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Swipe Right
- "In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia."
- - -George Orwell
The desk is still in the office. There's crime scene tape up but that's because Jethro is missing. There's nobody yet so right now they're just investigating it as a missing person and the last place he was seen was his office.
After a little bit, the secrets of the desk give themselves up. This desk was carved by hand and spelled by hand in old carpentry and woodworking shop that is built into the back of an Art Gallery called, 'Mortal Canvas' in Winnemucca Nevada. It's off the main strip along, along a smaller road of small casinos, strip malls, motels, and curio shops.
The desk is still in the office. There's crime scene tape up but that's because Jethro is missing. There's nobody yet so right now they're just investigating it as a missing person and the last place he was seen was his office.
After a little bit, the secrets of the desk give themselves up. This desk was carved by hand and spelled by hand in old carpentry and woodworking shop that is built into the back of an Art Gallery called, 'Mortal Canvas' in Winnemucca Nevada. It's off the main strip along, along a smaller road of small casinos, strip malls, motels, and curio shops.
Pax rolls Arete vs 5 for 4 successes.
Pax rolls Arete vs 5 for 4 successes.
Pax rolls Arete vs 5 for 4 successes.
Pax rolls Arete vs 5 for 1 successes.
Pax rolls Arete vs 5 for 4 successes.
Pax rolls Arete vs 5 for 2 successes.
Pax rolls Arete vs 5 for 1 successes.
Pax rolls Arete vs 5 for 1 successes.
Pax rolls Arete vs 5 for 3 successes.
Pax rolls Arete vs 5 for 1 successes.
The street, for the most part, is quiet during the day. Its businesses tend to open late since the casinos rule the commerce here. It's cold out, mid-forties and it gives the flat Nevada sky an endless dull blue expence. It's a dry cold, the kind that threatens to seep in.
Mortal Canvas opens at six P.M. or for private showings. The building, for its edgy modern name, is built sturdily with thick wooden awnings in a rustic style. The Art in the windows are violent, dark slashes of color or looming dark shapes lurking in landscapes of vivid reds, yellows, and greens. The back of the building where the crafting shop is is located in an ally that butts up a large cement wall with a parking garage on the other side attached to a small hotel.
The street they're on starts to pick up at around four P.M. People getting off work head to the little strip malls and along to the casinos. Like most Galleries, the walk-in traffic is a minimum but occasionally a tourist pops in and sometimes they even emerge with something bought from the gift boutique.
During their surveillance from three to six, they see no less than four people come out front, dressed in leather aprons almost like a uniform before disappearing back inside after smoke breaks.
Raquel has never been on a proper stake-out before. She usually has people do that for her! Shelly has to deal with the constant crunching chew of pork rinds and the smell as it seeps into the space. It had been an effort just getting sunglasses on Pax to take him outside for a piss at the gas station. They hadn't drunk enough Gatorade to have empty bottles to fill, just yet. "Why would art employees need leather aprons?" The Hispanic woman mumbles to herself, eyes fixated upon the building as she destroys one out of several bags of the fatty, salt-filled snacks.
The street, for the most part, is quiet during the day. Its businesses tend to open late since the casinos rule the commerce here. It's cold out, mid-forties and it gives the flat Nevada sky an endless dull blue expence. It's a dry cold, the kind that threatens to seep in.
Mortal Canvas opens at six P.M. or for private showings. The building, for its edgy modern name, is built sturdily with thick wooden awnings in a rustic style. The Art in the windows are violent, dark slashes of color or looming dark shapes lurking in landscapes of vivid reds, yellows, and greens. The back of the building where the crafting shop is is located in an ally that butts up a large cement wall with a parking garage on the other side attached to a small hotel.
The street they're on starts to pick up at around four P.M. People getting off work head to the little strip malls and along to the casinos. Like most Galleries, the walk-in traffic is a minimum but occasionally a tourist pops in and sometimes they even emerge with something bought from the gift boutique.
During their surveillance from three to six, they see no less than four people come out front, dressed in leather aprons almost like a uniform before disappearing back inside after smoke breaks. None of them seem to notice, at all, that there is a van parked across the way and no one on the street pays any attention at all either.
As it gets later and the desert city starts to grow colder fires appear to light inside or they have some really neat lighting that makes it look like that. It grows later, and they close around ten P.M. but it doesn't appear that the employees leave and the lights remain on inside. About a half-hour, after it closes, two more groups of people, one of six comes around the corner and a group of two from the motel located on the opposite side of the street, on the other side of the van. They enter the business through the side door as the front is locked and shuttered.
No one leaves.
Pax, on his end, has been sitting in the back of the van. There are three pints of emptied chocolate milks, and an emptied box of chocolate chip cream pie Little Debbie cookies stashed underneath the driver's side seat from his waiting, though he hasn't really looked outside more than once or twice. There's not really even windows in the back, after all. "Leather aprons? Fuckin weird, we use that same shit in the kitchen." he muses, popping the last little bit of a cookie into his mouth as he tilts his head, then hisses across the gauntlet to more of the local spirits.
Shelly is likely the most nervous of them, considering her preferred choice of relaxation is meth, and she likely hasn't had any today. Regardless, Pax is unconcerned and hums as he proceeds to hiss out queries to the other side about what might lie in the building across the way. Meanwhile - "See anything interesting up there?"
Pax rolls Manipulation + Enigmas vs 6 for 2 successes.
"We've got people entering the side entrance despite the building being closed. It might be a big crowd. Not sure I want to fuck with them." It's not that Raquel is necessarily afraid. She just knows the numbers would involve a huge blood bath and an investigation across state lines. No one wants the FBI involved. "Lots of pretty dancing lighting effects from inside. You got anything, sweety?" Shelly is just as forgotten by the Bygone as she is her employer.
Umbrally, this place is a bit .. fortified. That fire is also quite visible on the other side too. The spirits in the area aren't favoring any one of the triat, just your typical suburban sprawl with some greed and lust thrown in for fun. The spirits are nervous creatures, and it takes some convincing on Pax's part to get the smarter ones to come up with information that means anything.
They say two things: The Serpent Lives Within and no Spirit that goes there that is not summoned dies. Quickly.
Pax rolls Intelligence + Occult vs 2 for 14 successes.
Pax rolls Perception + Awareness vs 6 for 4 successes.
Pax rolls 1 vs 6 for 0 successes.
Raquel rolls Intelligence + Occult vs 5 for 6 successes.
Raquel rolls Perception + Awareness vs 6 for 5 successes.
Coming from the Gallery power starts to build. Someone is waving a spell with a particularly magey taste to it. Well, more than /a/ someone, it seems more like a lot of someones. However it doesn't seem aimed outward, it's all centered within the building itself.
After some hissed and whispered cajoling, Pax glances away from the side of the van back towards the front, shrugging his shoulders as he gives a little wave of his hand. "Well, they're kinda afraid of the place. Say 'The Serpent Lives Within', and that spirits die in there if not summoned. Probably best to keep to the mundane side of things." he explains, rolling his neck with a few cracks and a sigh before he pushes up from the floor of the back of the van and pops his head between the two in the front, gripping the back of the chairs as he does so.
Turning to peer at the building, Pax squints in thought, seemingly processing something inwardly before he speaks again. "If we're going to go, we should go now. Rituals take a shitload of focus, and they're not likely to notice if we slip in undetected. Assuming they don't have any shit wards up or something."
Raquel wrinkles her nose in distaste. "That's a lot of magic going on in there. why can't we sneak in after everyone has left? We're only looking for paperwork, right?" It's almost as if the woman is whining, balking at the idea that her very existence could be erased in the blink of an eye.
Pax rolls Arete vs 4 for 3 successes.
Pax rolls Intelligence vs 6 for 2 successes.
Pax grins, proceeding to plant a kiss to the side of Raquel's head as he holds up a hand and wiggles his fingers in the direction of the building. "What's the use in being unstoppable hellish creatures if we can't take a few distracted mages, dear?" With a clearly pronounced 'Revelare', his eyes glow briefly, and Pax peers across the street at the building before them. Idly, as if on instinct, he turns to peer the other direction, a soft 'hmmm' leaving him as he points to the hotel nearby. "There's some lighter warding over there, too. We might not be the only ones watching this place." Pax says curiously. "Want to check that out first?"
That sounds like a lovely idea! Raquel perks up when Pax mentions a competitor, thus less backup to be faced in the light of rampant spellcasting. "Ok!" The crunching of bag rolling closed is noisy and possibly annoying poor Shelly's frazzled nerves. She heads out of the van at Pax's soonest direction, not willing to blow the whole stakeout because of a bit of eagerness.
The motel across the street is a little two-story thing shaped like a U off the road with one of those drive-through awnings. For the cheapskates who can't be bothered to book the Seasons or even a Best Western. The pool is empty for the winter. The office is a little thing, big enough for the counter, two chairs and a pair of vending machines. The rooms the single door, single window kind. Cheap. Really it's just part of the building that's warded, the wing of the motel directly surrounding the office.
The Underworld here is.. Quiet. Especially for a section of town that is both questionable and seated between no-tell-motels and pawn-your-soul-away shops. Those wards extend there too. And those wooden supports don't seem nearly as eroded and desiccated as they should either.
Pax exits the van after some initial consideration, donning a pair of sunglasses from the front section of the van itself and removing his metal wand from his duffle bag, which he once again slips into the back of his pants beneath his shirt. "It's warded. Force field, repels shifters, vampires, spirits, wraiths..." Tilting his head, Pax directs a grin to Raquel, the obvious implication there as they approach the building. Albeit, likely meanderingly, as though he were simply a random sketchy pedestrian. "You want to cross over and see if you can scout a bit inside?"
All too quickly is the Mule focusing, shifting out of sight and ignoring the matter. She's trotting her was over hooves not quite making any sounds as her body lacks the mass to do so. She prowls around the main office, shrewd eyes taking in little details as she tends to peek in and spy upon whatever poor souls are busy at this time of night.
Raquel rolls Willpower vs 6 for 5 successes.
Pax rolls Perception + Awareness vs 4 for 2 successes.
The main office is attended by a bored-looking clerk who's reading car magazines and eating Fritos while he waits for someone to come in. The area that's warded, easily bypassed for Raquel, is part of the hotel but when she enters the rooms she finds that they seem to be set up more like dorms and a small, joined room library where all the hotel furniture has been moved out and bookshelves have been brought in. There is also a trophy room, literally, which has various old artifacts on display as well as .. Zebra, but no the eyes are a little too strange? Elephant, elephants skulls are more of a square shape, this head is bulbous? They seem 'normal' but just enough to be 'not exactly', to the changeling sight to the spiritual mind, these creatures seem to be 'more' even in their deceased state. Not Bygone, but not spirit, but not earthly either. These creatures are .. other. It hurts the mind a little to observe them but Raquel's mind is set and so it's little more than a building pressure.
While apart, Pax continues to observe the motel from the sidewalk outside, his eyes glowing a faint red behind those sunglasses as he takes in the minute details of the warding job on the place. Thankfully, they're also planned for this sort of scenario, and so he speaks softly so that his voice can carry over the shamanistic ear jewelry they both wear. "I see some mage shit, sorcery shit, and even some fae shit warding this place. All in that one general area. Some diverse stuff going on in there I take it?"
"Yeah. Brain breaking creature trophies." Raquel mutters over the earring connection. Being the mythical beast that she is, encountering the bizarre happens often enough that she isn't broken by it. Onwards does the Bygone approach, attempting to spy any books or filing cabinets that might lead to the identity and purpose of this opposing cabal.
There are a -lot- of books though the majority seem to be in a variety of Germanic Languages, including Gothic languages and Faroese. No filing cabinets really to speak o, though the dorm-like rooms have desks in each of them and it seems that the people who live here are encouraged to write and sketch often. This is a living space, not a working space.
Pax nods, though Raquel can't see it, and turns briefly to glance back around the neighborhood, in particular, to ensure nothing out of the ordinary is happening back across the street before he speaks again. "Fucking weird, but okay. You see any people in there?" he asks curiously. "The source of the main ward is in the gallery, so doubt we can shut it down that way. I'll slip over and see if I can slip through it." And with that, Pax begins to creep his way towards the motel.
"Only the clerk at the front desk." Raquel manages to prevent herself from sighing tediously. "A few of the guests that meandered over to the gallery came from this motel. This must be where they are staying." Indeed. The Bygone takes a moment to adhere to a wall, climbing up and managing to get herself upon the ceiling to look down and see if she can spot any weird patterns or iconic images that Magi are prone to arrange.
Pax rolls Dexterity + Security vs 6 for 4 successes.
Pax rolls Willpower vs 6 for 7 successes.
Despite not having his usual ability to simply teleport into places, that doesn't mean Pax isn't able to fall back on more mundane skills such as standard stealth and picking locks. Fishing some small tools out of his pocket, one of the doors to the motel is popped open so the man can slip inside, after a deliberate, if quickened, pace taken to avoid cameras that might be here or there. Slipping into the room, the door is closed and locked behind him as Pax creeps deeper within the interior shadows and furniture. "Must be." is whispered back over the earpiece. "Well, once we find the master, we can rip the information we need from her and leave. Unless you'd rather try negotiating first."
Pax rolls Perception + Awareness vs 4 for 2 successes.
Raquel rolls Perception + Awareness vs 4 for 7 successes.
Raquel's awareness twitches when the telltale 'bamf' hits. She knows teleportation spells all too well, considering her exposure to travel-happy Pax. "Incoming teleporter." She whispers from her position on the ceiling, invisible and watching to see who arrives.
"I wouldn't suggest attempting that that, at least not until you ask me politely first. You never know I could be very accommodating." Comes the reply, a female reply, a tall woman, some six and a half foot tall. Her hair is dark, cut short with a longer fringe of bangs. A leather apron is worn over a button-down shirt and thick work pants. "Honestly I leave the door open and you sneak into your bedrooms. Bad manners. I assume there's someone else here.." She looks.. Well she looks not right. Her skin is a strange shade of blue-pale, her eyes are solid amber save for two serpentine slits. And without even having to check they can both feel that she radiates power. Pax will remember a vague memory of this woman putting Jethro through the Caul.
Pax can deal with being the only one who's actually 'here' right now, and as such he vocalizes back "Stay hidden unless it becomes seriously dangerous.", forgoing the usual actual sound in favor of stealthily sending a last message. Then the woman is arriving, Erzabet, and so Pax simply steps out of his crouched posture further into the room with a broad grin spreading across his features. "You must be Erzabet, how wonderful to meet you." Pax muses, waving around the room a bit before he speaks again, "Assume all you'd like, I tend to talk to myself from time to time. It's a flaw of our kind at times, isn't it? Insanity?"
"Yes. How about we skip the pleasantries. I am Erza though I doubt you're going to give me your name." She leans back a bit considering Pax without a word her strange inhuman eyes don't even seem to blink as he calls Magi insane. She is .. cold. "Sure, Kid, why not. What do you want?" There's a build-up of magic on the other side of the door. But it's held for the time being while the large strongly built woman doesn't even lift an eyebrow.
"Consider me curious." Pax muses with a little floppy wave of his hand in front of his face. Unlike Erzabet, Pax follows a more stealthy approach to power, as being underestimated by an enemy is a valuable goal. "On why you and what's his dick were working for some folks looking to remove 'aberrant factors' from reality. That's some shit I'd expect from the Technocracy, y'know? But not us. Why single out the aberrant, doesn't fit into reality shit? Why not just try to destroy everything like a normal fucking Nephandus?" While speaking, Pax simply proceeds to meander about seemingly aimlessly, unconcerned for the large dangerous woman in the room.
Pax rolls Willpower vs 6 for 5 successes.
The longer one bothers to look at Erza the little human details start to come through. She is an older woman, clearly, lines on her face somewhat hidden by her color place her well over her forties despite how fit she is. He says consider him curious and she snorts. "No shit." She replies but still considers this other Mage with a weirdly unmoved demeanor. "What's his... Hmm. Oh." She says flatly as he explains more. "Hart Wolfram, you're talking about Hasid." She grunts, "We aren't really working for them. Well, I'm not. Hasid might be, I have no idea. I am currently on the lam.." She gestures around her sort of vaguely at the wards. "Why the fuck do you think I'm in a place like Winnemucca. I don't give a fuck about their fucking horseshit agenda. I worked for them until I had a choice. And they are not the Technocracy. Some of them operate like the Reality Police, the insane fucking Engineers they have working with them especially. But no, they're a working group of Vampires, Some fucked up Changelings, Mages, Psychics.. just one big happy fuckoff Science Cult." She explains dryly.
Eris rolls 3 (3 dice) vs 6 for 0 successes.
Raquel rolls Perception + Empathy vs 6 for 7 successes.
Pax rolls Perception + Empathy vs 6 for 3 successes.
"Really?" Pax asks, lofting his eyebrows at the explanation. "Kinda fucking weird then, that you'd have some Changeling shit here too unless it was a whole cell or some shit that defected." Motioning around him, Pax comes to a stop in the center of the room, reaching into his pocket to remove his slim joint case and lighter, which he goes about lighting up without really asking. "Well, in that case, you won't have any trouble telling me everything you know about their group then? We're working on fucking shutting that shit down, no need for more Technocracy wannabes fucking with the Consensus."
Erza lifts a shoulder. "I taught them some of the things they know. Once they no longer had leverage on me I took what I could and left. Unfortunately what they have compels me to keep my ass hidden. But if you're looking to be rid of them more power to you. It's going to be one hell of a fight so hopefully, you've got a larger army than I do. Let me give you a bit of free advice though." Her expression grows dire. "Destroy their Deep Umbral facility first. They may not be the Mirror Shades but they have very similar techniques."
Pax lofts an eyebrow at the information thus given. "You taught them?" he asks curiously. "And what exactly did you teach them? Did you know what the fuck they were gonna do with this information? You could've always died, you know? You'd have been reincarnated." he offers, tossing a hand dismissively as though that were a perfectly acceptable option given the circumstances. "You'll give me as much advice as you can offer if you value your safety here. I can always tell them where you are, know? Or I could send out a burst to bring the local Technocrats down on your ass. I want to know /everything/, not just some little free hints you're willing to give out. Stop trying to cover your ass."
"I wasn't at liberty to say No." She explains in slow clear words but she won't explain why. But there's a certain timbre to her words. Something that implies dying wasn't the problem. "The best I could hope for is that it would blow up in their face. As it is I have been stockpiling energy to deal with whatever of that problem decided to come my way. I honestly had no idea they'd already made enemies. So I will tell you what I know, the threat is unnecessary and a little overbearing. I'd already agreed to help." For that moment alone she seems almost amused. "What I know is limited to what was discussed in my presence as a consultant in what memories I was able to salvage from being wiped. I know they have a Shard Realm in the Deep Umbra, something they've been able to concoct manages to keep the Unknown at bay. What, I do not know, that was not something I was privy to. I also know that by neutralization of 'aberrant' things is actually more, find out the cause so that it can be wiped from existence /except/ for to the highest bidder. They are currently on some huge fucking Shifter Kick. They valued Hasid because of his knowledge of 'Lycanthrope' artifacts. I think they're interested in how it interacts with the 'other dimensions'. Last I heard they were working on some reclamation project out in the California Desert."
"Can we go home now?" There's a... woman, plastered against the ceiling upside down having faded back into solidity and into view. How did she get up there? Raquel manages to pull her hooves off of the surface, hanging by her literal fingertips, before she wills her adhesion gone and she's landing on the floor. Dusting herself off, her expression is much too cheerful for the murderous ambiance the two Nephandi exude.
"Hmmm, I'd almost feel bad for him." Pax muses, but then he just waves that off as he gives a nod of approval to the explanation given to him. "I'll tell you what. I happen to have this little thing here with me..." he starts, turning to unzip and rummage through his duffle bag until he retrieves another small metal ear cuff, which he extends in the woman's direction. "That's all decent information, but we're likely to need more information in the future, and I promised my familiar here we'd get to go to Vegas before we head home," Pax explains, with a little motion towards Raquel once she lands on the floor. "So, why don't you take this so we can stay in touch until this is all done with, and we can talk about it as both of our leisures when there's not a metaphorical gun being pointed at the both of us."
Eris rolls 5 (5 dice) vs 6 for 4 successes.
Eris rolls 5 (5 dice) vs 4 for 0 successes.
Eris rolls 5 (5 dice) vs 5 for 2 successes.
"Holy shit." There is a /woman/ plastered to her ceiling. This makes the thus far unshakable Mage blink a few times. Because..she had literally no idea there was another life form in here other than Pax talking. The stoic woman returns to her solid cold nature and gestures. "You're free. I've no intention of stopping you. But if you need some help at some point and things ger harry, give me a call. The front desk will transfer you through."
The woman shrugs. "Why?" The Barrabus wonders dryly. She clearly doesn't seem to have any feelings about Hasid's predicament. The ear cuff is given an eyeballing it for a moment and makes an impressed noise in the back of her throat. "I can appreciate a fellow craftsman." Her hand is not freezing but reptile cool as she snags it from Pax and looks it over in her palm. "I'll have some time on Wednesday. Currently, I'm taking a break from a two-day ritual so I would like to get back to it. Thank you. You can show yourselves out." She pauses a moment and tilts her head. Then glances at Raquel still vaguely confused by that whole thing but rather than linger the Master Nephandus is gone in the next moment.
Fin
(TBC...)
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