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

[Jack_Spade]

<<A dragon line! Now that narrows it down considerably.>> Rex told Waywalker.
<<Still, that means we aren't much closer to the solution yet withoug getting ahold of a map where the line is shown. Can you do some more matrix mojo to find such a map? With a bit of luck we can locate the portal before the professor and get our expedition out of the way before any findings are published. If we put the rumor about the books supposed location out in combination with the mention that the university might get ahold of it before the opposition does, we could narrow down when and where they make their appearance.>>

[Haywire]

#207

"Ok, now would be a lovely time to have a plan. And a backup plan. And a contingency plan to the backup plan too."
After a couple of minutes Waywalker reassessed himself and sighed.
"I'll dig into the commlink of the professor. Shall we break into the place tonight? It would make us regain the upper hand. What do you think?"

[ Spoiler ]

agent teamwork: 12d6t5 5
hacking the commlink again: 20d6t5 7

[Jack_Spade]

<<Well, I'm just a dog - I won't be sentenced for breaking an entering - so sure, let's do it.>>
Rex replied good natured.

[Romain Pelisse]

[ Spoiler ]

Dusquenes commlink resist:: 12d6t5 6

Waywalker barely managed to add his second MARK on the commlink: Duquenes device was feisty! With a broader access to the commlink, Waywalker quickly located the file he was looking for. It was actually tagged to be archived, but Dusquenes had access it recently so it was still available to the matrix. Good thing the decker thought, the last thing he wanted was to have to go into the matrix’s foundation to retrieve the file!

[Haywire]

#208

"Come to me, little file..."

[ Spoiler ]

Matrix perception to see if it's protected or has a data bomb:
matrix perception: 18d6t5 6
If it's clear:
edit file: 16d6t5 6

[Romain Pelisse]

Waywalker was right to be careful. At first, he wanted to jump directly on the file, but a careful examination of its metadata made him realize something was wrong. He soon realized that Dusquenes had somebody encrypted the file, as he would have expected, but also set a data bomb on it!

[ Spoiler ]

Encryption is rating 3 and data bomb also

[Haywire]

#209

"I knew it wasn't going to be that easy..."

[ Spoiler ]

disarm data bomb: 16d6t5 7
crack file: 17d6t5 4

I think I could keep the previous edit file roll, no?

[Romain Pelisse]

[ Spoiler ]

Databomb resist disarming: 6d6t5 1
File resist decryp: 6d6t5 2
Overwatch Score: 8

Waywalker was not a kiddy-script decker from around the corner. He knew his shit. It barely took him a second to get of the databomb and to decrypt the file. A weird looking of Paris, fully annotated by Dusquenes, appeared in front of him. The annotation sadly were using some weird glyphs and symbols that he had never seen before. He shared the file with Rex who then displayed it in his AR environment.
The mage immediate the thick, white and shiny line, crossing Paris from North to South, for what it was: the dragon line. However, the rest looked as cryptic to him as it was to Waywalker…

[ Spoiler ]

@Jack_Spade can you roll me Intuition + Arcana [Astral] but also a Memory test?

[Haywire]

#210

"I do not understand a single thing in this map. Could you give a look a it?"

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

Arcana+Int: 10d6t5 0
Try again:
Arcana+Int: 8d6t5 1
Try again:
Arcana+Int: 6d6t5 2

Memory Test:
Memory: 15d6t5 5

Rex scrunched up this doggy face, looking with absolute concentration at the AR display. He knew he should understand what he saw, but he could just not make himself connect the dots. Unless...

[Romain Pelisse]

Rex felt like he was back in the Shinto temple where he learned magic. And this was not a nice feeling. Everything he saw in this map was not making sense to him but it felt like it should. He could almost hear the voice of the priest who taught him magic: “Concentrate, Gaijin, concentrate… Your kind is always so easily distracted!”. But then he remembered something from when he was studying the book with Corbitt (he also realized that the ghoul was strangely enough a nicer partner to work with than this particular priest).

Around the part of the text that Corbitt suspected to be about the portal, there was some cryptic reference about “being on the foot of hills” tied to some lunar references. Then it clicked in Rex’s head. The portal is not in Montmartre, but down the hill of Montmartre, following the dragon line! Dusquesnes and her team were looking too far north! Also, if the text was right, the portal will not open before the moon is at his highest in the sky during the night…

The night will fall in a few hours. If Waywalker and Rex wanted to explore this portal, they did not have much time to prepare…

[Jack_Spade]

Rex blinked. Shook his head and blinked again. <<I... I just remembered something from my past. The face... the face of my teacher. Takashi. God damnit, I remember something from before...>>
In his excitement he let out a high bark before collecting himself. <<Oh and also I think I know where the portal is most likely going to appear and when. We don't have much time. We need your van and the drone - and enough cash to pay for parking at the foot of Montmatre.>>
Rex sent the coordinates he assumed would be where the gate was to be found.
<<I'll have to speak with one of the nightcourt to grant me the help of one of their servants. Midnight isn't far away, so lets better go quickly.>>

[Haywire]

#211

"I was born ready! Let's go and catch the portal!"

[Jack_Spade]

Rex took a few moments to ready himself and called upon one of the stronger Kami from the Nightcourt:
'Takay - Son of the Blackened Knife, hear my call, I bid you come forth to my aid.'

[ Spoiler ]

Summon F8 Spirit of Men: 22d6t5 7
Spirit resist: 8d6t5 1
Drain resist: 21d6t5 5

7 Services
no Drain

Innate Spell: Invisibility
Innate Spell: Mana Barrier

Flawless, like the whisper of a single feather, the dark figure of a man appeared within the room, nodding once to Rex before vanishing again.

<<Alright, I'm ready now. Let's drive>>

[Haywire]

#212

While the autonomous pilot followed Paris' traffic rules religiously, as to not attract any unwanted attention, Waywalker was busy doing some reconnaissance with Fly Spy drones and by Matrix.

[ Spoiler ]

matrix perception: 18d6t5 5
pilot drone: 14d6t5 3
electronic warfare (perception): 21d6t5 3

[Romain Pelisse]

The van took the runner in the direct vicinity of the portal without any incidents. Walker’s mini drone confirmed to them that the drones he “fixed” for Dusquenes were still way up north. The professor and her coworker were still investigating the wrong place.

On the physical plane, the location of the portal looked pretty mundane. An old and small building that seemed to have grown against the hill of Montmartre rather designed and built. Once on site, Rex—still a bit shaken by the flashback from his past, got the intuition the portal would open on the roof of the building. He could not really explain why, but he somehow knew.

Walker’s drone reported quickly that there was nobody else monitoring the old building. As far as the runner could see, they got here before anyone else. They still had a couple of hours before midnight to get into position and prepare, as much as they could, their trip.

Rex peered one more time into the astral in the direction of the portal’s location. As expected, no trace of it. From what he gathered from the book, the portal will not manifest before midnight. However, something else happened in his mind. Another memory from the past came rushing in. He was now seeing himself in a Zen garden trying to mediate and “open his mind to the Kami” as the voice of his mentor echoed in his head.

The mage froze for a minute. Why was he suddenly retrieving his memory? Could the magic of the portal explains this? Or was it something else?

[Jack_Spade]

<<The weirdest thing just happened: I just remembered one of my first summoning lessons. Something in this place must have stired my subconscious. I think it will be a good idea to go to the roof and build a low force temporary lodge there. Two hours should be enough. Once done, I can try and meditate a bit. Maybe I can learn something of interest that way. So do me a favor and keep an eye on the surroundings. The Son of the Blackened Blade will keep an eye on me.>>
Calling up a veil and a levitation, Rex left the car and ascended to the rooftop. Still invisible he took the shape of an ape, so he could more easily build a lodge

[ Spoiler ]

F3 Invisibility
Invisibility: 20d6t5 12
Drain resist: 21d6t5 7

F3 Levitate
Levitate: 22d6t5 12
Drain resist: 21d6t5 5

F3 Shapechange
Shapechange: 22d6t5 9
Drain resist: 21d6t5 5

[Haywire]

#213

"Do you want help or assistance from a drone of mine? I'll run overwatch, no problems."

[Jack_Spade]

<<Certainly can't hurt.>> Rex replied while already drawing the necessary patterns to create the temporary lodge.

[Haywire]

#214

While keeping overwatch on the Matrix and with his Fly-Spy, Waywalker sent his Rotodrone to protect Rex on the roof.
"This should do. Hope you do not mind the noise!"

[Romain Pelisse]

Sneaking on the roof for Rex, as always shape into a canine form, was fairly easy. It was a funny sight to see a dog levitating on top of a building but in the darkness of the evening it went unnoticed. Joined thereby Waywalker’s rotor drone, he started set up is magical lodge. The process was a dull one, but fairly straight forward, however, midway through it, Rex had to make a pause. A sudden movement in the astral had again played tricks in his mind. He got some flashes of his past—too fast and indistinct to make anything out of it, but clearly the proximity to the portal was already affecting Rex. It could feel his memories bubbling to the surface, they were so close, but still out of reach.

Hovering in his drone over the dog shaped mage, Waywalker could feel that something was wrong. He could see that Rex stopped while pushing some magical component and was no longer moving…

[Jack_Spade]

[ Spoiler ]

Just to avoid confusion:
Rex is invisible while flying onto the roof - also he is an ape while creating the t-lodge

Rex kept still while these thoughts... no memories began stiring in his mind. There was a young woman... his daughter, yes, he was sure of it. And there was that large building out on the sea... an Aquacology? But just as quickly as the flashes had come, his mind closed up again and Rex was left with the memory of a memory.
Still, if it was indeed CFD that had befallen his physical body, what effect would travel to a different realm have on him? Might his soul disconnected from the flesh regain parts of himself that he thought lost?
Rex redoubled his efforts to finish the lodge, eagerly awaiting midnight to see what else he could learn.

[Haywire]

#215

"Rex, are you all right? You do not seem like it..."

[Romain Pelisse]

[ Spoiler ]

@Jack_Spade my bad, I should have read more carefully

The monkey shaped mage choose to ignore Waywalker’s inquiry and simply resume setting up the lodge. Not willing to disturb more his partner during a difficult task, Waywalker simply resume patrolling the area. The lodge was quickly finished but it was still a few minutes away from midnight.

The two runners were now waiting with anticipation. Rex was quite happy he opted to build a lodge. As midnight was getting closer and closer, he could feel the mana changing in his surroundings, but through the safety of the astral barrier set up by the lodge. The wave of astral shift around him was quite potent, he was happy not to be exposed to them directly.

Finally, midnight came, but for a few seconds it seems like nothing happened. Waywalker’s drone could not see any change in the physical plane. Rex felt a mana surge, so he knew that something did happen but he could not spot right away. After a few instants, however, the portal entrance finally becomes clear to him. It was quite difficult to see, because it looks like a black tear in the fabric of reality. At this time of the night, it was barely seeable.

Suddenly, the mage realized he was not alone on the roof. Pooping one by one was a dozen stray cats appearing around his magical lodge. All were gazing into the tear, like if they were to be considering jumping in it. Or not…

[ Spoiler ]

So, guys, the question is: Will Rex opt to jump thru the portal along with Waywalker and see if he can learn more about this forgotten past?

[Jack_Spade]

Rex called to Waywalker: <<The portal just opened and large host of cats has gathered to watch. I'm going to leave my body and have the Kami stand watch over it. If you can, follow me in your anthro drone into the portal. I could use the help.>>

With that Rex went astral and took a look around - first at the cats, then at the portal before he decides to move across.

[ Spoiler ]

Aura reading: 11d6t5 4