Jenni glances at Ollie as she slows and drives past the turn off, heading for a bend up ahead where the grade is slight enough to tuck the truck out of sight in the trees. She pauses for a second, eyes drifting closed as her head starts to lean forward over the steering wheel as the truck shuts off, and then abruptly jerking her head up and blinking a bit.

"Looks like we're gonna be finishing this up on foot. You got any knowledge 'bout trekking around in the woods, hun?" She's working as she talks, stepping around the hopefully hidden truck and pulling a wide case out of the back, settling back on her haunches and pulling out pieces and bolting them together, working slide and action, settling the grip and stock into place.

"Ah figure range's gonna count for a sight more out here than extra chunks a lead...Ah got no interest in dealin' with that snake we just trailed up close and personal. You keep an eye on him iffn' ya'll go head to head, he's gotta a whole brace a them knives tucked away."

<<@Team[Jenni]: Ain't much else we kin do about that spirit, we're better'en hour away. Guess you boys need to be more careful about the trinkets ya'll pick up...that don' look like nuttin we pulled out of tha' fancy movie shop.>>

Jenni's Truck
Waiting for her to pull the truck off the road and out of sight, Olethros exits the vehicle and pauses for a brief moment. Drawing deep the mana from around him and channelling it through this vessel he feels his limbs grow limber and lithe - his movement more precise and graceful. The warm rush of the magic leaves him feeling invigorated as he draws deeply again, this time to send the magic through and increase his raw strength. He feels it wash over him but nothing connects and he feels it leek away. The rage rises again - the frustration at being able to access his full power here in this small place and in this small life. He shuts the door and tries to push the feelings of impotence away as he looks back over his shoulder to Jenni. He talks to her while composing a message to the rest of the team.

"I understand. All I want to do is get a look at where they are and how dug in they are. Thanks for the tips about the knives - good to know since I'll need to get up close to do any real damage."

<<@Team [Ollie]: I'm going to see if I can find where they are holed up and get a visual inspection done. Can the rest get here soon?>>

The message sent he nods at her before leaping into the woods and shadowing the road the motorcycle went down to try and find where it went.

Brock only feels rage inside his heavily armored suit and light machine gun were inside the house. For crying out loud I shouldn't have left my gear at all he thought to himself. <@team[brock]"fucks sake my lmg was in the house along with my armor, any way of getting that stuff out of the wreckage after we are done? Ollie, jenni. dalma and I are coming up the back side of the mountain, closing in where you guys went off road will come to you on foot"> looking at dalma " Hoi get my hammer from behind the seat these fuckers just messed with the wrong trog"

Ollie

Sneaking through the underbrush, you and Jenni move closer to the house. About a hundred meters down the road, you see a ditch dug out in the middle of the narrow path. Near the edge of the woods, trip wires are spread between several trees. The wires run to some form of explosive.

The house is a two-story pre-fab. The ground level looks to be a large garage and all living area above. Windows are boarded over with small cracks between the planks that could be used for looking out. Smaller windows along the ground suggest a basement, but the windows have been covered over completely.

Woods
Olethros motions to Jenni to stay where she is.

<<@Jenni [Ollie]: Be careful they have this area wired for explosives on trip wires. I see a ditch and the windows are boarded over on the 1st floor and it looks like there's a basement but they have it shut up tight. You see anything else? >>

Dalma maneuvers back and looks for the hammer, locating it she grabs it and brings it forward to Brock.

"Are we going to do anything about that raging spirit? It seems content just breaking our things, it isn't attacking Father as long as Father doesn't attack it, I could send Father some backup and they might be able to stop it..."

She looks at Brock unsure what she should do.

Brock was torn, leaving the knife thrower and who knows who else inside the house to two team members, then again the house they all share is being torn down by lord knows what and Brock didn't know how to stop it." If the house is being torn down then it will be destroyed before we could get there, magical support will be needed here more then at the house at the moment, have your old friend father and the girl there make sure no one else comes around so salvage our things. Ollie and jenni need our support to take this team out."

In the Woods

Brock quietly moves through the woods, coming up along side Ollie and Jenni. In the astral, Dalma floats slowly and carefully toward the house.

The house is a two-level affair, with the ground floor being entirely devoted to a garage and the upper floor the living area. It shows signs of weather and age, without regular maintenance. One garage door is closed. The other is half open and looks like it has partially jumped the railing due to the odd angle. The windows on the upper level are boarded over with small gaps and cracks. With the note from Olethros, the team can see the sealed basement windows, overgrown with weeds.

Deep in the garage, Jenni sees a handheld camcorder pointing toward the narrow path. A cable winds away from the camera into the darkness. Among the dirt surrounding the house, the young rancher sees tracks for a heavy-duty pickup and several motorcycles. Around the side of the house, there is freshly churned earth, reminiscent of a backhoe digging and filling a ditch.

Brock sees the heat emanating from the motorcycle in the garage. There's no way it could have fit through the opening without scraping noisily, so the other garage door likely works.

Dalma
Moving through the area, you find the basement is warded. The ward is a coruscating field of malignant energy that sears the edges of your consciousness--the magic feeds on hatred and destruction. A figure is barely visible through the barrier, humanoid and strapped to a table.

Upstairs, three men are sitting at a table speaking in Spanish. The Aztlaner from the bar is there, along with a tall Nordic human and a heavily muscled ork. The ork's aura is riddled with implants. The other two are both Awakened and strong in their talent. All three of them have a sickly red hue through their auras of disease. With a lurch, you see a small tinge of the red in your own aura near your stomach. Several large weapons are spread across the tables and leaning near chairs. It would be nearly impossible to ever be more than arm's reach from a rifle of some kind.

In one of the bedrooms, you find a woman asleep on a bed. Next to her, an oversized raccoon is sitting at the bedside table with a plate of food and a bowl. It is dipping the food in the bowl, as if to wash it, before eating. The creature is Awakened though weakly. An odd tripod is in the middle of the room, with what looks like a pistol and a small ladder with platform at half its height.

<@team[brock]"we'll the bike is still warm and the garage seems full so everyone might be home, any way we can get a look inside. Maybe wait to see if the others are there I would like to out number them if possible. If only a few are there take them quick and wait for the rest. Anyway of knowing how many are home?"> brock wasn't used to crawling through dirt and mud out in the wilderness. Just then it struck him. Good place for a hideout, only one way up to the house from he could see.

Brock didn't like the idea of taking them all on with out more preparation, after all being on top was all about being prepared. Ether way they needed to deal with this team.

Jenni settles in for a moment, rifle at a comfortable angle in the crook of her arm. Catching Ollie and Brock's attention, she signals to the camera and the torn up dirt.

<<@Team[Jenni]-Check out there an' there. Somethin's buried, deep, with a pretty big shovel. Another big vehicle, a truck or something, an' a couple moor bikes, at least. Rigged security...dunno if tha' means they can' do better, or just dun' care. Ya'll got any objection's ta' jus' coming back with a boatload of somethin' that goes boom and levelin' tha' whole house?>>

Papa

An ARO alerts you when the decryption is complete. The node is sculpted as a simple office. Files are stored in a cabinet. A desk with HUD shows diagnostic readouts and system performance.

In the Woods
Olethros settles down into the shadows offered by the surrounding foliage and motions for anyone he can see to settle in for a bit. He slides the team message que into his field of vision and begins to send out messages.

<<@Team [Ollie]: Let's sit on them for the moment until we can get everyone here. hopefully they'll stay put for awhile and if not we will follow them again to the next place. Dalma can your companion retrieve the items buried in the soon to be wreckage of the house or at the very least. keep others from walking away with them? Papa can you go by and get the items if needed and meet up here with us? >>

Dalma watches the house carefully taking into account every aspect she sees before returning to her body.

Once in the physical realm again, she lifts the numerously damned contraption which people in the modern world insist on using and attempts to send a message to the team

<<@Team [Dalma] Alert Priority...What the heck...One Detected>>

Dalma begins banging on the dashboard of the car as she gets irritated by the commlink again

<<@Team [Dalma] is this thing...The Cow says...Moooooo>>

<<@Team [Dalma] Buy Paldor cleaning...doing!!!...solutions, if it's not Paldor it's not clean>>

For the love of all the spirits in the astral, work!! please work!!!

<<@Team [Dalma] Ok, I think I got it, did some looking around magically, the basement is magically warded with some very negative energy, there is some kind of humanoid strapped to a table there. Upstairs there are three men, one of which is the one at the bar, other two is a tall Nordic human and a big ork. The ork has a lot of implants and the other two are magical in some way. All three have some kind of disease and it seems to be affecting me a little, possibly from the drink at the bar?

There are a lot of weapons in there.

There is a sleeping woman in one of the bedrooms and a big raccoon sitting besides her, the raccoon is also magical in some way and there are weapons there also.>>

Elsewhere

She had her senses shifted to the astral. She often did that, to see the waves of emotions and let it carry her. Her own voice mixed into it and created something beautiful.

There was a large group of people, a gathering of sorts, most of them were looking in her direction, and it felt good. She felt strong and powerful and able to move something.

There was music in the background, but it was barely heard over the colorful waves that washed over her. She was in tune with it and it made everything complete.


Later, Siren's commlink comes back online. Almost two hours have passed. She looks through the collected messages. Seems like things had worked out and noone got hurt. Good.

The troll feels a twinge of sadness. The large house had really only been his home for a month, but the place had a je ne sais quoi that made him feel at ease when working. It was a loss measured by more than the nuyen costs to move on and replace it.

He lazily followed the route of both Jenni's truck and Brock's truck while the decryption ran.
<<@Brock [Papa] We'll sift through the wreckage and salvage whatever we can.>>

He watches as Ollie & Jenni's senors feed into the teamnet. The audio pickups feeding in the conversation not directed over TeamNet also noting Brock closing in on the team. While the team assembles, despite the agents running locally in Black IC mode, he checks each individual comlink, personally. As he pulls up near the vehicles, he also checks and catalogs every signal coming from the area of the vehicles to check for stealth RFIDs or any other type of tracking. Yes, I'm paranoid glancing at the feed, showing a camera at an odd angle, showing only rubble of the once grand old house, but they are freaking out to get us! He then Papa launches both his fly-spies, sending the juiced up model towards the team, chameleon coating active. He commands the other to begins a patrol pattern around the vehicles 100m out. His paranoia riding high, he checks frequencies, intervals and bands normally he would not consider for tracking devices. With encryption like that... I can't take any chances.

The decryption program now completing, Papa takes in the node sculpting. Office, filing cabinet, readouts... Quiet. Too quiet.

He took note of the incoming update from Dalma just as he stepped into the node; for the moment, he focused on the node. No sense in stepping on a land mine.

Papa

Browsing the system, you find the data packet that was sent to the gangers. Cautiously examining it, the system reports a data bomb attached. No other files come up from your data search on the node.

The van pulls into a secluded spot in the woods. Scanning the area, nodes begin to populate your AR feed from the house and surrounding woods.

At the Safehouse

The elemental finishes demolishing much of the house. Beams and supports from the roof stick out at odd angles. A large message is scrawled across the garage door from the sharp hands of the spirit. They stole from the Koshari The necklace from HSE is pinned to the door by a metal brace.

Etain is catatonic on the yard, Her body writhes in a seizure.

With the spirit gone, Father begins to carefully sift through the rubble and gather up what possessions look to be of value to the team. Armor. Weapons. A small bowl of fruit. A chipped but functional teapot. In the corner of the living room, a small vacuum drone bumps back and forth into the walls unable to get over the debris.

<@team[brock]"sounds good papa. As for this place I just wish we had a few explosives or rockets to soften the target a little before running up in there, but time being of the essence they are probably all armed if you think about it. Just like we were at the house we have to figure they will be just as cautious, so watch for traps and surprises.Papa I know the more you mess with stuff the harder it gets but think you could take care of their matrix support before we move last thing I need is to be hacked while inside with that knife throwing psycho.""> Brock looks around the surround area for anything giving off a heat signature he can see in th tree lines besides the birds in the trees. Times like this a wish I had a assault rifle with a grenade launcher on it brock thought to himself as he laid there waiting for the night to get interesting.

Papa

Opening the file, you see footage from the UCLA attack showing your team in action. Along with the video, still frames that would be suitable for facial recognition are there for each member of the team: D'zan, Argent, Uetz, and yourself. The address for the safehouse is included, with images. A large party is going on in the background, so likely from Etain and Rene's party.

Some hackers would relish in the excitement of the danger. Others would gloat on the success of having overcame such a cutting edge piece of software as the data bomb. For the troll, a shiver ran down his spine. It ran once more as he opened the file and was reminded that he and Etain are the only ones left. There are days you know you've been in this business too long.

<<@Dalma [Papa] I think Etain is dying. Can your Father heal her?>>

Turning his attention back to the node, he looks for the last accessed file prior to his arrival.

Papa

The last accessed file is a collection of photos. Several different individuals boarding or disembarking sub-orbitals. There are twelve photos in all, most of the individuals appear to be European wearing dark business attire. A fairly even balance of men and women, there are seven humans, four elves, and a dwarf. The photos of the few disembarking look like the Mojave Spaceport.

Dalma

A ripple across your consciousness lets you know that Father is done. His senses show her as physically healthy, but a deep emotional trauma.

Dalma seems to concentrate for a moment and then focuses on the real work again.

<<@Papa [Dalma] Father can indeed heal, but he is telling me that Etain is physically healthy, emotionally is another matter...>>

It took a while to read all the messages that had been sent back and forth between the team, while she was offline. Siren got them on her commlink now all at once.

<< @Team [Siren] Oh my... what has happened there? The house is being thrashed by some spirit? Did I get that right? As for Etain, I believe she is a dryad. I have heard that they emotionally bond with the place they live in. The girl was a wreck when the house was in good state already, no wonder she is breaking down now. And by a spirit, she didn't react all too well towards the awakened. I don't want to imagine in what kind of hell she is living now, that poor girl. We need to get her somewhere, where she is safe. >>

Sunday -- July 31, 2072 Evening
Team

Siren returns late in the afternoon, glowing and vibrant. The men from the other team haven't left their hideout while Ollie and Jenni have watched. Papa is able to identify the three nodes that he found as proximity mines with remote detonators. Their position would make it difficult to approach the house from the rear without triggering one of the devices.

Etain was picked up the previous day by a young troll. They tell Papa that they are heading out to Seattle.

With gear reclaimed, the team is ready and together.

Siren sends a quick message to her favorite talismonger, checking whether she can pick up a few ritual materials (for a binding ritual) later (probably in a few days, if she does not have them readily available). She is eager to try her newly learned talents.

At the meeting, she appears in a similar look as when they 'visited' HSE. A pretty brunette with a pony-tail wearing tight-fitting leathers.

<< @Team [Siren] Alright, so now we are here. What's the plan? I am not a big fighter, and to be honest, I despise killing, and try to stay as far away from it as I can. Nonetheless, I might be able to help. For example, I am capable of turning some of you invisible, if that is useful. >>

Brock has his lmg in his lap and is looking at his grenade launcher. <@team[brock]anyone know where I can get some gas grenades, figure if we shot a few gas grenades into that house before we breach maybe even a few conclusion grenades. Or I can just shot a few frag rounds inside before we head inside is there any particular plan we have or are we just bum rushing.>" Brock wanted pay back bad looking at his weapons and the team he now was running with he hoped they had the same disgruntled feeling towards the opposition.

As the whole group gathers Dalma looks around

"Please, if you will, allow me to prepare a bit and provide magical support"

She stands at attention, her legs and back perfectly straight her arms straight to her side, Father joins her at her left. They both simultaneously lift their arms one hand a fist inserted to the other palm and taking a small bow. In unison their arms slowly swing to the side, with some of the fingers extended as their legs move from standing straight together to a more martial and stable pose, their arms then move to the other side slowly as their left legs lifts off the ground about a foot sustaining it at this height for a few more moment.

Every move perfectly controlled and every move started with an inhalation and finished with an exhalation, magic surrounds her as a spell takes effect and centers itself on a hair pin in Dalma's hair.

Once the spell is done, they both go back to their starting position at attention, with fist and palm and take another bow.

A few moments later her eyes wonder into the astral as she calls a friend, please my friend, I need your help, conceal us for now, but if we are under attack, then attack our aggressors.

She looks to the rest of the group.

"I am not sure exactly what our plan is, but a spirit friend is currently watching over us and providing concealment, he will also attack our enemies if they happen to attack us"

Waiting till Dalma was finished with her preparations, Olethros looks to the house and then opens the team text window.

<<@Team [Ollie]: Ok I'm not sure if anyone has a plan but I am willing to throw something out there. I say send a spirit or two into the house and have them engage the runners inside while Brock makes us a new front door in the house. I think I can get past the trip wires with a minimum of effort and with the new door get inside to deal with anyone inside. Jenni hang out here and discourage people from leaving the party early. Siren you mentioned spells to help us - I say throw up what you can and stay out of harm's way. Papa I have no idea what you can do to them but whatever it is - feel free. Dalma if you and Father have any magic to help us subdue them please do so. Thoughts? Suggestions? >>

Brock nods in agreement<@team[brock]" sounds good, ill follow you in Ollie after I make the new door, I'll be sure to leave my lmg and grenade launcher for jenni or papa to use if they need to." brock loads the grenade rounds into the chamber of the launcher, once loaded he inspect the lmg.

<< @Team [Siren] I will turn the two of you invisible then, in addition to the spirit's power, that should give you some advantage. And I will stay behind with the others, using my spells on them, if necessary. >>

He downloads copies of the pictures and data to a datachip and sticks it in his pocket. Time for that later.

The recognition of Etain's real problem strikes a nerve with Papa. This is turn causes the facts to come crashing into his brain like a game of Tetris: Koshari. Necklace. House. Team. Fragged.
<<@Team [Papa] We were sloppy and that brought the Koshari back to our home. I would imagine that Siren's actions to save the woman is the only reason they let Etain out. That said, there will probably be bad blood there for some time to come. We should exercise caution.>>

En route to the wreckage of the house, he continues searching his hacker network for yet more software. This time his focus is on the drones, vehicles, an armor program and a tacnet. Time to upgrade the TeamNet.

When Etain announces her intentions to leave for Seattle, Papa takes the news hard. Standing there in the wreckage of the house, Etain and the house were the last links to that chapter of his life.

Papa sifts through the rubble of the kitchen and pantry salvaging a few of the unbroken honey jars and supplies for tea. Once he gathers up his own tools and parts and the like, he gives the house one last, nostalgic look before leaving it behind. Riding in the van, sensing the various subscribed drones and his team members, now linked via a TacNet, he smiles. A new chapter has begun.

As Brock looks at his grenade launcher, Papa offers up. "I have pepper punch and tear gas grenades for my Ares Alpha. Are they compatible?"

Sunday, July 31, 2072 Early afternoon

Earlier in the day, using Jenni's comlink as a staging point, Papa preemptively spends some ramp up time probing one of the comlinks in the house to compromise when the run goes down. Once he identifies a vulnerability, he waits to exploit it until the team is in place later.

Sunday, July 31, 2072 Evening; Near opposing team safe house

As the rest of the team prepares, Papa does a final system check on the drones feeling that the roto-drones will be needed before the evening is complete. He deploys and lands both near the van. He runs a system check on the TacNet and runs a personal check on each and every node owned by the team. He checks all video inputs and tweaks the anonymity settings on his P2.0 profiler and insures the feed is not currently set to upload data. From the command chair in the van he signals the team.
<<@Team [Papa] TacNet online. Drones online. I have an in to one of the comlink inside, I'm hoping to get into their teamnet, but if it has encryption like I saw earlier all bets are off.>>

Brock looks at the mgl-12 unload one of the frag rounds and hands it papa comparing mil specs wasn't his specialty but he wasn't about to chance it. " I would imagine so its just a glorified launcher like on your alpha, however I can just leave the grenade launcher with you as Ollie and I creep up you can just pop a few rounds however you like just don't blow us all up, just make sure you take out any magic folks first the muscle I think Ollie and I can take care of." once papa tells the team that drones are online brock chambers the lmg slings the grenade launcher and carries the hammer ready to move in his armor he flips down the visor. Thinking to himself never have I been invisible before, this will be new.

Dalma nods and looks as she is about to speack, then decides to focus on the commlink and her practice with the cursed machine giving her so much trouble, she attempts to focus as she takes a deep breath almost like she did while Centering her spell...

<<@Team [Dalma] Father and I can support with magical bombardment and Father has abilities to stop vehicles they might be using to escape>>

As she finishes her most difficult task of using the commlink correctly a spirit materilizes near her in the form of a spectral winged horse, Dalma goes to it and runs her hand accross its body whispering in Hindi...

"Welcome my friend"

After summoning the spirit to the material plane Dalma turns back to the group listening to the planning, she looks to Brock

"If you are going to be moving in, I can levitate you, please...give me a moment"

Dalma gets into position again, her arms at her side as she stands at attention, this time Father stands back allowing her to do this on her own, her legs remain the same but her knees bend as her arms slowly move up then down in a circular pattern as if she is lifting something with her mind, she continues these movements three times, then halts with her arms extended and palms facing Brock

"Are you ready to float?"

Dalma smiles her sweet little smile.

"I'm not the stealthiest person alive, so I will keep myself at a healthy distance and out of sight for now. Let us know when it has started, then I will get closer to have a view on the building and potentially be able to help out. Alright, I will turn Brock and Ollie invisible then, you two are going in there, right? I will start with Brock. Be aware, that you might not be able to see each other as well, unless you have some means to defeat the invisibility spell - a strong will, ultrasonic vision, or magic."

Siren then casts the two spells, accompanied by the soft singing with her beautiful voice, that she uses to focus her concentration, and otherwise keeps in the hiding place they have chosen.

Olethros
Looking over the area and wondering if anyone here will be gone when this is over - it was not under his domain at this point. He reaches for the core of energies in this vessel and weaves them out through its flesh. He feels the power and grace fill it - he senses the larger pool of energy that is still tenuously tethered to his being but pushes it aside. Focus is what is called for now - there will be time for that later.

<<@Team [Ollie]: Can someone please grant us improved speed - I want to cover the ground as quickly as possible to limit the window where they could be shooting at us. >>

Brock unloaded three frag rounds and set them next to Papa. preparing himself to fly he didnt know how to stand so he just set his feet shoulder width apart and bent at his knees a little to prepare to be dropped once he got to his location, he also took aim towards the house <@team[brock]"Dalma, cam you point out to papa where in the house you see them, Papa can you relay that information to our HUDS so we can see who is where in the house and so i know where exactly to make the biggest hole. i plan to unload this launcher so be aware of a few explosions. I will aim for the upstairs room as well after i make a hole in the living room to expose the lady laying down and the little rodent inside. if you can id the room they are in i will make a hole to see them too"> unloaded the three rounds left nine round for brock to use when he got up close to the house. his hammer in hand a grenade launcher loaded and ready maybe the explosion would set off some of thier goodies and make it a even better explosion. one could only hope.

As the team pulls together and prepares their assault, Papa sits back in the captain's chair in the van. He once again slips into the virtual world, the electron world wrapping his mind. He deploys both Fly-Spies to augment the sensors for Brock and Dalma. His adrenaline begins to rise slightly as the team spins up he watches the spell casters fire up the mojo and the other last minute preparations. He loads up software, tweaking final settings, encrypting nodes and insuring that not only are the comlink's encrypted, but the communication between them as well. Now... what did we miss?

brock see's that Papa has some HE rounds for a grenade launcher picking up two he loads a HE round in the first and third chambers of the MGL-12 satisfied he attaches the bipod that the Heavy machine gun came with "if you cant hold it lay it down and rain hell" HE rounds loaded Full body Armor that makes Brocks size seem twice as solid and hammer hanging by his side Brock watches as the drones are spun up and feels the tingle of magic run accross his body. breathing a big breath of clean mountain air Brock feels ready to go, grinning ready to see just what this team is made of.

Dalma looks focused again as she gets into her casting position, her arms moving up and down as Brock rises off the ground a bit, once he is leveled in the air, she begins moving her arms back and forth as if pushing slowly and methodically.

Behind her Father walks up to the group and seems to concentrate on the group moving into the house, power emanates from him as you feel faster on your feet.

Jenni watches the preparations with a curious air. Sitting just in sight of the house, leaning against a tree with the rifle propped like an old friend across her lap, she doesn't actually do anything to prepare, besides taking a pair of yellow-tinted shooting glasses out of her pocket and sliding them onto her face under the hat.

<<@Team[Jenni]: Brock, ya'll need to watch them explosives with the person in the basement. They could be good people...these aren't Boy Scout's we're fixin' to take out.>>

As usual, the trodenet seems to translate the Texan woman's accent through her speech.

<<@Team [Jenni]: Ah'm a go' find a comfortable spot ta' watch the show from.>>

As the team readies, Jenni drops her head to her chest again, the deeply internal and instinctual flow settling into her limbs as she slips off through the woods, looking for a vantage point that would let her see pretty much all of the house, with an eye towards avoiding the explosives that Papa was highlighting in red areas and lines across her vision. She shook her head as she walked, trying to sort through all of the new data with the TacNet. It would take the girl some time to get used to all the extra information, and even more time to get used to the idea that now the team could track and see pretty much everything she did.

@team[brock]"no worriesI'll only blow up the bad guys

As Jenni settles into her chosen position, her eyes narrow a little, and the woman's hackles would rise, if she had any.

<<@Team[Jenni]: Hey, there's at least two of them magic walls up around the house somewhere. Ah think one's like a one-way mirror, and the other's like a magic trip wire. Someone's going to know the minute ya'll come through the door.>>

Olethros opened the team text log while planning his route through the trip wires.

<<@Team[Ollie]: Thanks for the heads up. I don't think it will change much at the moment. The creator of the ward is most likely inside it right now so we would be hard pressed to get the signature we need to slip past undetected. Just be prepared for them to be less surprised at this point. >>

<<@Team[Jenni]: Ah jus' wanna make it real clear-like to everyone, this means they might already know we're here, since Dalma didn't kin to the trip wire type wall. >>

<<@Team [Papa] I can start intercepting com traffic and try to make a determination if we want to wait? Also, I found a vulnerability in one of their firewalls. Trick is that their nodes seem to be encrypted, so it'll take some time to decrypt the node if it is.>>

<@team[brock]"we'll I can always just bombard the house until falls onto it self, make them come to us? However I figure if they knew we were here there would be more activity by now."> brock didn't like the sounds of invisible trip wires and magic warded walls

Team

With grace belying his size, Ollie navigates the twisted nest of wires between the trees. Dalma whispers for Brock to hold very still, as she weaves through kata. His body rolls and bends through a maze of monowire, before being placed into the clearing. As the grenade launcher gets hefted into position, there's a muffled explosion from the house. In the front of the house, a small cloud rolls under the open garage door.

In the astral, three spirits spring into being. All of them are hulking giants in crude armor with horns and barbs decorating their flesh. Two appear almost as men with twisted features and gnarled clubs. The third is blue skinned with a chill wind that blows through your mind. They point in the direction of the team, seeming to disregard Ollie and Brock behind them.

Father watches close as Dalma maneuvers the big troll around the wires, then he seems to go on alert, in English he says

"Three big spirits in the astral ready yourself!"

In one fluid movement he gets into an casting position, similar to that of Dalma's but more aggressive, he moves his hands back and forth in front of and in circles as if he is gathering rocks to him then with an exhale of his breath he pushes all he gathered out as his mind seems to strain a bit.

The spell from Father arcs through the astral, leaving a coruscating line of color visible even to the mundane members of the team. As it explodes outward, the feeling of cold wind blows across Dalma and her ally's nerves. The mana unravels in the face of the gale.

Papa remembers the cursing of many of his mojo-tossing teammates, as many of their efforts were thwarted at UCLA.

One of the spirits courses forward, moving with lumbering motions that almost echo in your minds. It looks across the team, before bringing its massive club crashing down on the massive beast standing beside Dalma.

The winged horse neighs, its wings forming a tented shield over its back. Rage spills forth the the giant spirit's mouth, as the spirit screams in the astral.