Umbrae Europae [IC] (part 3) - Mist of Nycthemeron, A third installment of the Umbrae Europae Campaing (started elsewhere) Options

[Haywire]

#174

Waywalker was puzzled by the results of his Matrix esploration. "It looks like they're a crew from some Trideo-TV, but why on Earth are they here if it's so?
Maybe a look on their transmission could help us figuring..."

[ Spoiler ]

agent teamwork (deck): 12d6t5 2
Hacking on the fly: 21d6t5 7 (the camera)
snoop: 17d6t5 5

[Romain Pelisse]

Waywalker quickly hijacked the stream coming inside the van from the camera was rather surprised to found out that they were just, apparently, filming the street. Not the one leading their safehouse, inside the park, but another one, a few blocks away. The street looked empty, all the shops abandoned for long and even the local building did not seems inhabited. Weirdly enough the street did not look to battered for a forsaken place of the sprawl.

Meanwhile, in the astral, Rex did not wait for his kami to came back and starting assessing the two auras. Two humans, very few cyberware, not awakened and looking both very concentrated and excited. As Rex was reading their aura, he could see that they both realize was "happening" but both got more excited than scarred or suspicious...

[Jack_Spade]

Rex returned to his body and opened his eyes:
"Waywalker, this might sound crazy, but I think we have a team of ghost chasers here. There is a rather powerful Kami hovering in the street and when I assensed them they seemed to be excited about the fact that an astral being took note of them. Can you take a look for a Quicksilver Camera or a Telestrian drone?
Maybe also take a look in the matrix if there are any published stories about this street? Our hideout is in the middle of a dangerously magic park after all."

[Haywire]

#175

"In fact they look like reporters to me. I'm snooping their camera, but I do not know if it's quicksilver or not. You're right about the Matrix search, by the way.
In the while that the search goes, I'll check their commlinks..."

[ Spoiler ]

agent teamwork (Sekretar): 6d6t5 2
agent teamwork (deck): 12d6t5 4
Matrix search: 21d6t5 5
agent teamwork (deck): 12d6t5 3
Hacking on the fly: 22d6t5 7
matrix perception: 18d6t5 7

[Romain Pelisse]

It took only a few minutes for Waywalker to confirm their suspicions. The only surprise for the rigger is that the two reporter were working for a subsidiary of Ares Global Entertainment. He expected them to be working for Horizon - after all, they have a large corporate enclave in Marnes La Vallée, around Disneyland. But more research quickly told him that AGE has surprisingly won the battle for french media since the country signed the BRA in 2071.

[Jack_Spade]

<<That complicates things a bit. The last thing we want is drawing attention to our place. But we can't have them stay here either. I don't trust the whole situation. Now that we know we are contending with the Black Lodge, we have to be extra careful. It would be best if they had a mundane reason to leave - like police harrassing them or a biker gang spraying their car and trying to steal their wheels.
Maybe you could drop a tipp or frame them somehow. If all else fails, I can send ask a Kami to send them an infestation of roaches or bedbugs.

To get us to our hideout I'd ask a Kami of the water court to change the weather to a thick mist, so we can sneak past them without appearing on camera.
In any case we have to wait a few hours. By then my Kami should be able to tell me who sent this powerful Kami to watch the street.

And just in case someone does the same with me, it might be a good idea to cruise a bit through the city.>>

Rex told his partner.

[Haywire]

#176

"Yes, I think you're right. Maybe I could hack a complaint on the Police host to get them harrassed, or they could have problems with their camera...
In the while, we grab a soyburger!"

[ Spoiler ]

I attack their camera:
agent teamwork (deck): 12d6t5 4
Hacking on the fly (2 MARKs): 19d6t5 6
format device: 16d6t5 4
reboot device: 16d6t5 4

[Jack_Spade]

<<Avoid anything that might look like sabotage of their equipment - otherwise those guys might think a Kami cursed them or something. To be fair, that is something a Kami can actually do...>>
Rex replied, while he once again marvelled just how much power the two of them actually had to make normal people's life miserable.

[Haywire]

#177

Waywalker quickly responded to his partner in crime:
"I will be very subtle: it will look like a glitch or plain, old, bad luck. Are we sure we want police or some go-gang punks poking their nose around here if we call them?"

[Jack_Spade]

<<Good point, although police shouldn't be a problem - go gang I agree could turn longterm into a problem. >>

[Haywire]

#178

"I think it's still less risky to mess with their equipment than to mess with the NeoParis Police Host, and I would try it first. What do you think?"

[Jack_Spade]

<<I'll defer to your expertise as a hacker. If nothing else, you could drive their car away.>>
Rex replied.

[Haywire]

#179

"Well, that was Plan B."

[Jack_Spade]

While they waited for the results of the spirits tracking action, Rex continued to study the book, looking for clues, hidden messages and diagrams or anything else he could think off.

[Romain Pelisse]

Waywalker plan went like a charm and the noisy reported were forced to evacuate the vicinity letting the two runner get to their safehouse, unnoticed. After a couple of days of rest, they touched base with their "M.Johnson", the ghoul named Corbitt. Sadly he had little to report, his research into the book has not make that much progress. Rex shared with him is own insight, especially in regards to the rumors about the planar location of the Nuctéméron:

"Well, that is good work and interesting inputs. I am going to have to take an other look with all of that in mind... I don't expect to have the answer quickly however. Do you have any more suggestion about our next move in the meantime? Your idea to chase down our opposition has already proven very fruitful. Maybe you have an other idea to help us.... Stay ahead in the game?"

[Jack_Spade]

Rex had taken his manifested form to talk to their employer directly:
"Hm, yes. It is of course a much higher risk to go after the Black Lodge, but it's a move that they certainly won't expect. I don't have to mention that this will increase our necessary renumeration by quite a large margin.
I'm thinking about laying a trap - leaking information about a possible lead and pouncing on whoever shows up to inspect it.

Do you know of a place that is easy for us to control and that would make sense to harbor the portal from where to reach the book?"

[Romain Pelisse]

Over the commlink; Corbitt paused for a minute.

"Ah... Monsieur Rex, as always you are cunning fellow! Setting a trap for the Black Lodge! What an ambitious endeavour. I must confess I'm, one more time, impress. When I picked your little dynamic duo, I knew I was making a good choice but now I realize I probably made the best choice. Now to your more practical question: a place, easy to control, holding a portal... Hum..."

Again the ghoul paused for a couple of minute. Over the line, Rex and Waywalker could hear his fingers taping on his commlink's screen. They knew that Corbitt had no datajack and were using trodes but the ghoul also appeared to have a hard time using AROs and prefer to resort to manual interface on the device's screen. Waywalker was actually amazed those were still functional enough to allow matrix search and other operation. He generally used those only when rebooting offline a commlink and do some basic checks on the hardware.

"Monsieur Rex, Waywalker, it appears we are a bit in luck. Paris is ancient city and there is, no surprise, quite a lot of rumors about awakened places in our direct vicinity. Obviously, we need to pick a location that would look like a good potential hiding place for the Nuctéméron. In his book, at least the part I decipher, Eliphas Levy alluded often to some lost city only accessible through dreams. I expect this place to the plane known as Kadath. As this is not so well hidden in the book, I don't expect it is the resting place of the Nuctéméron, but if your adversary may have seen this hint in the "public" version of the book. I will thus posit that Kadath is, indeed, a good decoy for our purpose."

The ghoul posed, making weird chewing noise for a minute. The runners were used to that by now, they knew his jaw was in a poor state and it's somewhat difficult for the infected to speak.

"Now, where can we find such a gate? Well, we're in luck because Paris is rumor to have not one, but two gates leading to planes that were rumored to only be available through dreams before the Awakenings. You may be familiar with Montmartre, an area that sheltered many painters and artists in the previous centuries - and so many wannabee since then. I've heard a couple of rumors telling that the area may be an awkaned site and even some whispers of unexplained disappearance that people ties to a presence of an (yet to be revealed) planar gate. Because the place is crowded with tourist, even late in the evening, I have not been there... for ages."

Leaving a few seconds for the runners to absorb the information, the ghoul then carried on:

"I need also to mention two other potential lead. There is a rather... pretentious mage, owning a shop nearby Saint Michel. The shop is called La Table d'Eméraude and deals into hemertic reagents and sells 'magic' memorabilia to tourist. The man has weird reputation in the awakened community of Paris. Some thinks he is a poseur, some believes him to be a powerful and actually mage. Some rumors have heard tells that he was magically active before the Awakening. If he were I never ran into him back then so I can't corroborate that."

Waywalker and Rex paused and looked at each other - did the ghoul just implied that he was alive and awaken before the Awakening?

"Nevertheless I though I mentioned him because he might know about more portals. Especially I expect he might know more about the rumors of a portal within the park of the Buttes Chaumont. I will let, of course, decides if he is a lead worth checking out. One last piece of information: I have heard of a free spirit, roaming through Paris and offering to the one who seeks him 'travel to world of wonders'. The spirit has been nicknamed the Hunchback because he was first spot on the roof of Notre Dame. However, it does not manifest at all like a hunchback but more like a terrifying, faceless shadow figure wrapped in tatters. Since then it has been spot several times on roofs all over Paris."

At this point, Rex asked if the nature of this Kami, as he called spirit, were to be known.

"Ah, Monsieur Rex, I can see the study of the Unified Theory of Magic has tainted your approach to the wonders of the astral and thus you feel the need to categorize its denizens. I'm pretty sure you know the inherent limits of such approach. That being said, I will humor you and tell that much: because of it terrifying looks - rumors pretend that his appearance on top of Notre Dame led some poor tourist to jump! - people initially supposed it may be a shadow spirit of some kind. However with its further appearances being always on the rooftops of Paris, some scholars from La Sorbonne have wondered if it would not be an air spirit or maybe simply a spirit of man..."

[Jack_Spade]

"Good. This mage might be just the person that we can use to leak our information to the Black Lodge.
The Hunchback sounds like someone we might have to ask anyway to divine our way through this. If only divinations where reliable...

Right. Waywalker we can discuss details later, but we have to decide now where we focus our efforts. Personally, I'd prefer us finding a place underground in Montmartre. That would nullify somewhat the advantage of numbers that our opponent can rely on and also make it less likely for us to be exposed beforehand."
Rex nodded towards his partner while his own body laid on the ground.

[Haywire]

#180

Waywalker listened carefully to Mr. Corbitt, even when he and Rex discussed detail of Mojo he did not quite grasp. He was astonished at the implication that Corbitt was alive before the Awakening. He could be his great-grandfather...
However, focusing on the problem at hand, he replied:
"What you want to do is called honey pot. It's very useful to find out if we're compromised and by whom. Before we set this up, I suggest to know for certain the information we leak are false. Is there a way to exclude that the book is really in this... Kadath?"
While the other two digested the proposal, he continued: "If we set up such a trap we must be merciless in its execution, if you pardon my bad pun. The last thing we want is a vendetta from the Black Lodge."
Answering to his partner in crime: "Rex, you're right. Finding a nice spot in Montmartre where we can assess the situation is probably the first step."

[Jack_Spade]

"Is it? Oh well, that makes sense, since we are going to kick a hornet's nest.
Hah, wouldn't that be embarassing? Us inventing a story and it turning out to be true? But yeah, that certainly is a prudent measure.

Mr. Corbitt, we'll stay in touch. But as I mentioned before about the meeting with the priest, I promised I'd give him your contact data when we find the book. I intend to keep that promise, just so you know. And I think it would be a good idea if you took the call before chucking away your link.

Alright, let's get moving. A night time stroll through the artists' quarter certainly can't hurt. Isn't there also some kind of big church? Maybe there are some useful Kami around to ask about any portals."
Rex replied.

#258

[Haywire]

#181

"The last thing I want is to spread a rumor about a treasure and then find out it's true. How could we check this... Kadath city for the book?
Yes, a walk through Montmartre is a good idea. I heard of a place that has very fancy food and a dog friendly policy..."

[Jack_Spade]

When they were back on the streets and rex back in his body he said:
<<We are going to deal with a very cunning and powerful mage - or more than one - if the Black Lodge is involved. I'm looking for a confined space where we can set up a trap. I'm not sure yet if we should try explosives or massive ammounts of Pepperpunch. Maybe even cheap automatic weapon placements. You know, those smart platforms with a bunch of AKs. When we get back to our place I'll see what I can scrounge up around here.

But first, of course, we'll see if there actually is a portal here and if it leads to the book.>>

Rex used the leasurely pace to take quick glimpses into the astral and also call upon a Kami to scout the area for something that could be an astral portal.

[ Spoiler ]

Summon F6 Spirit of Men: 22d6t5 5
Spirit of Men resist: 6d6t5 2
Drain resist: 21d6t5 6

Spirit of Men using Search:
Search: 13d6t5 5
Search: 12d6t5 5
Search: 11d6t5 3
Search: 10d6t5 7
Search: 9d6t5 3
Search: 8d6t5 0
Search: 7d6t5 2
Search: 6d6t5 1

25 successes after 80 minutes

[Haywire]

#182

"In the while' I'll look up some information on this mage Mr. Corbitt mentioned, the one with the shop. If we need to make contact with him, better be prepared."

[ Spoiler ]

agent teamwork (deck): 12d6t5 6
Matrix search: 21d6t5 9

[Romain Pelisse]

Rex's kami zapped through the astral and mentally reported to its master:

"Oh yielder of the Mana! I came to the place you asked me and I'm doing your biding. But the astral here is so unique and magnificent that I have to share with you my exploration. All around me I can see echoes of the past, people painting or exploring arts of many kinds. So many flashes of past events are resonating through my core it is ... intriguing. However it does also make the task you entrusted to me... difficult. The astral here is more of reflects of what this place used to be than what it actually is. If there is, indeed, a gate to an other plane of existence, it will be hard to pinpoint its location."

Nevertheless, the kami resumed his work for a while, but after half an hour, it communicated again with Rex:

"Oh, my master. I have halted my search as there is a lot of of activities in the area. I've spotted several distinct auras in the vicinity. It is my understand, ô my master, that you do not wish for me to noticed so I deemed more prudent to not assensse those auras and halt my work. I hope you will forgive me for this..."

[ Spoiler ]

I'm not sure one could use spirit search power to locate a portal. AFAIK there is no rule about locating portal, but anyway it's mostly a plot device than anything else, we don't need dedicated mechanics.

In the meantime, Waywalker had been busy on the matrix side of things. Helped with his agent and searched the matrix for any information about the Table d'Emeraude. He was actually surprised to find references about the shop being has old as the previous century. A lot of information of the late 20th century have been lost in the first Crash, back in 2029, but for the shop to be mentioned in whatever had survived it must have been around for a long time.

If the shop was now clearly a talismonger business, it appeared to be already on the market of esoteric and spiritual content way before the awakenings. There was no information about the owner, back then, but Paris records clearly state the owner is, since 2064, a man named Lasnico Lamef. What a weird name thought Waywalker to himself. And also obviously a fake one. With a bit more research on this identity, the decker quickly asserted it was a fake SIN. A good one, but a fake one.

However, the business appeared legit. It was properly registered as talismongers, has a license to sell magical goods (but not to deliver magical services of any kind). Strolling thru magic user forum was not Waywalker's forte but it still managed to get a couple of things out of it. First, the shop appeared to have a good reputation and sells good quality reagents, albeit mostly ones suiting the hermetic tradition. Second, the owner was mysterious - on purpose. Few had actually met him, most of the daily business being handled by the "assistant of the moment". Indeed the seller always appeared to be a different one - but a few customers suspected he or she might just be a spirit. The shop was, not surprisingly heavily warded, making astral visit difficult, at best and the owner highly disliked people prying into this astral intimacy, whether by coming in astral form or reading auras. Last but not the least, Waywalker spot a couple of rumors about his connection to some powerful magical groups and top of having ties (or rather "protection") coming from the french oligarchy.

Apparently, the shop was a privileged provider of many awakened noblemen and women. And that came with some influence and powers of its own. There was also some rumors that the owner is in good terms with the druids of Brittany but also some Faustian circles just behind the frontier.

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

That depends if the mental image Rex sent the spirit is accurate enough for a search

Rex replied calmly to the Kami: "Thank you my friend. You acted wisely. Can you give me general directions on the portal's whereabouts or a clue how I might find it from the mundane side of things? Do you feel it high up or more under ground?"

Rex shared the information with his partner: <<Seems like there is definitely something around here - and most likely the portal is already in use. Hopefully not by a bunch of Shedim. Those evil Kami are a real pain in the ass to get rid of.
Do you think we should visit the Talismonger right now or keep looking for the portal first? Maybe we can use it to gauge the owner's trustworthyness...>>