IC: Extassis, Les Etrangers Beaux Options

[Fenris]

Bakatare steps in from outside, fatigue obvious in his features. He wipes his face once with his hand, smoothing his hair back into place for the most part, and collapsing the staff back down to be tucked away under his coat. He glances around the room once, and then finds space in the living room to sit.

[Nikoli]

Murrey perks up at the mention of food, saying
"I stood canned a bite to eat."
then walks into the kitchen.

[Buddha72]

All

Iblis gives Moira a raised eyebrow. "Problem solved." She reaches into a side compartment of her bag and fishes out 5 certified cred sticks. She tosses one to each of you. "Here's the 10k promised plus the 5k to cover the first 24 hours. I can afford to pay for every 48 hours. I was going to set the clock at 12 pm midnight. I called my employer and found out the drone is company property. Think of it as loss prevention on their part. I need to know what you are all doing next. You're welcome to use this place as HQ and payroll for the time being. I've cleared it with my roomie. So what do you know about this so far?"

[Grey]

"Well, we're about to get some answers. Izzy? You ready to let Moira do what is needed?"

[Buddha72]

All

Izzy looks up from the bean bag. His face looks open for the first time. You see the boy he might have been before whatever drove him to the streets of Redmond. His eyes still have a slightly unfocussed look of just waking up. He is finishing up the breakfast burrito that Paladin made for him. "I think I am." He looks earnest but still a little reserved. Iblis's face goes soft at his voice, her concern for him is evident. "What do I need to do?"

[Blitz]

:: Moira moves to Izzy and pulls up a large square pillow with pink fuzzy dots on each side like pips on a pair of dice. Settling behind him in the bean bag, she reaches each hand out to either side of his head. ::

"Just relax. You will feel my mind probing in your thoughts, don't fight it. Let me steer your brain for a bit and I'll see if I can find the memory of that night."

:: Closing her eyes, she softly sings a soothing lullabye as she begins to weave invisible threads of mana about his head, trying very hard to gently draw out the his memories. rewinding his thoughts like a video tape in reverse looking for that violent night. ::

[Nikoli]

As the magic begins, Murrey sets the Felix drone to record the room.

[Grey]

Paladin shifts his gaze to the Astral, watching Moira's magic work and checking on the emotional state of Izzy.

[Buddha72]

Moira

You begin the spell and delicately weave the flows of mana between your minds, creating a bridge. You feel your awareness drop away as you enter the mental landscape of Izzy's mind. You find yourself in a small apartment, a one room studio by the looks of it. A woman comes through the door on the studio, her face a mass of bruises on one side. She sees you and her face twists tightly and she lashes out with her fist, knocking you of your feet. "What are you looking at freak." She's on top of you and begins to rain blows down around your face. You push away from this memory and move further along through the day. You see yourself sold for a few hits of Novacoke to a man. You do your best to slide past that moment as quickly as possible. You see the building that the rave happened at and begin to play out the memories slower. With a snap you arrive at the moment you sought.

The van pulls up. The exterior is a grey with paint splotches on it. It seems to fit right in with the rest of the vehicles in Redmond. The back opens and you see 4 people step out. All human. One woman and three men. The woman is in her mid-twenties and has shoulder length brown hair. Her build is slim and athletic. The 1st man has short cropped dirty blonde hair with a broad husky body. He appears to be in his late teens. The 2nd man is bald and has a slim build. He looks to be in his forties. The last man has short black hair and of average build. He looks to be in his thirties. You see them unload some small 1' by 1' by 1' boxes, 3 in total from the back. You can feel the haze of drugs pulling at Izzy's mind but you are able to set it aside. You think he would have very little conscious memory of these events or they would be sketchy at best. The last thing you see is the men unloading what looks to be a body. It's wrapped up in some sort of cloth that appears to be covered with mystic symbols. They appear to treat it with great care. As you watched them interact they seem to be deferring to the youngest man, the one with the short cropped hair. You see the woman shut the back of the van up and pound on the door hard twice and the van pulls away.

You pull back and into your own mind. You hold the spell but shift your attention to the real world. You open your eyes and see the others waiting for your assessment.

Paladin

Izzy still seems relaxed since Moira told him he was safe here. He stiffens slightly as the spell begins and you sense his discomfort at having someone moving through his thoughts. His anxiety spikes almost immediately but seems to quickly slack off. His body looks clear of whatever toxin he had in his system last night. You can see that most of the physical damage has been healed.

[Nikoli]

Murrey not wanting to interrupt the magic in progress sends a silent message via the Battle-tac system to Paladin:
This company that Iblis works for, they planted a special tracking device to photograph people getting into my pan and overate as an AOD tracker, possibly sending the images back to the receiver. Whoever made the damaged drone, made the tracker as well, I'm sure of it. I moved the tracker to a civilian car at a park an ride, not knowing who placed the device at the time. Whoever planted it was good, real good. I found the device shortly after I got the call to come to the nightclub in teh first place.

[Blitz]

:: Moira keeps the connections between herself and Izzy alive as she turns her attention to Iblis. Briefly, she describes the individuals as well as the vehicle in as much detail as possible. ::

"Let me know what further details you think we need...I'll see if I can wiggle anything else out. This is the kind of stuff he never would have been able to tell us on his own."

:: She looks down at the beautiful boy with eyes full of deep sorrow and sympathy, but also a healthy helping of respect. ::

"You've had a tough life Izzy...the kind nobody should have to endure. I don't think I could have survived as you have."

:: Turning her eyes up to Iblis, she holds her gaze a moment. ::

"He's become quite adept at surpressing his memories. While unlucky for him, it's lucky for us that his subconscious doesn't forget anything.

[Buddha72]

All

Iblis listens and nothing seems to register on her face. "None of those people ring a bell for me. My crowd has a little more flair than most."

[Grey]

"Moira, how are you with illusions? Can you throw up one to give us something we can take a picture of? Or did you see the plate number on that van? I want something I can take to my Lone Star connection."

[Blitz]

:: Moira shakes her head. ::

"Im afraid I don't have the appropriate illusion magic to cast such a thing. Im sorry."

[Grey]

"Did you get the plate ID off the van?"

[Nikoli]

Saving the model of the site, Murrey bring up on the trideo set a series of common van bodies, all uniform plastic model grey.
"Do any of these look like the bight rody shape?

[Fenris]

He waits patiently as they review the details the child has been able to provide, and then address the group in a formal voice, somewhat stiff and tight with his obvious fatigue.

"The spirits that were called and loosed, and yes, I'm sure there was more then one of them, are called Nomads. They appear in the normal world, when they appear, as dark grey clouds, about a meter and a half across. The only attack they have is possession, but when they possess someone, they drive the host into a homocidal rage. They also bolster the hosts physical form ten-fold, making them more then capable of killing most mudanes, and probably capable of slugging it out toe-to-toe with a troll. As the host kills people, the spirit feeds off the dying essences, growing stronger. When the creature grows strong enough, it splits into two creatures, who repeat the process. Only having no hosts gives the creatures a reason to leave. Mana and spirit based spells, especially those targeted from the astral, are our best bet for taking out the spirit. If the host is killed, the spirit simply moves on. Wards are the best defense, but they can't be put up quickly, so we can't trap it behind one. The more important question, and the one we're being paid to find, is the men behind this. Unfotunately,without some trace of the men...hair, blood, something, I cannot trace them. The job is left to those of you who use more mundane means."

[Nikoli]

Selecting the Leyland Rover transport. Murrey calls up a pallette selection,
"Fleas, pind a close color."

[Blitz]

"It looks like mostly primer grey with slotches of other colors. Some rust, some blue, some black."

[Nikoli]

"Sounds like the physical description of ve than won't be useful, that color setup sounds like photovoltaic camouflage. What about the small details, like were there any strange after market antennas, hidden gun ports, etc?"

[Grey]

"I don't think we're gunna get any clues from the van, so lets focus on some of our other leads.

I can take that blood sample to my Lone Star buddy and see if anything comes up. Maybe they dumped the body someplace and it's already been picked up. It ain't much, but it could be something. I'd also like to have that syringe checked out too.

What about things from the mojo side? Do you guys have any way of tracking those spirits? Or is there some sort of ritual you can do to track the people involved in the ritual used at the site?

Anyone else got any bright ideas?"

[Nikoli]

"I can analyse the saterial in the myringe, but I need the right tools."

[Blitz]

"It really depends on the samples we have and their quality. Unfortunately, if a sample isn't prepared immediately, it significantly reduces the chances of tracking ability."

"I need to speak with my talismonger. She may have some ideas as to where these materials came from and what type of shaman might be using them. That's the best I can offer at the moment. I'm afraid I don't have many contacts that would useful in information gathering."

:: Her hands drop to Izzy's shoulders comfortingly as she releases the mana web she had built around his memories. ::

[Grey]

"Can I take some of the blood to my friend in the Star and see what comes up?"

[Fenris]

"Hold off on handing the items over to Lonestar, I think we have a few other leads that could make use of a fresher sample. Let me get in touch with a few people and see if we can give the sample over to them first. Whatever they find, the sample can be turned over later for scientific investigation."

He turns away from the group, stepping outside and drawing a deep breath to center himself before he dials his phone. Staying up for a day and a half and creating a ward of significant power are not exactly the two most compatible actions one can take.

"Onna, this is Bakatare. If you get a chance, give me a call. I have some questions for Great Grandfather."

"John, this is Michael. I need to know if you can put me in touch with someone with Psychometry or some of the more advanced Divining techniques. I've got a few items I need some information about."