Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

First, check where we are...

Haywire starts to float upwards, to get a better point of view of the area in an attempt to pinpoint her location. It looks like Technoticlan, or rather the outskirts of the town. She keeps an eye on the elemental, and the area itself - so close to a bloodmage, she feels rather nervous.

I hope there are no watchers...

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

Haywire doesn't see a watcher as she rises above the ground but the fire elemental travels up with her and after a bit it is obvious that it is staying within a certain distance of the farm building.

Perhaps it has been ordered to protect a certain area from intrusions.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

Ok... looks like that farm building houses the mage.

For a second Haywire thinks about dealing with the fire elemental, but decides against it - it might tip off the mage, which is something she wants to avoid for now. Of course, hanging around here might tip the mage off anyway, if the elemental repors her...

Stupid spirits.

Instead Haywire studies the buildings from afar, hoping she'll find them on a satellite picture back home.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

Haywire is fairly certain she would have a difficult time identifying a place like this on a satellite map as there are likely hundreds of farms like this in the surrounding area. It’s also fairly doubtful to her that this place is a permanent residence as the blood mage’s astral signature is not prevalent in the area.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

This won't do... I need more information... but alerting the mage won't be good either...

Haywire doesn't like it, but if she wants to find out more, she'll have to get past the elemental.

Nuking the elemental will just alert the mage... let's see if this works...

Haywire summons a watcher, and orders it to distract the elemental so she can get past it.



Ok, let's roll!

Haywire watches if the elemental takes the bait, and if so, she'll rush to the house to see if she can catch a glimpse of the mage inside.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

The elemental certainly takes notice, however, as the watcher drifts away trying to bait it away it does not move past a certain point and it still remains in Haywire's vicinity.

From Haywire's experience and training, she thinks it would be likely that the elemental has been ordered to stay within a certain range of the mage and most likely it will only take action if an astral entity approaches within a certain distance of the blood mage. Though what that action it is required to perform is still not known.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

Damn... ok, there goes one watcher.

Haywire orders the watcher to distract the elemental closer to the house, in the area it seems to guard, hoping that will keep the spirit occupied so she can sneak in.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

The watcher travels wide around the elemental's perimeter to draw it further away from Haywire. While practically on the opposite side of the building he moves in towards it and immediately draws the attention of the fire elemental.

Haywire takes the opportunity to move into the farm house. The whole place is empty except for the possibility that there is someone in the closed room upstairs. There are no windows to check through so if she wants to go in she would be going in blind.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

Ok... here goes nothing

Cursing internally, Haywire picks a corner, and floats through the ceiling, ready to drop back below if she encounters something dangerous.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

Haywire sticks her head through a corner to observe the room. Inside she sees a hulking, obese man bent over a teenage boy on the floor, carving something with a knife into his chest. His victim is still breathing, shallowly as she sees the life slowly slipping away from him.

The mage isn't astrally perceiving but he has several active foci on him, including the ceremonial knife and a couple of sustaining foci maintaining spells.

The room itself is permeated with the same aura she felt around the crystal roses, one of death, agony and desperation.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

Oh my God!

Haywire is shocked for a second - seeing bloodmagic, and on the astral plane to boot, is quite different from reading about it. She recovers and tries to assense the mage so she can recognise him later.



Damn! Probably masked or such. And the background is not helping.

Getting even more nervous, Haywire risk a quick look around, before she hightails it away, not straight home to lose possible pursuit first.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

Haywire gets the distinct impression of a sudden interruption of the connection between her and her recently summoned watcher. If she sticks around much longer she risks being found by the elemental unless it believes she has left the area. Nothing else in the room immediately stands out to Haywire, the blood mage center stage, and the sudden burst of mana as he begins to gather it together for a spell overwhelms everything else in the room.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

Shit!

Haywire bails out at max speed - both to evade the elemental as well as to get away from whatever spell the mage is working. She should be safe on the astral plane since the mage himself is not astrally active, but... she doesn't trust theory when it comes to such freaks.

Astral Space - 06/13/2070 – 2030

Haywire bolts out without drawing any more notice. Back on Dream Beach, Makeda anxiously waits holding Haywire's hand, waiting for her still body to come back to life.

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2100

That was close... I think.

Haywire "comes to" after re-entering her body, and shakes her head while she sits up. She's sweating, and feels as if she ran the distance from Aztaln to Jamaica, but Makeda's presence calms her down. Still, her first word out is a curse.

"Damn."

Haywire still remembers vividly the astral sight of the sacrifice, and the background it generated.

Maybe I'll have some variety in my nightmares now...

"That was a blood mage, alright. Somewhere near Tenochticlan - and he was sacrificing someone."

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2100

Makeda wipes the sweat off Haywire's brow with a towel she grabs off the robotic medkit next to her.

"Well, looks like you are okay despite the scare," she says. "So can you describe him or is that not how it works?"

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2105

Haywire shakes her head.

"I can probably recognise his aura, but I can't describe him physically - in astral space, one sees the astral image, usually idealised, not the real image." He is a powerful bloodmage though - and that's his signature all over the focus."

I need a drink... or two...

Haywire slowly gets up. "Do you have some of those drinks from the other day left? I could use one."

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2120

“Okay,� Makeda says, “that’s good enough, at least I know he isn’t on a plane over to Jamaica right now…�

She helps Haywire stand up and responds with a smile, “no need for drinks from last night. I’ll make you something fresh. Lets go upstairs.�

Before she heads back up she puts the crystal roses back in the shoe box and puts it into the vaulted chamber inside the survival vault and reseals the room on their way back up. Shortly after the pair are sitting in the sun room watching the last rays of the sun sneaking over the horizon over a pair of chilled glasses of wine while waiting for the delivery food to arrive.

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2120

Haywire sips her wine, thanking Makeda. The mage is pondering how best to breach the subject - she doesn't want to butt in with regards to the elf's affiars, but she thinks keeping a focus of such a bloodmage in your house is pretty dangerous.

Maybe the oblique approach will work...

"That's a pretty powerful ward down there. Whoever did it knew what he or she was doing."

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2120

Makeda crosses her leg and leans back into the couch before answering, “yeah, it’s pretty expensive too. I hire a mage from a service; he comes down here once in a while to maintain the ward for me.

“I was told a long time ago that anyone dealing in magical goods had better invest in a good ward, so I did.�

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2120

Smart.

"Yeah. Safer. Of course, the one who did the ward can pass right through it, but if he wants to hose you he can do a lot of other stuff as well. Warding is boring work usually, though - and takes a long time."

Haywire empties her glass, leaning back as well.

"Does he call you if the ward gets disturbed?"

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2120

"Yes, I get informed and someone checks it out astrally. I guess you can do that instantly from wherever you are, or fast enough anyway," Makeda says.

She takes another sip of her drink and grins at Haywire, "why, you planning on snooping around?"

Her mannerism when talking about these things or even the roses doesn't betray any sense of worry or special precaution when it comes to the foci.

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2120

"Just checking if all bases are covered. Habit from my past."

Haywire refills her glass.

"So, do you handle such stuff often?"

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2130

"Often enough," she says, "not that consistently though. I'm not exaclty a wholeseller of magical knick knacks."

"Thanks for doing that for me though, how much would you normally charge for that kind of a service?"

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2135

"I don't usually do that sort of thing. So other than hacking into my former employer's balance sheets and seeing what they rate such a task at, I have no idea how to find out."

Haywire grins.

"I usually prefer a more direct approach than astral tracking. That kind of stuff we had specialists for."

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2135

“Well, okay then,� she says, “I’ll just have to guess how much I owe you then.� She looks out the window at the – now pitch black – beach, “seems I kept you here real late. Is there anywhere you need to be tonight?�

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2135

Haywire thinks for a second, checking her implanted commlink for her agenda.

"No, nothing scheduled."

Damn, I sound like a coporate secretary...

Looking out to the beach, Haywire ponders a quick dip in the sea. It won't exactly banish the sight of the sacrifice she saw today, but it might help. And she saw worse anyway - which she is starting to remember again too.

"Maybe some swimming, to relax."

Before I get too plastered to safely swim...

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2135

Makeda smiles brightly, "that's a great idea, and the surf is pretty calm today so you can actually take a good swim."

She stands up from the couch and says, "you get yourself ready. I have to make some phone calls first."

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2135

Haywire grins, and goes to the guest room to change into a bathing suit. Grabbing a towel, she returns to the room.

Hm... another drink before swimming...

Struggling for a bit, she decides to take the drink afterwards.

Out of habit, she takes a quick look into the astral while she waits for Makeda.

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2135

There is nothing of note in the astral plane, except for the trace residue left over from the foci.

Makeda joins you back downstairs after changing and the two stroll down towards the ocean. The beach is particularily beautiful tonight, and the surf is relatively calm. About halfway there Haywire's internal commlink alterts her to a call from Mac.

Dream Beach, Kingston - 06/13/2070 – 2135

Haywire answers the call, but continues towards the beach.

"Yes? Mac?"