Hearing his friend's voice, Uetz switches back to his native tongue.

"Hello, my friend. It is good to hear your voice. I wish I was calling under better circumstances, but I suppose you get used to hearing bad news given your line of work. Someone or something got the jump on me and my friends at my home. They called themselves members of 'The Smoking Mirror,' and ensorcelled Etain and Rene into attacking us along with the help of a powerful fire spirit. At first I thought that the attack was due to some crazy witchcraft stuff that my fellow runners stumbled into, but it looks like the hit was put out for me personally. I'm wondering if they're related to the Chimalli or some other blood cult that our faith offends, but I really haven't had a chance to think about it.

"Uh, sorry, I'm rambling. Basically, I've got a badly hurt dryad and a slightly less injured troll crashing in our place. We did what we could to treat their wounds, but I'm willing to bet that someone else is going to crash into our pad and I'd rather not have the wounded in the way. Is there any chance you could take them in while they rest up? I'm short on cash thanks to paying future rent early, but I can pay once I get the nuyen. The legwork guys are rustling up some work leads and I should have some credits in hand soon."

The university offers still occupying some of his time as he goes over the mountain of legal disclaimers they sure are seeking, Papa also devotes a chunk of time to more the relevant matters of The Smoking Mirrors and the woman who enthralled and enspelled the duo left to care for the house. He slips his consciousness into matrix and begins searching the various shadow sites, data stores, public information nodes and conspiracy sites.

Once he returns with whatever information is available, he accesses his knew found mystical matrix of information for the same...

Uetz
“My friend, you have very bad enemies it appears. None would invoke that name, without it being them. These are the ones who give machine guns to the Angels, and are rumored to funnel the power of the sacrifices at Chichén Itzá."

He takes a deep sigh, the age and tenure of your friendship clearly weighing upon his face. He switches back to English, and lowers his voice to a coarse whisper.

“If these people are still after them, and you, I cannot have them here. Take them to the safest place you know and can afford. I will come and visit them, and give you what help I can. After that, I recommend you vanish. Hide deep within the lacunas until they stop searching for you or you find another place that they have no power.”

Papa Smurf
You tap several regular sources of matrix feeds and data drops, letting the program do most of the work of sorting out the chaff as you fine tune your search. There are no valid mentions of the Smoking Mirror on any of the public sources you have access to. Delving into shadow sources, you find some a few mentions in a conspiracy theories post. The post talks about a man wandering lost in the Mojave desert who had ripped out his eyes and deafened himself. When he was calmed down and questioned, he refused to give a name or SIN. He admitted to self-mutilation so that the shadows couldn’t see or hear through him any longer. He died within minutes of uttering those words.

In his belongings was a dried animal hide, written in the man’s own blood. It told an ancient story of Tezcatlipoca, using a smoke filled mirror of obsidian to confuse and drive away his brother, Quetzalcoatl. From that day, Tezcatlipoca ruled over all of the people. He deceived all that believed in Quetzalcoatl into worshipping him instead. From atop the great pyramids, he shone the obsidian mirror down onto the worshippers. Forever after, until the ending of the sun, any who spoke Quetzalcoatl’s name or called upon the nahuatl, would give Tezcatlipoca strength.

Other posters in the forum supplied pictures of an office supposedly #5B78 in the great pyramid of Tenochtitlan. The man standing behind the desk is distorted in the image, but a long white feather rests in his hands. He’s identified as the leader of the Smoking Mirror, Tezcatlipoca made flesh.

Beyond that, the conspiracies begin to run rampant. The Smoking Mirror is tied to everything from the reason that Aztlan invaded Amazonia, to sacrificing a winged serpent on top of the pyramids, to arming gangs across the PCC with military hardware. Sensing that the well is starting to dry up, on real information, you switch over to the facial recognition.

Starting with the PITO feeds that you have already subscribed to, and ear marked for later viewing, the browse program begins sorting hash tags. Hundreds of sensual and creepy women throughout the metroplex run across your vision. The recognition program cranks into overdrive as it tries to match the features from the woman at the party to other feeds. Nothing comes up. No one, outside of your own recordings, has seen the Hispanic woman.

While the recognition program keeps checking, you reach out to the dark passenger in your mind. You feel faint whispers of wind stretching out across the Matrix. The voice is more of a luxurious purr as it wafts through your synapses.

The Smoking Mirror is quite real. Tezcatlipoca used the strength granted him and cunning he was born with to banish his brother out of the mortal lands. Their sacrifice of the winged serpent was to reinforce the banishment. Sympathetic magic can be powerful. We have long heard that they were the gloved hand which pulled strings. They are insidious, drawing out a single thread to unweave the tapestry, rather than burning it quickly.

She is the agent of the Endless, as you know. A being of unspeakable age, sent to your lands to gather up their remnants before any other power can lay claim to them. She came across the looking glass, through the dreams of a boy. The fox knows of what I speak.

Elsewhere
The hunter could smell their fear, their hatred. The mortals of this place raged against shadows, not seeing the truth in their own eyes. A woman tended to children, their parents’ wealth having a higher value than time with their own flesh and blood. He looked over the mewling infants, silently choosing one. The hand of fate weighed heavily upon it, the child would grow to be powerful—that is if it stayed.

With the child firm in mind, the hunter departed. He passed the gateway, untroubled by the threshold. Passage into the mortal realms holds sway with many of the shadowy creatures. The creatures of mischief and darkness, which feed upon torment and suffering. The hunter secures one which will bear the face of a child until the rising sun, one which will feast upon the grief and anguish of a lost child and drive mortals to madness. There will be a price to pay for the hunter, but it is worth it.

Returning to the nursery, with the imp, the hunter called upon his pack. Dogs bore the woman to the ground, her mind unhinged by the illusion. He lifted the child, the one who would stand upon the bridge and turn the tide. The imp thrust its scaly fingers into the infant’s flesh, making it scream out in torment. Seconds later, a spark rose out of the infant’s throat and was swallowed by the imp. The imp wailed in the child’s voice, its scabrous hide replaced by the vision of soft flesh and baby fat.

The infant looked at the hunter with calm, piercing blue eyes. The touch of ancient darkness had left awareness in the child years earlier than nature intended. The hunter smiled, knowing the infant’s value had risen in the trading. He called off the hounds, vanishing behind more illusions and the pack carried the infant before him.
The nurse awoke from her walking nightmare, to tend to the wailing voice of a child.

Across great distances, the hounds coursed. The weight of the infant was negligible amongst the pack. The hunter offered the child to a wizened hag, a host gift for welcoming him into her demesne. With awareness beyond its age, the infant swelled with terror. The hag smiled, drinking in the emotion, a fine bouquet to well-aged bottle of wine.
When she was ready, the hag extended her gaping maw. The mouth grew impossibly wide, stretching past her waist. She ate the infant in a single bite, its mewling screams, adding pain to terror, echoed in her maw as she chewed.

The hunter smiled now, knowing his hour was at hand. The gift had been accepted.

Uetz nods, acknowledging his friend's words.

"I understand and I appreciate your advice, my friend. I'll let you know if and when I do find a safer place. However, if I can't move them, then I won't ask you to come here. If they are chasing me, then there is no reason to for me to lead them to you. Thank you, and may the Feathered Serpent protect you."

Uetz ends the call, burying his head in his hands as the gravity of the situation sinks in. Not only am I entangled in some otherworldly creature's quest, but now the enemies of my god have found me.

You are not alone, Brother.

Quauhtli's voice pulls him out of his freefall into depression.

If they come again, we will fight them together. However, now is the time to sleep. If the path towards Tlalocan is truly ours to walk, then let us walk it well-rested.

As she talks, an overwhelming desire to sleep washes over Uetz's mind. He slumps back against the wall and closes his eyes. The torrent of worries and concerns rushing through his head slows down to a crawl, and soon he slips into unconsciousness.

Argent

"Let's just say it's one of the perks of being me, and signing a certain young singer into a ten-year contract. Now, for the books, I can swing a walkthrough for you. I'll need the SINs for any guests you want to bring through, so I can register them in our database. Will the day after next work for you, say just before noon?"

Naiomi runs her hands across the air in front of her as she speaks to you, obviously interacting with glyphs and AROs invisible across the camera.

Troll Market
The air was filled with vapors and heavy fumes, every surface seems to have a layer of residue like a second skin on it. D'zan hovered carefully, taking care no to touch anything to his actual skin as he struggled to make out the hag through the haze and clouds of steam and whatever else cooked slowly over the pots and burners scattered in the space.

"Interesting business you have here. I haven't smelled things this..........interesting ever and trust me I have been to some questionably places. I was stopping by to see what you might have brewed up I could add to my arrows here. I was looking for something to bring down bigger things than me which is just about everything. I would like a lethal option and something that drops them but leaves them breathing. Can you help me out Meg?"

"Beautiful and competent, always an amazing combination. That would be perfect. And look, I'll owe you one for this. Something comes up you think we can help out with, you let me know."

He turned back to the team after the call, a broad grin on his face. "Alright, so that's the hard part. Who's interested in checking out a casino? Unless you've got some mojo that makes you a better people person, Uetz, I think everyone that's coming is better of sticking with me. I'm betting getting a little time to look around is going to be easier during the day than at night, so we should go now."

The cartoonish white beagle flies through the matrix, jumping from node to node sniffing for something. It visits countless nodes, some public and others allowing access only after the gatekeeper checks the dog's tags. Each without findings a solid trail to follow. It finds numerous rabbit holes, to which it digs at each one for a fraction of a second, dirt flying from its paws into the air and then across the matrix till it lands in a pile; A pile compromised of bits of dirt from dozens of nodes and growing. At the pile a cartoon gnome inspects each grain of dirt, throwing the vast majority into the air where they fly off in the breeze. A very few grains get tossed into a pot where a little plant is beginning to grow. Papa pulls the little plant from the pot and eats it, symbolic of pulling the data into his consciousness. In the Virtual World, the little blue, bearded man frowns and adjusts his large floppy hat. "Not what I had hoped for."

The hacker sits up, back in his meet body, leaving the program running. He closes his eyes again, this time tapping into the other worldly knowledge. Opening his eyes again, he didn't really understand the implications of the knowledge he had gained, nor fully appreciate the subtle differences in metaphor versus literal expression, but he at least had something to contribute.

He assembled a small report including not only the story of the man in the desert, but a paragraph on the various rumors before writing a third section about the Smoking Mirror and Tezcatlipoca. He sent Fenris the report and then went looking for his other, digitally-challenged team-mates. "Guys... I think you should see this."

D'zan

Licking her lips and finishing the gift you brought, Knucklebones nods. She cackles quietly to herself as she moves behind tables and jars.

"Yes, precious, yes. We have plenty of choices. Show us, show the barter."

As she walks, you see thousands of vials and bottles around the shop. Larger jars hold creatures floating in dark fluids. The hag stops in front on a cage with a small young fey-creature behind the bars. The fey's skin has thousands of tiny scars from knife cuts. It recoils back from Meg, and sneers with rows of needle-like teeth.

Papa

As you walk through the house, you find Uetz napping quietly. D'zan is missing from the home.

"What the- Where is everyone?" he says quietly, leaving Uetz to rest. He checks TeamNet for others.

He considers his options before heading out and catching a cab. His destination is the Dollar Tree and the bazaar. Time to have a bag of trinkets in case I get back to the Troll Market. He looks for things like beef jerky snacks and candy, plus a snow globe, a small bouncing ball with a light in it, a glitter marker, , etc. He also gets a second bag of misc supplies: a bag of marbles, a roll of duct tape, a pack of sharpie permanent markers in various colors, a 50m spool of high tensile, thin-rope.

D'zan hovers in the river hag's wake looking with keen interest at the specimens in the jar around the room. A smile equally filled with sharp teeth stretches across his face at the captive fae. He speaks and the liquid tonal language of the elves spills from his throat. The tone is dark and biting, the words etched with malice.

"Well look what we have here. Not quite the life you imagined I bet?"

Upon hearing Meg's request for trade goods, he reaches into his small satchel and draws for herbal and mineral reagents and places them near her to examine.

"This is a taste of what I offer."

Uetz wakes up feeling much better after getting some rest. He looks at where he had suffered the severest burns, delighted to see that the healing process was well underway. He checks both Etain and Rene to make sure that they are still stable. Satisfied, he grabs his comlink and walks out of his room.

"Hello?" he asks out loud upon seeing an empty house.

D'zan

The hag sniffs at the reagents and begins nodding. "Yes, these will do well. More of them for more poisons, yes."

She lifts up a clump of quills attached to a tawny tail. Bringing it over to the fey-creature, Meg pulls one of the quills out and stabs the young girl's arm. Within seconds the fey girl's spine snaps rigid and a dark green begins climbing along her arm, making the veins bulge out. The creature seems on the verge of vomiting, when Meg draws a small knife and cuts a spot on the girl's other arm. A small vial collects the dripping fluid.

"Martichoras, powerful hunters, venom used to kill other predators. Meat not fit to eat. Very powerful for killing."

Stoppering the vial, she continues puttering through the shop and crawls under a table drawing out a large crockery jar. Inside, she pulls out a spider egg sac, deftly pulling one of the baby spiders out before placing the sac back into the jar. Slowly Meg walks back to the cage, cooing at the tiny creature in her hands.

You see the wounds on the fey creature have closed. She places the spider just below the young thing's ear and you see bruising begin spreading out under the skin. The fey girl's eyes roll back into her head and she collapses forward, still breathing. Meg crushes the tiny spider beneath the blade and makes another small nick, milking the wound into a separate vial.

"A child of Ungoliant, one of the spirits from before your world. Weakens all but the strongest, but does not kill, so they may wriggle in her web as she eats them."

Seeing the house virtually empty, Uetz begins making preparations just in case the Smoking Mirror makes another attempt on their lives. He summons forth a powerful Tlacelel and humbly asks it to stay nearby just in case the time for battle arises once more. He casts an increased reflexes spell upon himself, and then kicks back on the living room couch to rest off the toll of the spellcasting. As he sits, he pulls out his commlink and dials up Guillermo de la Cruz, hoping that the talismonger might have some leads on work and magical supplies.

Troll Market

"Perfect."

D'zan quickly fishes out the correct amount of trade goods and collects his poisons from the hag. He flies from her shop and returns to the spot where he was to meet Knockers. He hovers as he looks around and spies the small spirit hiding amongst the street trash. He flies down next to it and gestured for the free spirit to join him.

"All done my friend, I just need a portal back home please till next time."

Emerging from the debris is a small ball of light and color, it quickly flies around the pixie and pules with several different hues before settling in the air in front of him. It swells and expands into an astral gateway just large enough for D'zan to step through. The oval of light pulses softly as he steps through to find himself back in his loft in LA. Raising his voice and pitching out into the common area he calls out as the portal fades from existence.

"I'm back and do we have anything resembling a plan yet?"

Uetz

The phone rings once and then the deep Latin tone of your contact's voice resonates across the line.

"You are go for Guillermo. Ahh, Uetz my friend. It has been an iguana's age. Tell me, what can I provide for you today."

The conversation goes back and forth for a few minutes as you check on possible leads for a job or a sufficiently powerful focus. He is always looking for reagents and telesma from the Mojave and beyond if you have the time to collect them. He does not have a focus of the appropriate type at the moment--a Norse man with a clockwork dragon, bought the last one. He can make one, but it will be a few weeks. Otherwise, the Anasazi may have something like what you need. The scorpion shamans have sold to some in the past. You'd need an introduction to the tribes from someone else though.

"Yeah, so, you should go try talking to the tribes. Just don't mention my name. We had a bit of a falling out and a steel-jacketed goodbye the last time, something about sacred trees."

Papa

As you finish your shopping, Uetz's commlink links to the TeamNet monitoring frequencies you set up. He is currently on a call.

Papa notes Uetz's presence online and forwards the report he created earlier as a priority notification. His collection of trinkets and other purchases made, he packs them into his backpack and heads out.

He decides to walk for a while and think. Being the odd man out in a group of magic types, Argent is his closest compadre on the team; Especially given the duo's addiction to P2.0. He felt relevant again with the details he was able to get regarding the Smoking Mirror, Quetzalcoatl & Tezcatlipoca. He knew this new information would be of great concern to Uetz and anxiously awaited a return call from the shaman as he walked. To distract himself, he downloaded the current single from Blood, Guts & Gore (one of his favorite Goblin-Rock bands) and checked on the Urban Brawl schedule for the next few days.

"You can come distract some mortals with me, D'zan. " As he's speaking, he sends a message off to Papa.

Hey, meet me at the casino? It'd be nice to have someone watching my back in the Matrix while I try and talk our way in there..

He calls out to D'zan as he pulls on a new suit. "We need to go talk to the guys at the casino and see if they'll let us look at their books. Do you have a good idea of what we're looking for?"

He re-enters the public space, pulling a bit of a face as he catches sight of the punky little pixie. "How do you feel about Disney sort of fairy? I need to distract them, not scare them. I've got space for one more, Uetz, if you want to tag alone. D'zan doesn't get a seat." he jokes, tone light.

He's talking as he's walking out to his bike, keying in the necessary instructions to start it up and warm up the smart tires. He watches the vehicle flex for a moment, the thousands of rods that make up the riding surface aligning and calibrating before he climbs in and motions to any of the others that are accompanying him.

Uetz sits up at attention when his commlink buzzes with more activity. He sees Papa Smurf's research info and quickly scrawls a "thank you" message, complete with a list Rene's suggestions on Goblin Rock---added after seeing Papa's location at the music store and also having heard the names of these bands about a billion times from Rene. He then lets his body sink back into the couch and starts sifting through the information...

Uetz

After a moment of realizing your attention is elsewhere, Guillermo says goodbye and hangs up. The information packet that Papa sent over contains information about the man driven to madness by shadows, and theories of the cabal worshiping the dark lord of your pantheon. The ritual sacrifice of a winged serpent fits with what you know. There were several news articles just before you left Aztlan about the findings from their dissection after the sacrifice was completed. The serpent was a traitor to the state who had attempted to stage a coup and kill several high ranking officials.

Argent

The bike purrs gently beneath you as you settle in. An AR pop-up from Naiomi reminds you she can't file the paperwork for your visit without the SINs of any companions you wish to bring. You also receive a message from a new subscriber PlaysWithRocks. "Hey man great to meet you guys--let me know if you ever get stranded in the hills again." The profile picture matches the young boy who gave you a lift in a dune buggy.

Papa

Just behind the recommendations from Uetz comes a PITO subscription notification and message from PlaysWithRocks. "Hey man great to meet you guys--let me know if you ever get stranded in the hills again." The profile picture matches the young boy who gave you a lift in a dune buggy.

D'zan

Behind you, shivers of emotion emanate from your small loft. Leo appears to have caught flashes of your memories of the young fae creature in the cage, and noticed the vials from your bag.

D'zan feels the conflict again in his nature - his need to be Unseelie and his undeniable bond to Leo. He quickly closes off that portion of himself with a silent promise to talk later about the vials and the memories. He decides to bury himself in the task at hand.

"So how is this working? Me being unseen and looking around or are we trying to get inside as law abiding members of society?"

"Let's go the unseen route unless they've got some serious magical mojo on-site we'll piss off by doing so."

He let's the streets unwind beneath the almost-self guided machine as he checks the boys profile. Maybe not useful now, but you never know what could come up. He tags the name to a couple of different filters for easy location later, and settles in for the ride.

"Now, to get into the casino...Maybe there's someone's coat tails I can ride on?"

As Uetz reads over Papa's intel, he feels Quauhtli start to worry.

Brother, I do not like this. We are clearly being drawn into something sinister, and I can do nothing more than offer advice and a modicum of support. Please, brother. It is time.

Uetz nods wordlessly, and gets off of the living room couch. He walks into his room, gathers papers and telesma, and begins to work on a formula to allow his sister to manifest in the material world...

D'zan thinks for a moment then slowly begins to gather the mana from himself and the magic all around. He begins to weave a small but complicated sphere between his hands. He speaks softly as he ties off the last few threads and seeks a fae spirit from beyond this world to settle into the structure and be his.

"Spirit of air and sight I call thee, to my will be bound and my servant you will be."

Papa accepts the request from PlaysWithRocks, adding him to his "Outside the City" and "Contacts with Future Potential" lists.
<<@PlaysWithRocks [Papa] And if you find yourself in Tinsel Town or the City of Lost Angels, give me shout out!>>

The troll hails a cab, hacking the on board video before entering, spoofing in a feed of a busty blonde in place of himself. He has the cab drop him off at the stuffer shock a few blocks away, cleansing the logs before disconnecting.
As the cab pulls away, he disconnects his com from the matrix, spoofs a new access ID then reconnects.
<<@Team [Papa] Ok guys. What now?>>

D'zan sees the small tear open inside the sphere as a spirit is drawn in. He feels the pressure on his mind as it struggles to free itself from the binding but quickly is subdued as the threads of mana settle on it and bring its will in accord with his own. A small swirling ball of air and mist hangs there - two small points of light its eyes as it peers around it's new surroundings.

Ok, off with you till I call.

The spirit silently seeps back to the astral awaiting his call to service.

<<@Team [Argent] Pulling up to the Casino now. Going to see if we can get in to look around.>>

As the odd-looking monocycle pulls up in front of the Casino, Argent slots in his 'Horizon' package into his Erika Elite. He tucks the shirt in and tightens up the tie, darkening his skin tone to nearly pitch black, and his hair to match. A smart looking African-American male steps out of the 'cycle. Charles Dubri, 4th tier Executive in the Horizon 'Local Flavor" Division tips the valet generously and takes on a resigned and slightly indignant air as he strides confidently up towards the doors.

Argent

You see the valet do a double-take as you step out of the vehicle. The ARO that the valet prepared quickly changes names from your janitorial alias to Mr. Dubri. He nods at the generous tip and drives the monocycle away. The nearby valet lot is almost empty at this time of day, and he parks it near the casino to be accessible very quickly.

Two doormen flank the front door of the casino, both orks in a 1920s style livery. In the astral, above the two men a menacing tempest of flames hovers in the air.

D'zan

The building looks old, with ivy growing up the walls and a tall hedge facing the street, providing privacy from the main thoroughfare. The driveway is broad enough for two Seelie nobles to stand side by side without their egos clashing.

You can smell the stench of mundanes across the place. Closer to the building, it emanates with power. Above the mortals, a being of awakened flame yearns to burn.

Both
As you approach, one of the doormen nods politely but holds his hand out in a gesture for you to stop.

"Token please."

Papa starts with a face-palm, then pulls up an AR window and checks the distance to the casino and plots travel time.
<<@Team [Papa] What do you need from me?>>

D'zan feels the hunger in him, the desire for more power but tries to focus on the matter at hand for the team. He moves, keeping Argent between himself and the others hoping to remain unseen. The tingle of his own magic plays across his skin as the glamour he conjured urges others to overlook him.

In the midst of crafting delicate arcane formulae to draw forth his sister into the material world, Uetz takes a break to give his mind a rest. I knew this would be hard, but it is just so...exhausting.. He takes a moment to fire off a commlink message to the rest of the group.

The house is clear, and Tlacelel is on call if anything happens. How are things on your ends?

Argent gives the doorman a bored look. "Look, I know you're doing your jobs, but I don't have time to stand and play 'Bouncer'. Jason's Phillips Personal Junior Executive Associate sent me tag saying that he left a [very] expensive, [very] personal ring in the library, and that I'm to retrieve it. I don't have his phoenix token, I'm not important enough to get a direct meeting. But, the order was explicit, and as I'm sure you know, Jason likes to fire entire shifts of people when he's displeased about the service."

Papa decides to call up an air taxi and meet up with Argent sooner rather than later.

At the Casino

"Mr. Dubri, our clients appreciate a certain sense of anonymity and discretion. Without a proper token, you may not enter. I'm certain your employer will understand that we do not allow paparazzi into the building. If any personal items were left behind accidentally, they will be held securely until the client returns to retrieve them.

"Additionally, you are out of dress code. Even if I was to believe the story that a very personal item was being picked up by someone who wasn't important enough to have a face to face meeting with, I could not let you in until you met our proper dress code. I must ask you to leave at this time. Thank you and have a pleasant day."

The bouncer makes a small hand motion, and the valet begins jogging back to your vehicle to pick it up.

Papa

The air taxi swoops down to your location, at a speed which you think is probably breaking a few traffic laws. When the hatch slides open, you see an elf with bleached out hair and several weeks of dark roots visible. She has a broken quality to her of a recurring addict trying to stay on the bandwagon. An ARO next to her clearly states that by approaching within thirty meters of the helicopter you are allowing yourself to be filmed. PITO subscription access to AirJockey^TM: Turbo is offered on a second ARO. "Follow the life of an AirJockey^TM through the skies of LA and meet the glamorous clients who fly with them."

"Where to big guy?"

At the Casino

Watching things unravel D'zan reaches into himself trying to awaken the awareness he had before of the items they were seeking and see if they were indeed closer to one right now.

D'zan

Picturing the book in your mind, you smell the scent of musty old leather and feel it pulling you to the west. The casino does not stand between you and your quarry.

At the Casino
D'zan curses himself for not checking sooner and sparing his friend the tongue lashing from the overpaid suit. He crawls his way up Argent's back and whispers into his ear.

"So my fuck up but what we want is not here so we should leave......sorry."

He listens as Argent smoothes things over with the staff at the casino and gracefully withdraws from the establishment. Once back in his vehicle they make contact with the rest of the team to arrange a meet up and get back on track with the job.

During another break, Uetz checks on Rene and Etain. He hopes that they are all right, but realizes that he cannot keep them here. He tries to think of a safe place to take them once he is finished with today's work.

Elsewhere

Coltrane sipped the nightly special from the bar. It was thick and coppery, sticking to the sides of the glass. He watched the others on his team bicker about the best method to secure the book. They'd already collected three other pieces for Locket. Coltrane knew in the back of his mind that something was wrong with the woman--she definitely wasn't human, though neither was a BTL and she had curves in all the right places.

"I still think we should just eliminate the other team." This from Keiri, the Aztlaner Jaguar shaman. He preferred attacking from surprise with ferocity and overwhelming power.

"No, again. Locket said we can take them out if they are directly in our path, but otherwise she will deal with them." The "Doctor" added his piece. Apparently the university took offense at his unanticipated sabbatical, especially when he copied several other researchers datafiles and "lost them" in Europe just outside a different university. Neither school wanted him, and his name got dragged through the mud of scholarly circles. Still, he was one of the best minds in the world on arcane theory and hermetic formula creation.

They were running over the same ground, rehashing out the same argument from an hour ago and a hour before that. Coltrane took another drink, feeling the warmth spread across his skin. The bar was the type of dive that he favored during his brief military career. Dark, dirty, and prone to knife fights. The owner scattered saw dust across the floor every night to absorb the blood and if you believed the rumors had a deal with a Mafia mage to clean up any evidence. Either way, the bar never closed so it was a great place to come and have a drink while the team argued across lunch and on towards dinner.

Tonight, when they were done arguing and had nothing left to say to one another, Coltrane would lay out the plan. They'd accept it, because it was better than anything that had been put forth. He based his plans on the gems hidden amongst the rubble of their fights. Beyond that, they listened because most were addicts and he had the only game in town.

Fuming, he steps away and back into the vehicle, casually searching the air around him for just a moment, waiting to make sure D'zan has time to get into the monocycle.

"The dress code! Seriously? Can you believe that drek? Did you get anything D'zan?"

He's already keying up Uetz and Papa as he's talking. As soon as they're online, he's talking again. "Look, struck out at the casino...Anybody got anything?"

At Home

Uetz sees his commlink flash while he is rifling through his friends' things looking for nuyen. He answers it after finding just what he was looking for: a credstick with money for cab fare and the motel rooms. He calls for a cab and then scribbles notes on spare parchment for Etain and Rene to let them know where he took them and to give him a call to pick them up if they need it. Once he manages to get them by the front door, he changes into a pair of old street clothes that he no longer needs.

When the cab arrives, he gently maneuvers them into the passenger seating and gives the taxi directions to the coffin motel. En route, he fires off a message at Argent.

Away from home now. No jobs lined up. Taking my friends to a safe place for medical care. All was quiet at home, and I have help standing by if we need it. He decides not to mention his side-project of drawing forth Quauhtli into the physical world. No sense in raising hopes prematurely, especially if he fails.

At the Coffin Motel

When he gets to the coffin motel, he manages to bring his friends inside and place them in suitable rooms. He places the notes in their coffins, pays the fee, and tosses the credstick into Etain's coffin. He then goes outside, takes off his shirt and places his commlink on the ground while gripping his power focus.

After today, I really need this.

He summons forth mana and the Idea of the Eagle. He feels his hair grow thick and wide, turning into quills and sprouting forth barbs and vanes. His arms grow long, and his feet twist into vicious talons. He hops free of his pants, gripping his power focus in one talon, and grabbing his commlink with another. With a few powerful beats of his wings, he launches into the air and soars back home.

He considers the situation and warning, before smiling at the air jockey and saying, "Let's gamble a little." and he tosses her an AR for the casino. As they helicopter lurches into the air, he gets the additional information from Argent.

<<@Argent [Papa] I'm inbound to the casino... Minutes out. If the casino is a dead end, then I won't edit out the video of my arrival to create a false trail if we are being monitored over PITO.>>

<<@Team [Papa] I'm out of ideas. I can run leg work in the matrix or using the stone, but I'm at a loss.>>

When he arrives at the casino, he pays the cabbie with a generous tip steps out and away as if headed into the casino. Once the cabbie is clear, he makes his way indirectly towards Argent. Once his teammate is in sight, he changes his Access ID again to keep his paranoia in check.

Cafe Diem

It took an hour to get everyone squared away and in the same location, but your team eventually managed it. Cafe Diem is a small, modern diner with an exotic menu changing daily. The owner, Nathan, rents it out for private events with the promise that he can make anything served anywhere in the world. The fine print on the catering contract requires 24 hour notice before ordering not on the daily menu.

Using D'zan's new found sense of tracking the objects you are seeking, he and Argent spent the time driving around west LA. The sense isn't perfect, but the book is somewhere within three kilometers of UCLA campus. The only locations within that area which have substantial physical libraries are on the campus proper.

Now, you are in a corner booth tucked away from the main flow of traffic in the diner. A bag rests on the table, with the gilded mirror and small vials from the beginning of the job. Another vial with blood from the hag that Uetz collected rests beside the others. The shadow imbued stone pulses warmly in Papa's pocket.

Across town, Rene and Etain sleep comfortably, medicated and protected by the anonymity of a coffin motel.

Cafe Diem

"So...does anyone have any plans? If we have to bust in, I have a Tlacelel on standby who can help us get in."

D'zan sits cross legged on the table, his wings occasionally twitching as they open and close.

"I am tired of waiting - I say we do something and soon. They probably don't even know what they have."

He looks from face to face hoping to see the same eagerness and need for action in someone else's face.

Argent shrugs, "We're not making any progress anywhere else, and D'zan's pretty sure what we're looking for is on the campus. I say we grab a few college kids commlinks, crack 'em quick and dirty to give us something to run around with, and go right for what we're looking for. No reason beating around the bush, and Papa can take care of the electronic peepshow."

Uetz shrugs, his face betraying a sense of hesitation.

"I am hoping that we can get what we are looking for without hurting anyone. However, with what happened back home...I hope you understand if I am a little worried about having videos of my face streamed all throughout the Internet. If we need to crash UCLA, so be it. I just hope you understand if I take another guise and just fly or crawl in the background..."

He looks down sadly before continuing.

"I really do not want to see any more of my friends hurt..."

"While it pains me to say we could not hurt anyone that gets in our way..." D'zan's face splits with a small, his sharp pointy teeth glinting in the light.
"..I see your point. As to being recognized I can take care of that. A little weave of magic and your own mother won't know you. Does that help?"

His pulse quickens with the idea of endorsed chaos, so rarely does his work allow him the chance to just cut loose and drink as much power as he can take. He tries to keep the flush of excitement from warming his whole body.

"If you can do something to disguise me, I would appreciate it. I am hoping that people would not recognize my face as a pelican, or possibly a gibbon peeking out from an air vent... Unless we are drawn into fighting, I think I am better use to us all if I stay out of sight.

"However, if we move quickly...I have Tlacelel standing by. If we need the help of a warrior, he will provide it."

Argent ponders thoughtfully. "What may be most useful is a classic distraction bit. Get D'zan to make a bit of noise and focus attention somewhere else on campus, and we'll do what we need to do. Even if we have to bust down the doors to get there, there won't be anybody else around to stop use."