"Its hard to say. Everything I can get at this point helps, but you did just give me one bite there that scares the drek outta me. You don't wanna know. Thanks so much Ralph, I'll keep in touch as things develope."

After disconnecting the line, Paladin speaks up seemingly out of nowhere.

"Alight. I just got some more info for us to play with. The house that 'Adam' is using is owned by a small company called Zembu. They do custom database stuff. There is no name tied to the house, just the companies.

Also, I got some stuff on Adam. He matches up with a guy named Michael Nelson, who is renting out the Body Bag for some hard core parties. No active criminal record. Born in Germany, so a possible tie to our Fallen Prince. Has degrees in paranormal psychology. Works as a free lance consultant and public speaker.

Thats all of it. What do you guys think?"

"I think the next Body Bag marty is the best place to nab him. The owner doesn't care for him, we pay be able to convince her he's bad news for the Club rep, and thus by removing him and his cronies, we help her help herself."

"I think that that makes sense to me, when is the party?"

"Sorry, but I'm on Moira and Bakatare's side on this issue. We need to wait and get more info on this guy before we grab him. We have no idea what may come of it and we could end up doing more harm than good. I do think that checking out the party could be a good idea. Wait... what if they are planning another nomad summoning there? We need to look into the party for sure."

"I'm not saying nab him, I'm just saying look into the party."

"I was commenting on what Murrey said, but either way, for now we all have other things to worry about. Once we're done them, we'll meet back up and go check out the club agian."

"Does it seem odd to anyone else that this guys academic specialty and the company that's paying for his house don't connect in any way, shape, or form?"

"You caught that too, eh? Lets get on to our jobs for the moment and maybe we can get a decker to look deeper into the company for us later on. I want to get on top of this 'Adam' character and see what he is up to.

Nikoli, look into getting some tracking bugs. I want to see if we can tag him or his car."

Turning to Moira and Blaze, Paladin gives them a nod, "Good luck at the meet."

He then throws his pack over his shoulder and heads outside to Murrey's van.

"Thanks Paladin although hopefully we won't need it."

:: Moira sits and seems lost in thought, but at the last bit of conversation, she blinks out of her Reverie. ::

"Though, his specialty may give him the information he would have needed to know about the Nomads. His interest in the S & M scene also jives with the potential that he's an Advasary Shaman. I still have this strange gut feeling he's tied more closely with our Fallen Prince than anyone suspects...I just can't shake the feeling that he may even BE the Fallen Prince in human form, though I have no basis for that belief."

"For once, let's hope your feeling is wrong. Good luck at the meeting, and make sure we all keep in communication."

Bakatare tugs the sleeves on the suit down, tucks the collapsed staff into the back of his suit and heads out the door.

Time Passes...
The back door of a small house opens, clearly showing a woman lugging a large man into the mostly darkened room. "Here's the man you wanted, right where you said he would be. I don't think anyone saw me coming or going." She moves into the room as Stefan clicks on a small lamp on a table near a bed. The woman laid out the male figure and turned to leace the way she came. "Thank you for a job well done, I will inform Mr. Carvaggio of your usual prompt and professional service."

Moira & Blaze
You find yourself loaded into the back of a jeep piloted by Iblis's troll roomie. You travel deeper into the Barrens as the night air slices through your clothing. You soon leave the established roads and are cutting your own path through the wasteland. Each block seems to bleed into the next. You see clusters of bodies gathered near trash fires, huddled together for warmth. The cries of the hungry and the lost are ripped from your ears by the rush of air as the jeep barrels through the area. You arrive finally near a burnt out building.

"This is it kiddies." Iblis turns to address you from the front passenger seat. "Just head in and head to the 2nd floor. We'll be here when you get back to take you back home." The building has a sizable hole on the ground level.

As he steps out of the Jeep Blaze checks the pistol concealed under his arm, and then slides his shades up over his eyes, at the same moment switching them to thermographic, after a few seconds of checking out the building that way he slides them back to their low light setting and alows himself to slide over to the astral plane, looking over the building, and trying to ignore the sudden jolt of suffering that always accompanies the astral in the Barrens. Looking over the building as he walks towards the hole, he tosses a brief glance back at Iblis, "Certainly Mom, and we'll be sure to be back before curfew."

Murrey, Paladin, & Bakatare
You head out for the house of your target. You move through the streets of Seattle with hardly a ripple, taking the usual precautions for tails and being spotted. You find the exterior of the estate unchanged. The outside looks the same, with the manicured lanws and well-maintained grounds. There is no sign of a car or people from the outside. You set up your watching post for the day. The time crawls by with no change from the house. At one point in the late afternoon a delivery driver arrives and drops off a small package.

Paladin's phone rings with an ID for Extassis in the window as the driver is buzzed through the security gate.

Clicking on this transducer, Paladin answers the phone.

"Hello."

"Hello, Paladin." Stefan's warm voice washes through your mind. "Mr. Carvaggio wished me to inform you that Immortal will be unable to finish the run. There has been a complication but rest assured he is receiving the best possible care and appears to have suffered no permanent injuries."

Paladin's neck goes stiff and his hands clutch the arm rest of his seat in a white knuckled grip.

"What happened. He's more than a co-worker to me."

:: Moira disquises her discomfort that Iblis wont be joining them for the meeting as best she can as she exits the vehicle. Taking a moment to adjust her clothes, a rather bright fanciful shirt over a pair of well worn bluejeans and heavy club style boots, she nods to Blaze as she enters the improvized entrance and then finds her way up the stairs to the second floor. ::

Paladin
"It's difficult to say at this time. We were aware of a possible future for him but were unable to pinpoint the exact moment of flux. Divination is an uncertain art even today. He has been tortured and drugged. The majority of the damage appears to stem from the toxins in his system. He also is suffering from several infections, the area he was being held in was unclean to say the least. His mind appears intact but we are unwilling to devle any deeper, Mr. Carvaggio has no desire to violate his privacy. We dispatched a runner to secure his release as soon as we were able to determine that this potential future had manifested. Mr. Carvaggio does not want to alienate any runner from taking work from him in the future."

Blaze & Moira
As you walk into the building the smell of urine and unwashed bodies hits you like a hammer. You choke back a gagging sound as you navigate through the maze of squats and refuse in the lower floor. A small watery pool of light in the ceiling above shows the one way left up to the second floor, the remains of a staircase.

As you climb to the floor above, you see a small lantern on the floor. The room is lit with a weak yellow glow. It appears the 2nd floor is a shooting gallery. The floor is littered with used needles and has a bitter aftertaste that lingers in your mouth as you breathe. The air feels tight on your skin and clammy. The stale taste of sweat lingers with you. At the edge of the light you see aa woman standing. Her skin is a deep scarlet and scales. Her eyes reflect back the light of the lantern and appear slitted like a lizards. Her hair is thin, long and black. She is wearing a simple black linen dress, leaving her arms bare. She seems to be taking in the area around her, humming soflty. As you step onto the floor from the stairs she stops and speaks. "Welcome." Her voice is dry and dusty. It rubs your skin like a shed snakeskin.

"Thats just fraggin' great. Thanks for the heads up at least."

Disconnecting the line Paladin turns to Bakatare and Murrey.

"Immortal is out. Apparently he got jumped and is in bad shape. At least he is alive and being tended to..."

"Oh drek, the deeper we met, the gore fragged this feels, and it felt pretty badly fragged from the beginning."
Over Link, placing call to Jack Blade
Jack. This is Murrey. I peed a niece or two of gear. I have a need for some AOD trackers, nothing too wiz, but I could use them soon. It's for the good fight so to speak.

Murrey
Jack's voice comes through the connection clean and clear. "I can do that no problem. Give me a day to set it up. Do you want me to ship it out or do you want to swing by and grab them?"

Bile swing eye.

:: Moira smiles, and she steps forward to offer a hand in greeting. ::

"Thank you very much for meeting with us. I am so terribly sorry over the losses you've suffered recently. We are trying very hard to track down those responsible, but with every step we seem to be left with more questions than answers."

Stepping forward Blaze smiles brightly at the woman before him. "we hoped that you could perhaps provide answers to a few of those questions and help lead us to the ones who did this and must now be punished."

Moira & Blaze
She turns to face you as you speak, her skin reflects the light back in a red glow. The individual scales are picked out by the lantern. She raises her hand to brush her hair back from her face, the claws on her hands gather the light into points. She smiles, her thin lips pull back giving her face a skull-like appearance. "What questions do you have?" She continues to look around at the signs of human suffering and decay.

Murrey
"They'll be ready when you get here."

:: Moira clears her throat as she thinks about where to begin. ::

"What can you tell us about Lofwyr?"

Her smile deepens. "He's a great dragon, and I believe he owns a megacorp of some sort." She bends down to examine a used drug capsule. "He use to sit on the Council of Princes until very recently."

:: Moira watches her carefully, tempted to assense her, but also wary of offending her host. ::

"What can you tell us about that incident? Under what circumstances did he vacate that position?"

Her laughter is dry and husky. "Very little, not having a seat on the Council. You may want to speak to the Orange Queen since there are rumors she had a hand in it."

BLaze raises his head up, "the Orange Queen? If I might ask who is that, and what connection does she have to you that could make you a target?"

She looks over her shoulder. "That would be Hestaby. She and I have no quarrels at present." She rises to her full height and turns back towards the both of you. "Was this the extent of your questions? Perhaps you should try to be more direct. I was given the impression you needed some sort of vital information from me." Her eyes reflect back the lantern light in a flat sheen, making her appear lifeless.

Bakatare sighs softly, pulling his eyes away from the house and the delivery guy long enough to assess the look on Paladin's face.

"Who's taking care of him?"

"Our Johnson", Paladin replies. It is plain that he isn't thrilled about the situation.

Bakatare
As your vision slides over the house and its area, you clearly see the ward over the property. You glance around and see no spirits patrolling the grounds. The delivery van seems clean as well.

Bakatare just shakes his head, resigned, and peers back at the grounds.

"We can't do anything about it right now. We'll go talk to him later, or send Moira and Blaze."

His brows furrow slightly as he focuses in on the house and its protections, and he begins to chant softly in Latin, twisting his grip on the collapsed staff in his hands.

Blaze looks angered slightly at her comment but continues on "It's less a question of whether or not the two of you have quarrels and more so if the two of you are sharing the same bed, or anything of that nature. We're trying to connect the stone serpents and, I believe it was the fallen prince," at this point looking to Moira for clarification, "to you and your organization."

:: Moira locks eyes with Blaze, a look of caution on her face. This woman has obvious history to make her as edgy as she is, and that edginess is probably what's keeping her alive. However, the last thing she wants is for the two of them to piss off the Red Queen and thus lose their chance at finishing the meeting with useful information. She then shifts her attention back to the scaled woman before them. ::

"We are concerned because, while we have no concrete proof, our best suspect is a man called Adam. We tracked down his identity, or rather a suitable backup alias, as Michael Nelson. All we know about him so far is that he's from Germany and has several degrees in paranormal psychology. He seems to have taken an interest in the reigning woman at a place called the body bag. Last we saw him, was entering an estate owned by a company called Zembu. Now, this information is all very interesting, but we were hoping you could add some context to it."

:: Stepping forward carefully, deftly avoiding contact with any of the debris on the floor, she lowers her voice softly, trying to incorporate her soothing gift in an attempt to establish a rapport with her host. Moira's eyes, never breaking their gaze with the Red Queen.::

"We've been told that you were once corporate until your change, and that you have unusual interests in the affairs of dragons. Could your past involvements, or current interests prompt an attack on your people?"

Bakatare
The van looks to be a Fed-Ex style delivery service. It's slighter larger than a van you'd see on the streets of Seattle. The doors and windows do look reinforced.

Moira
"It's a shame you weren't blessed when the comet passed by You are quite gifted, almost a siren." She seems to be speaking to herself rather than you, her face seemed to animate briefly with feeling at the sound of your voice. "You remind me of Nache." At the mention of Adam and the like, you see something move behind her eyes. She seems to slide forward faster than your eyes can track and her hand has snaked it's way around your neck. Her grip is like steel, you flash on the image of her snapping your neck like dry twigs as the sweat runs down your spine. The familiar paralysis settles around you as violence looms near. Her mouth hovers just beside your ear, her breath smells spicey and feels chilled against your skin. "Crush the man you call Adam and make it public. Break him in a way that leaves his mind whole. I want him humilated in front of his lackeys at the party, make him bleed until he chokes on his own blood."

:: Moira's eyes wide, her pupils mere pinholes as she stares at the suddenly deadly woman. Her voice, a mere whisper barely escapes her clenched throat. ::

"We need...to know more.............if we........are..............to succeed."

Moira
Again the world seems to slide around you as she is once again standing a few feet away from you. You feel the warm trickle of blood down the side of your neck from where she held you. She seems to notice the punctures caused by her claws. "My apologies, I am still......adjusting to this." She motions at herself with her hands. She seems to shake herself back into the detached void she hung in before. "What more do you need to know?"

:: Moira takes a deep long breath as she passes her hand over the wound. The small wound heals almost immediately. ::

"I understand. To begin with, what is the situation between the two of you to cause such venom, if you'll pardon the unintention pun."

Moira
"There is no situation between us. I suspect I am being placed in the path of another, possibly as a diversion. The one you mentioned is a lackey, a convient tool. I dislike being used in this manner. I was approached by this.......servant and declined to participate in certain schemes. When I left the meeting I had the understanding that my refusal would not result in any direct action against me, it appears that was a literal guarantee."

"Can you tell us who or what he is? What his strengths are, his weaknesses? What group does he represent and what resources could they potentially bring to bear?"

Watching the exchange between the Red Queen and Moira Blaze merely blinks once. Look directly at her he makes a mental note to himself. She is one who could understand my situation, I need to make sure I don't piss her off too much, but she should understand the need for stregnth. Noting her words Blaze opens his mouth again. "When you say public and painful, when do you want it done and how long should he live before we finish him off?" after her mention of him being a servent he asks the same question as Moira. "Who does this, person, work for, and how do you want his employer dealt with?"

Moira & Blaze
"The hand that guides him is beyond your ability to harm but I think he's a disposable tool. I believe his master is testing my resolve and position. This gambit is fairly transparent by their standards so it leads me to conclude that this is some sort of invitation to join the play in progress or if I can't keep up, crush me between the other players on the board. My intention is to show them I am here but have no interest in their affairs. I think I can freely destroy this toy and make my stance fairly clear."

"And what about the tools that this toy possesses? If he is truly responsible for the damage that was done to your people, then he will be a formidible enemy for our group. While I consider myself a professional, I am not too egotistical to realize there are things far beyond my reach or understanding. Any information you can provide about him that we wont find elsewhere could prove invaluable."

Moira & Blaze
"He leads a rag-tag group of shamans. His role of leader is constantly tested though, the first sign of weakness and the circle will tear themselves apart trying to vie for his place. I think their sponsor enjoys the petty drama of their power struggle. He will have some sort of talisman, a focus for whatever gifts he has earned through service. You will want to find that as soon as possible and destroy it, it should level the playing field." She seems lost in thought as she speaks. "He is pride personified, you might be able to play off of that when the battle begins. They can easily be turned against one another if it seems they can benefit from the failure of another in the circle. They will all try to reach farther than their grasp can allow, they have egos that would rival the players pulling the strings in this puppet show. Other than that, they are mortal so can die quite easily."