IC: Reclaiming the Void Options

[Buddha72]

D'zan flies down from the loft area of the apartment to look at the general chaos that engulfed their home. He sees the others checking their things and looking around. A open look of disgust passes across his face at the sigh of Etain and Rene. He flies towards Papa looking for that unfocused stare that usually means the troll is lost in AR or VR again.

"Do you have any video or pictures of the party goers? If so I would love a hard copy so I can go tell them how much I appreciated their enthusiasm in my spare time. How long before you think we're going to head out to start the job?"

The last part he broadcasts to the room including the other runners in the question as Leo glides his way to where Etain is with a look of sincere compassion on his face at the effects of the environment are having on her. He looks to Uetz while speaking.

"The sooner we right the flat the better - she is responding to the area around her and I am fairly confident if we clean all this up her skin will clear up as well."

[JxJxA]

"I was hoping that the rash was just something from the party, but it looks like it is the downside of being a dryad," Uetz says to Leo. "I think the three of us can take care of cleaning the house if you have something else to do. Feel free to help, though."

[Fenris]

He heads in from the back of the house, feeling a little more civilized now that he was dressed in real, clean clothes again. He catches the last bit of Uetz's statement, and snorts in response.

"Your friends, your party, your mess. I'm just glad they didn't do any permanent damage." He clears a pile of plastic cups off of one of the chairs nearby, inspects it again just in case, and then flops down.

"Alright, nobody's going to have a good place to live if we don't get this job taken care of, so why not leaving the cleaning to your friends, since they're not going to pick up a gun and come on the run with us, and help us figure out what we're doing next? D'zan, you said you had a location on whatever it is we're hunting first? Can you give us a distance, too?"

He pulls up a Greater LA map into public A.R. space as D'zan responds, swiveling and rotating to try and give them an idea of what's in the indicated direction.

[Buddha72]

D'zan flies over to Argent resting on the top of his head. Leo begins to clean up the mess as plans are discussed.

"I felt it pulling to the west and south into the city - I could smell old leather and musty parchment. I think if we get closer I can get a better fix exactly where."

[BishopMcQ]

Papa

There is nothing of interest coming up when you search Locket. Facial recognition doesn't show anything in the top PITO feeds. Thinking on her, as you focus your mind on to the other consciousness, this is the agent, the seeker of the Endless.

All

After a few minutes of the cleaning, Rene and Etain look to have it under control and begin working in the kitchen to give you the illusion of privacy.

[Redjack]

Papa quickly assembles and sends a report to the team including a snippet of video of the woman enthralling Rene and Etain. He titles her: The Agent, Seeker of the Endless. Like having my own private matrix of the mojo.

"Check your comlinks. Seems the opposition is already in play. Somebody should also make sure that the party team isn't somehow enspelled."

He finds his way to the troll sized recliner in the living room, clears a spot and sits.

[JxJxA]

Uetz shrugs off Argent.

"The three of us can handle cleaning things up. However, I need to make sure that my friends are all right. I will be but a moment. Just spend that time on 'Pitter Patter,' or whatever it is you call that online site."

He follows Etain and Rene into the kitchen with trashbags filled with garbage. He sets it down on the ground before checking with them.

"I have to go back out there and hopefully clear all of this up. Can you take care of the rest of the mess? I am going back to my room to pick up my comlink just in case we leave. Hopefully, I will not myself walking into any more metaplanes."

With that, he runs up stairs and grabs his comlink. He spots his gun sitting out on his desk along with filled clips, and he decides to pocket it along with two spare clips full of ammunition. Seeing his aloe vera plant on the way out, he gently prunes off one of the thick, succulent leaves and then heads back downstairs. Once back in the kitchen, he carefully applies the sap onto Etain's rash.

"This should at least make it feel a bit better until it finally goes away," he says to her. He then walks into the living room just in time to join in the conversation.

"I could call forth Xipil, Mistress of the Fire, to scour this place for astral signatures," he offers just before performing his own assensing scan of the house.

[BishopMcQ]

Uetz

Looking around the astral space, there are no visible astral signatures. You can taste the chaos and disorder in your mouth like smoke from a razed acre of the jungle. With the commlink in hand, you can see the timestamps from the images that Papa sent out. All but the most powerful of magics would have faded over the time, since the woman was here.

[Buddha72]

D'zan flies above Argent and taps him on his head with his feet.

"Make with the talkies - give me something that I can look at so I can help you poor souls."

Leo flies by carrying debris to the trashcan in the kitchen pauses to interject a comment.

"I could attempt a divination but if this is the entity the oracle spoke of we should tread carefully."

[Redjack]

Papa reviews the video... Ok, let's see what there is to- Look Boobies!

[Fenris]

Argent grumbles at the pitter patter of little feet. "One of these days you've got to join the 21st century here. Pappa," he tries to snap the troll out of his mammary-induced revery. "Can you project something? I keep forgetting to get one of those 'I-can't-bother-to-get-some-custom-made-goggles' projectors for our tiny friends here."

He pores over the video as arrangements are made or not, as Papa's gear allows. "Look, based on the area D'zan's indicating, there's not a lot of options for real books that smell. Or visa versa. So, we're talking either Downtown or Santa Monica here."

He pulls up maps of the relevant areas, overlaying what he's able to provide in information over top, filling AR with the mashup of tourist locations and shadowrunner notes.

"I may be able to tap Naiomi for more relevant information if we have a specific question."

[BishopMcQ]

Papa
Scanning through the footage, you notice that a group of people all went into the kitchen and didn't come out for about an hour. Pulling up the kitchen footage, you see two very drunk woman dancing on the countertop. Etain has her clothes on, but is gyrating her hips in a series of fast thrusts and slow sways. The other woman, one of the band's groupies or friends perhaps, doesn't have the same inhibitions. She has several augmentations, including an ability to contort in remarkable ways.

Uetz
You watch the scene which Papa flagged, the party is going in full swing. You see the crowd all melts away as the woman enters. As she speaks, the guests all suddenly realize they should be somewhere else. You have the gut reaction of animals in the jungle fleeing from a large predator. She is beautiful as described, wearing a very tight short black dress and stilleto heels. The woman appears to be hispanic or Aztlaner, with long black hair pulled back. There is a golden locket around her neck which she shows to the both of them, but it isn't in the view of the camera. As she is bent over to show Rene and Etain the locket, you see a quick flutter of wind which blows their hair back--a telltale sign of some kind of magic being used.

Argent
Watching the scene, you are stricken by similarities of the woman and the image of Locket which was seared into your mind. Her height and build are the same, just the skin tone and facial structure are different--nothing that an adept couldn't change. Upon seeing the locket around her neck, you are almost certain it is her. Rewatching her entrance, you see that as soon as she walks in many of the faces get a little skittish. You've known people who had similar reaction with animals, and whatever she said seems to have shaken the last bit of resolve out of the band and friends.

All
The AR map is laid out with pinpoints for Greenstreets, Electron Skies, Jazz Nights, and a double star on Casanova. A broad stretch of Downtown is cloaked in red shading. Most of the sights are nightclubs and restaurants--Casanova is a casino, stylized in a 1920s mystique along with a smoking room library. The red shading covers all of the hot spots and is Horizon's latest civil improvement--the Automated Crime Prevention System.

In Studio City, you see UCLA tagged for a large library, and the corporate arcologies for Horizon and Aztechnology.

[JxJxA]

Uetz watches the party scene, sharing mental notes with Quauhtli as the video feed plays.

And cue the Etain happy dance, he thinks to himself when he sees her climb up on the table to dance with drunken disregard next to the other naked woman. He does not recognize her, but finds himself carnally intrigued by her talent for contortion...among other things.

Keep focused, Quauhtli says, and Uetz returns his attention to the vid.

When he sees the woman enter the video, he scrutinizes every detail about her in hope of finding an answer to his many questions. Does he know her? Have they ever met before? What are her measurements and does she have a "good twin" who is available and interested? While he comes to the conclusion that he has in fact never seen this woman before, he notices her magical aptitude and predatory mannerisms---almost like a mystical jungle cat...a jaguar.

Tezcatlipoca? he thinks to himself. The idea sticks inside of his head, drawing together other circumstantial evidence to weave together a full blown crazy conspiracy theory. Tezcatlipoca is a malevolent trickster god who sows discord, and the oracle mentioned him as a potential seeker of the book. Tezcatlipoca was the nemesis of his own deity, Quetzalcoatl, and severing Uetz from his good friends would be one way to persecute him. Finally, his other group of friends had just made deals with metaplanar denizens, like striking deals or carrying stones, and this is clearly his punishment for not speaking out against it at the time.

"Um," he says after letting his mind finish its wild train of thought, "I have never seen this woman in my life, but it looks like she is a magic user. Just look at how perfectly her hair moves when she bends over to show off the locket. Also, I have a really bad feeling about this, like Tezcatlipoca is involved in this. Remember all of those beings the Oracle listed when she mentioned the 'Book of Enoch?' He was one of them, and call me crazy, but I get the feeling he is involved somehow."

[Fenris]

"Well, we can't rule out anything at this point. I'm pretty sure that's Locket, in one incarnation or another. It would make sense with the way the crowd reacted, and she's probably pretty much made of magic. I'd like to steer clear of UCLA if we can, unless we're all agreed that we're going to break something.

I'd say let's start with Cassanova, that kind of style is sure to draw anything that dresses like that," he motions towards Locket's stiletto heels and dress. I can swing a call with Naiomi and see if she could get us a little time to look around the arcology hard copy stores. Aztechnology I'm not so sure about...anybody know anybody that might be able to help?"

He's already pulling up a second window as he's talking, dialing up his some-times fixer's number and putting the call through.

[Redjack]

No longer distracted by the gyrating woman, Papa turns his attention to the conversation. "Oh yea" He pulls out his com and flips open the small screen and plays the footage for the other members of the team.

[Buddha72]

D'zan pushes off Argent's head and gives the footage a once over.

[BishopMcQ]

Argent

The window flashes twice as the call connects and you see Naiomi's icon load in and hear her voice heavy with sleep.

"Mmm, yes, Argent? What can I do for you at....." There is the sound of fumbling objects on a nightstand, and you pick up the quiet rustle of fabric. "at three in the morning."

D'zan
You watch the feed from the screen on Papa's commlink. The small monitor is larger than your torso, and has a crisp image. The woman moves through the crowd, like the sluagh amongst goblins. Here is a being of power amongst mortals, and her presence is tangible in the shivers that run up the spines of many of the band's hanger-ons. You see her begin the speak, and can only imagine the power accompanying her words as the room quickly empties of everyone but Rene and Etain. An impossible breeze ruffles the being's hair as she bends down to show them something hidden within her necklace. The contents are hidden by the curtain of her hair, but you feel certain that magic was used in that moment.
She leaves and the two of them sit absolutely still for a few moments and then some sense of life comes back to them and you see the small fidgeting. After an hour, they rise and go outside--soon flames appear, flickering through the window.

[Buddha72]

D'zan giggles at the sight of the two demoralized eco-freaks and flies his way to hover by them as he speaks.

"So she showed you the locket and you saw what exactly? Then you started a fire outside - why? Think carefully - how did the idea start? Did you both have the same notion before telling the other? Did you see what she did after talking to you? Did she touch anything or leave anything behind? Think!"

[BishopMcQ]

D'zan

As you hover over them, Rene cringes for a moment as if expecting some doom or painful mischief. He straightens after a second and says, "yeah, she showed it to us. It had Uetz and her kissing. She said they were in love and getting married--that the first thing he would do when he got back was yell at us and throw us out with the garbage."

Etain pipes in at this point, "we were just sitting there and Rene said 'not if there isn't any garbage,' and I got up and tossed the rags from the garage on the trash pile, then it just started burning. Then we realized our stuff was inside, and it would be burnt if the fire wasn't stopped. Like, without Rene's instruments we couldn't keep the band.

"I don't think she touched anything. She just talked to us, and we were sitting there. I don't really remember much, until Rene said something. Just thoughts..."

[Buddha72]

D'zan hovers closer to Etain and tries to sound less irritated than he feels.

"What thoughts exactly? Can you tell me please?" His face feels strange and distorted as he tries to look reassuring and friendly to this silly woman.

[BishopMcQ]

D'zan

"uhhh... Like that Uetz'd be gone, and forget us, but we could show him. We could make sure he remembered us." The dryad's voice falters, as she gropes for the words.

Rene looks at her, and dumps another glass of stale beer down the sink before tossing the cup in the trashbag. "I remember just wanting to break it all, I was supposed to...supposed to...yeah that's right."

All

There is a sudden rush of air into the kitchen, as a two meter call column of fire appears. Heat pours off the mobile conflagration, and you can see the paint beginning to peel and the cabinetry char on the edges. It twists and turns, blue-white flames trapped inside the orange-yellow flicker of the column looking around hungrily. You watch as it locks its focus on Uetz.

[Redjack]

As the air changes, Papa smiles and initiates the smurf-atron video filter applet while he rushes towards the kitchen sink and the faucet hose with one hand, turning on the flow of water with the other. "Been enough fires 'round here."

[JxJxA]

"Locket? I have no idea what you're talking about, seeing some girl with a Locket before. Of course, that could all be part of Tezcatlipoca's trickery..."

Uetz retreats into his mind as he sifts through possible options. It is entirely possible that one of these pacts involved him, but which one...or maybe it's teh entire quest that we are being sent on? Hmm, better consider the possibility of appeasement by sacrifice. I never thought that I would have to relive the horrors of Prof. Portillo's "Human Vivisection and Sacrifice 101" again, but it might be for the best if it saves the world...now where can I acquire the appropriate obsidian knife?

His stream of consciousness is immediately and roughly redirected when the malicious pillar of fire bursts into the house.

"Pinche brujeria del diablo!" he exclaims as the unavoidable confrontation begins to unfold.

[Fenris]

"Naiomi! I know it's early, but business never sleeps right? Opportunity knocks at all kinds of odd hours? Look, I've got this thing going on, and was wondering if there's some helpful little service I could provide in exchange for a quick look around the Horizon archology libraries...." His voice trails off as the conflagration fill the kitchen space, charring the counter-tops that they'd scrounged from that drug dealers house after he'd gotten popped, and burning the cabinets they'd paid for with part of that job out on the boat that had gone so poorly.

"Mi dios! Look, Niaomi, a bit of a thing has just popped up in the kitchen, and it's like 6 feet tall and on fire, so I'm going to have to call you back."

[BishopMcQ]

All
As the spirit materializes in the kitchen, you see a shamanic mask spring around Rene. Ghostly ivy tendrils wrap around him, and the air bends and distorts with raw mana.

Leo
Tendrils of energy hidden within Rene's aura flare to life as the spirit materializes. You can see a locket around his throat, the chain constricting the aura. The raging column of fire has a similar locket deep inset within the flames. More troubling are the black thorns are sprouting up from the ivy--instead of a healthy and whole plant, it feels poisoned and radiates hatred.

Papa
As Rene vanishes under the translucent ivy, you watch the ivy darken and grow long spiky thorns. There was a news article tagged in the PITO feeds that you follow of fruit trees from the jungles of South America that smelled sweet and attracted animals and metahumans to it--then strangled them. The branches of the trees had the same thorns and released a poison able to paralyze the strongest creatures.

Argent
With your hurried good-bye, Naiomi hangs up on you. As the icons fade from view, you see Etain stiffen. A ghostly locket hangs loose around her neck, though the medallion is sprouting small tendrils into her skin.