beam of light. Grimoire began to enact a spell that would remove the church from the realm of Elysium, and found her spell aided by an outside force. The golden light turned dark, and it seemed as if the Church was submerged in water as the angelic creatures within began to falter and weaken. As the heroes fought, the large scaled body of a serpent passed their view, causing many of the angels to fall, unable to move. Grimoire continued her spell, as the mysterious serpent watched, quickly returning the church to the material world.

Without even a warning, a non too pleased Japanese man entered the church, introducing himself as Mitsudomoe, a mage and a member of The Trismegistus Council. Much to Grimoire's ire he had been the one to hep them escape, with the aid of a Shinto god. Rather annoyed at the heroes lack of subtlety and foolishness for falling into a trap. After a short discussion, Grimoire wiped the memories of the civilians who had been trapped within the Church alongside the heroes. He told them about The Reverend's plans in Washington, and confirmed the fear that he had a heavenly ally of considerable power as well as making the heroes aware that the Council would lend its aid.

Miscellaneous Magical Mayhem

Yggdrasil

Responding to reports of a MCPD squad car being pulled into Sakura Park by vines, the heroes Blue Hour and Suicide King, accompanied by the mage Grimoire and the UNTIL officer Katrina Mirinova went to investigate. They found Sakura Park in a state of overgrowth, a veritable jungle where a neat park had once been. Leaving Grimoire to determine the cause, the other three went into the thick vegetation to try and find the missing MCPD officers. It became apparent the plants were intelligent, and very much active and alive as they moved and grew of their own accord. As Grimoire came to the conclusion that the plants were from Yggdrasil, an imaginal realm created by plant life, the very vegetation began to attack the heroes. Despite this they fought their way through, surviving the onslaught of plants using their wits and weapons, Grimoire began to cast Hellfire at the jungle, burning her way through as the other three reached the squad car. As they rescued the officers they came face to face with what seemed to be the center of the incursion, a gigantic, moving Oak. As they fought the Oak, it became apparent it was guarding something in its roots, and using the distraction of Grimoires magic, Suicide King reached the roots, finding a small Garden Gnome, which he promptly axe kicked into oblivion. Smashing the Gnome severed the Yggdrasil plants ties to the human world, and the plants shriveled up, melted and died. Despite this success, Grimoire took the remains of the Gnome in hopes to discover how and why this had happened.