hasaknightjob | By the Hermit Shack, Saturday Morning to Early Afternoon (Reply)

As the message had said, come Saturday morning it was time for those interested in the rescue mission to gather around the Hermit Shack and prepare.

Illyana	Illyana was already waiting outside the House for the valiant rescuers, uncharacteristically serious with her Soul Staff in-hand and her cape settled onto her shoulders. She glanced over at Marc, concern clear on her face. "You're absolutely sure about this? The House isn't going to make it easy... it's hungry, and Fandom is literally a trauma buffet of tasty, tasty goodness for a creature like this."
Marc	Marc was, himself, more serious looking than usual. Yes, even for Marc. That being said, Illyana's comment made him smirk. "That so? Well maybe it'll choke on me." Shame Marc wasn't from the version of the multiverse where that was actually true.
Illyana	Illyana made an amused sound. "Now now, no need to get kinky about it." "Though if I didn't need to be out here to hold the spell in place, I'd go in and see if I could make it puke, just to see what would happen." It probably wouldn't be pleasant for anyone involved, but Illyana had weird ideas of fun sometimes. She placed her hand flat against the exterior of the House. "Just... be swift. It's been pacing itself, all things considered, since they're still alive. But presented with fresh meat? It might decide to bite harder." "At the very least, it's going to try to separate its snacks, to make you easier targets."
Marc	Marc looked at the gathered group of rescuers. It was a competent group of people on the island - he knew how well some of them could take care of themselves personally. But Marc also liked to consider himself a pragmatist. "Yeah, well," Marc said, pitching his voice low for just Illyana. "Worst case scenario we're counting on you. Do what ya gotta do."
Illyana	"Right." Illyana raised up her Soul Staff for an instant, silver armor forming over her arm, before jamming the staff into the ground with a thunderous crack. Blue fire raced out from it, burning sigils and runes into the ground as the flames raced around the house, encircling it entirely for a moment before they flared high and vanished. She turned to address the assembled rescue party. "Welcome to the House of Shadows," Yana said bluntly. "It is a sentient pocket dimension. It is telepathic. It originated from a realm adjacent to the Hell plane that I was raised on, so please understand that I am being literal when I say that it does not understand humanity in the slightest." "It will try to wear you down, confuse you, do everything it can to break you so that it can keep you, and keep the people it already has. It will use your pain, your sadness, the worst things that have ever happened to you, and you cannot let it into your head." "I can force the door open to let you all in, but it's up to you to come out again. I have to stay out here to hold the way out open, and keep it from teleporting away." "The good news -- it can be banished back to its home realm. Dad has done it a few times, and I am perfectly capable of doing it. But if you're still in there when I do it, you go too." Illyana looked the group straight in their eyes, one-by-one. "If you are not out by the time I have to make a decision, I will do what I have to do to protect the rest of Fandom." "Now then." Illyana turned back to face the House. "House of Shadows. Cousin of Limbo. Last chance. Spit them out. Now." She wasn't expecting compliance, but, well, it was worth a shot.
The House of Never Letting Go	There was, in fact, no compliance. The House knew what it wanted and listening to a Sorcerer Supreme was not on that list. If anyone in the area could sense magic, eldritch beings, or life forces in general they could probably sense the House firming up its barrier as though saying Just try it.
Illyana	Oh yes. Illyana laughed wildly as the flames around the House rose again, eldritch light glinting off her fangs and horns as her tail whipped back-and-forth around her hooves. None of which had been there moments ago. If the House wanted to play dirty, it didn't have to play with the future Supreme of Earth, or even the adopted daughter of a Faltine Warlord. It could play with Limbo's uncontested Sorcerer Supreme. There was the rumble of thunder, and the charged feeling of the air before a storm, as the different symbols on the ground began to light up. "Flames of the Faltine, guide me!" the Darkchilde hissed, her left hand flicking through various incantations as she continued to grip the Soul Staff with her right. "Audite Mihi Ancient Phasmatis, Quod Succurro Is Turbatus Animus. Agamotto, Oshtur, and Muniporr. Hoggoth, Valtorr, and Denak! Those whom I named plus other I've omitted, hark to this irrevocable decree: such enslavement of these mortals will not be permitted, on this day or any day, asshole." The winds began rising in intensity, battering at the windows and door of the House. The glove slap across the face of the magical fight that was about to happen. "I call upon the Seven Suns of Cinnibus to light the path for these heroes. I beseech the Unscathable Shield of the Seraphim to protect their hearts and souls. Moons of Munnopor, empower the Avatar and his companions..." Illyana's face twisted into a vicious smile. "And I command the Bolts of Balthakk to kick. The. Fucking. Door. Down." A huge bolt of lightning shot out from the Soul Staff, blowing the door to the House open. Knock knock, asshole. "GO!" She yelled over the arcane energy surging around her. "GO GO GO!" "AND KICK ITS ASS!"