<<@*&#(&>> was getting frustrated, but you didn't survive long as an immortal Power if you didn't learn to curb your feelings. Being frustrated meant you had to be alive. And in the end he'd still had an entertaining vision.

He watched over the scene, letting the succubus do what she did best. It would be better to not interfere. Though he was completely prepared to intervene, he wasn't sure exactly how it would help at the moment. He'd hoped to have kept the woman occupied and safe, but she was now going to have to suffer her own fate.

The man showed the commlink's screen to Adsinistrati.

"It is a message board. I posted what you asked me to post, but when someone's will read it depends on his AR activity. Meanwhile, here, take a snack.''

The man hands over a chocolate bar to the "boy". The girl, hugged her lover from behind, but he politely got out of her grasp. He whispered: "Now is not the time.''

Edit: Wrong thread.

Adsinistrati smiled, "Thanks mister!" His work here was done, and while he wondered what this man was doing with a bar of chocolate in his pocket, he wasn't really interested in snacks - at least not the tangable physical kind. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." His new response was in stark contrast to his earlier plee for help. "It looks like she wants your attention. I'll get out of your hair so you can get back to it." With that, he began to hurry back towards the park - ignoring any advice from the man to do otherwise.

Once out of earshot, he said to his astral companions (those who hadn't already wandered off), "He left a message for this man - but I have no idea how long it will be before we see a response. Now, if you don't mind, I'm growing tired of appetisers. I am going to change genitalia for a second and get back to my meal." As his form faded into the astral, it raced back to the car, looking to see if the occupants had stuck around, and if they decided to resume where they left off.

The car was still there, but the man and woman weren't "flirting" anymore. Instead, it appeared they had a serious argument about what to do. It seems the man wanted to stay with the boy until his parents arrived while the girl wanted to get out of there as soon as she could. Apparently, she had a bad feeling about it. After some time, seeing the boy had disappeared out of his sight, the man decided staying around wouldn't be such a good idea. Why would a 10 years old boy would hang out in such a place and talk to perfect strangers without even the slightest fear in his voice.

With a loud roar, the car departed, leaving the spirits alone in the middle of the park.

About an hour later, 3 hours before sunset, a dark, unmarked van parked on he street adjacent to where the spirits are lurking. A man with a neo-japanese styled tuxedo, escorted by an orc, a troll and an elf familiar to the spirits emerged and started to walk towards the center of the park.

2 other cars, as black and unmarked as the van, parked near the van. The tuxedo guy whispered to the orc: "If this is a joke, Gremlin, you know I'm not in the mood for such things."

"At first, answered Gremlin, I thought they were simple binded spirits, but it appears they are free ones, and perfectly capables one too. And if they called you, they might be the ones you need."

Upon seeing their 'friends', Hecate lurks around, listening to what they're saying whilst preparing to materialise behind them. With a dark grin and making sure that the other nspirits were ready and for the group of fleshies to get a little further into the park, she materializes behind them with a playful grin on her face.

"Now boys, what is this you're saying about us possibly being the ones that you need?" she asks playfully, her hands on her curvey hips.

Adsinistrati floated about in the astral keeping an eye on the mortals that just arrived. In particular, she looked to see if any of them were astrally percieving yet. As Hecate materalized, Adsinistrati seemed pleased. She had had her fill of dealing with mortals, especialyl the dangerous kind - and really wished she could go find a meal. The dark gnawing in her stomach seemed to get worse after every "near miss" with potential energy sources.

These men wern't about to indulge her, but they might have the sort of information that could be useful to her later - so she wanted to stick around and hear what they had to say.

Tu Shu Guan materializes in the direction opposite Hecate, all the while floating about 6 inches above the ground.

"More importantly, what do you have to offer us in return for our services?"

Oh bother. In for a seed, in for a tree...

Crystal knew well enough to keep the troll at a distance for now, so when she appeared - not solid but instead as the metaphysical ghost from the astral - It was in front of the group, but at the spot farther from the troll while still being there.

At least this way, if the troll tried anything deadly, she had to merely raise herself above him to stay out of touch. What the rest, or in fact, whatever was in the other two vans, were a risk that almost everyone had to make for now.

"Your friends neglected to tell us they knew you so well. You must be quite the experienced mortal to be so relied on."

Being the ghost she is right now, her hair was alive and writhing in the root-like tentacles that ha captured the troll before, the rest of her form not so much nude as simply sexless; just one strange, humanoid plant woman thing and....

Well, she certainly doesn't look ordinary!

The man did appear to be surprised by the sudden spiritual apparitions, but he managed to keep his composure for the most part. He seemed to be used to weird meetings.

''My name is Mr. Johnson. I have a job for you. I need you to find a soul and bring it back to a specific location within 3 hours. If you are interested, I can pay a total of 25 000 nuyens, and if you do not have a legal existence, I can arrange that too. I have no time to bargain, so it's all or nothing. Are you interested?''

It was obvious he was in a hurry.

"Who is the person we are to find?" First, I'll imply compliance and the ease with which we'd do this, and when he's off guard, I'll request access to an alchemical lab and radicals instead.

''A soul worth 25000 nuyens, paid in credit sticks or otherwise, if it is more convenient for you.''

He paused for a second.

''Do you want the job or not?''

Adsinistrati (once again taking a female guise) appears beside the chinese man, and puts her hand on his shoulder while staring at Mr. Johnson. "We'll take the job, hun. If this guy isn't interested, I'm sure some of the rest of us are." She smiles politely. "So, let's hear some details."

Tu Shu Guan gives Adsinistrati a look of mild, well-restrained frustration, sighs slightly, and turns to Mr. Johnson. "I would like to hear your entreaty."

"9 hours ago, someone was extracted from an arcology. It wasn't long before a team hired by me found the body. The problem is, the soul inhabiting the body was not there anymore. Instead, a malevolent spirit took control of her and asked for a ransom, saying the soul was trapped within another body. Astral searches revealed nothing. The only place left for the soul to be kept is somewhere in the metaplanes. If you can find this soul and bring it back to me within 3 hours, the nuyens are yours.''

"Why is there such a stringent time limit? And does your team know which metaplane this soul might be trapped in?"

"I was told a soul outside his body cannot survive for long, about half a day maximum. As for where the soul is trapped, I am sure there is still a link between the body and the soul, although it is hard to follow such a trail when you are not native to the metaplanes."

"Have your magicians tried to use mental manipulation to force it to tell you? And have you gained any information by this method?"

"The spirit knew nothing. Trust me, if he knew anything about the soul's location, i would have known. It is likely he is nothing but an underling given a single order, with no knowledge of what is really happening.''

"I would like you to show us to the body."

<<@*&#(&>> knew it would pay off eventually, though it seemed to be a terrible risk to reward ratio. How much obviously useless garbage had he listened to before something useful had come out of the Mandarin. It wasn't useful so much in the idea, which everyone must know was the best way to track the soul was the link between soul and body. But it was useful in that he could continue to avoid revealing his capabilities. Though that wasn't going to last much longer. He had a feeling that he was going to be one of the ones with the Power to find the Lost Soul. It was actually one of the top ten requests he got when assisting researchers. The body was the best place to start.

He bobbed himself in encouragement as he hovered in astral space.

"That sounds like a plan, then." Adsinistrati purrs. "Let's get going. This 'soul' doesn't have very long."

"If you don't mind me asking... what was the spirit's ransom?" She was legitimatly curious as to why, if not how, any spirit could hide a mortal soul on a metaplane - and what it thought it could get in return. "I assume it wasn't simply cash."

Medh, finding nothing during her scouting, will have return to where she last saw the group. She catches the negotiations at a distance. She watches the rest, knowing that finding someone wasn't her strong point, but with any luck this lost soul would be trapped by some hidious monster for them the slay, should be fun...

"Perfect. I must warn you it will be impossible for you to physically see the body. It is protected by an opaque astral barrier to prevent the spirit to escape while leaving the body to die. Any spirits or metahumans going inside this barrier or even in the line of sight might suffer a spiritual switch, and even non-possessing spirits would be obliterated within 12 hours by the experience...''

He moved towards the van.

"I suppose you have a faster way to travel than us. Follow us, but be warned both the van and the cars are astrally protected. I'll take you where the body is held."

He got inside the van, followed by Gremlin, Tricky and FlashPack, and the vehicles started the move with an acceptable speed, but not enough for the spirits not to catch up with their astral movement. After 10 minutes of car travel, the car entered a parking lot adjacent to an abandoned warehouse. A few other unmarked cars were already parked.

The spirits automatically felt the difference in mana level when they entered the parking lot. There was a small domain extending from the warehouse and its surrounding of an unidentified aspect.

Tu Shu Guan tries to use both the magical and mundane senses to gauge the character of Mr. Johnson.

Medh pulls a face at the tingle of different mana.

Adsinistrati will remain astral, and also look around the building - but will make her form visible to those in the material world. She wanted to say something about the background count, to determine if it was created by the mortals or the captive spirit, but she decided against it. Instead, she focused onpicking up any clues - either by determining the aspect of the mana in the area, or finding a link leading away from the body.

As far as the madarin spirit, Mr. Johnson is good to hide his real emotions. It seems a good poker face is required for his profession. However, his astral aura is a lot harder to hide. Mr. Johnson has some cyberware and bioware, mainly headwares and his under a lot of stress. The source of this stress appears to be the trapped spirit inside the building.

After some research around the building, Mr. Johnson invited the visible spirits to enter inside the building, where the astral domain is even more visible, but still unidentified. The warehouse is empty except for a single opaque ward in the middle.

Tu Shu Guan asks, "Did your magicians find out anything about the spirit? Its origins, its motives?"

"I was hoping you could help us understand a little bit more with your metaplane journey. As you can see, there is a special mana domain around the spirit, but our magicians haven't managed to identify it, yet.

"I suppose the only way to know for sure is to be jaunted ourselves. Maybe you need to release the barrier around the body."

"Indeed, despite the dangers, this ward is opaque to us on the astral plane - thus we cannot see a link from the body to the soul unless the ward is removed." Adsinistrati shrugged, "Besides, should the spirit abandon this body - it shouldn't affect the amount of time your friend's soul can spend away from it."

<<@*&#(&>> spun in a circle, it was hard for him to do otherwise really. There was no help for it, he was going to have to reveal something of himself.

He spoke up so everyone could hear, everyone that could percieve him to begin with, "I can sustain the Body if the spirit departs, however, I will then be unable to assist in the matter of seeking out the Lost Soul."

"Do any of the rest of you have the Power to seek the Lost Soul and retrieve it?"

"Nothing special." Adsinistrati smiled at the Johnson, as she answered the floating Astral orb. "Though I can probably help deal with anything we encounter along the way."

"If I were shown to the right metaplane, I would be able to find the woman without much difficulty; I have long prided myself on my ability to search for things quickly."

Adsinistrati winced, from what little she knew of this spirit, she was fairly certain it prided itself on quite a few abilities it did not actually possess.

"I won't be much helpon the finding, but rescuing I can do. I doubt she is just staying there on a whim."

Mr. Johnson took a second to think.

''It is impossible for me to open the ward. My magicians told me it would be possible, though, to sense any astral links from the body and into the metaplanes through the wards with relative ease considering the link appeared to be strong."

Mr Twinkle still hasn't bothered to manifest, speaking in the astral plane he says, shruggingly;

Sorry guyz, I iz never follered a humie soul into der metterplanez. I iz guessing I couldz guard it rite good onna way back, I iz a bit tuffa thanna average spirit. Finding da fing, though, I'z got no clue.

Adsinistrati stares in the direction of the ward once more, concentrating on seeing beyond it - looking for any visible link.

@*&#(& tried to sense through the barrier, but the background count and the distraction were intense enough to break his concentration. Tu Shu Guan had more luck, the barrier was strong, but the magic hidden behind it seemed even stronger. An astral anchor was visible and faded into deeper into the astral. Travelling further would mean a metaplanar journey, a much more complex ritual, but now that the trail is clear, a much more simpler method of finding the lost soul.

While concentrating on the ward, Adsinistrati was unable to find anything worthwhile beyond it, but sensed something strange. It appeared two mundane astral signatures drastically faded on the corner of her sight. Two guards, apparently, almost disappeared from astral space.

Tu Shu Guan asks Mr. Johnson, "It seems our path is laid out for us."

Adsinistrati looked around to the other spirits, "Did anyone else see that?" She gestured around at two different places in the room. "Astral signatures... here... and here..." Keeping her eyes peeled to the Astral, she looks for more clues.

Mr. Johnson looked around, at the places showed by the shadow spirits, and saw nothing. It appeared it was a problem, because he appeared to subvocalize something and two guards went in the direction of one of the two spots pointed by Adsinistrati.

Hopefully, everyone was on his guard when the attack occured. The two guards were shot down by shots from a rapid-fire weapon, probably a rifle, and everyone jumped for cover the second after that. The astral signature of the two guards faded just as the two first ones. Probably other guards killed using stealth a few seconds before.

Although she didn't have a lot of time to look around, it appears 6 individual, all of them being dual-natured entered the barrack undetected and were trying to kill as much as people as possible. Now, detected by the sucubus, they are fighting for their lives as they jumped out from the shadows of the unused crates. Their flesh were ravaged by a terrible affliction. They seemed to have no hair and their eyes glowed with malevolent intelligence. Ghouls, and not of the dumb kind.

Medh lets out a joyful whooping shout fire blazing in her eyes at the prospect of combat.

At the sight of the aggressive ghouls, Mr. Twinkle materialized and faced them, ready to take them out one by one. The All Seeying All Knowing Eyes prefered to fly high into astral space to get out of the reach of the dual-natured foes, finally, Tu Shu Guan tried to support Mr. Twinkle apparition by striking at one of the ghouls, but the background count impeded his ability. The ghoul easily moved out of the way, ready to strike back at the bureaucratic spirit.

The first pack of ghouls charged the first line of spirits without fear, two of them attacking Mr. Twinkle, the last one attacking Tu Shu Guan. They do not have any equipment, buthey strike with magically enhanced strength and skills. Mr. Twinkle dodge the first attack with ease, but the second ghoul used a split second in the spirit's attention to rip through his stonelike flesh. Tu Shu Guan tried all he could to get out of reach in time, but the ghoul was to fast for him and plunged his claws into the spirit's materialized robe.

Medh see's the first pack charge and launches a blast of fire at the lead ghoul of the second pack, as she does so she floats upwards towards the ceiling filling the room with light from her flaming naked form.

The ghoul almost got out of the way in time, but the fire blast still hit it. The firebolt weakened by the background count was not enough to make the ghoul fall on the ground.

The latter led its pack towards the grunts working for Mr. Johnson, but Adsinitrati used her power to make them fight one another, but their thirst for blood and violence towards the metahumans and the spirits were too great. The intense feelings of hatred forced her to retreat to the ceiling and to seal part of her mind for a while, blocking the access to some of her power. Meanwhile, the ghouls started to tear the mundane metahumans apart.

Flinching visibly from the wound to his spirit, Tu Shu Guan tells Mr. Johnson "I think it's best that you run," and flees in astral space.