2351h: San Angelo Hospital

The paramedic replied: "She was tossed through the front window. No doubt about it."

2354h: Some 20km west of San Angelo

Gladius stopped Mato with a hand on the shoulder from walking out of cover.
"Careful, the shards on the hyperconscious level can see you. They are comparatively weak - no magnification, so likely about the same strength as their creators.
We can certainly take them out, but that would call down a much stronger reaction - from both sides within seconds.

If you want to move about let me disguise your aura first so you look like a random rodent."

Mato's scan showed razor wire on top of the fence and faint metallic signatures in the ground - likely sensors and/or landmines just behind the fence.
100m down the fence, he could make out road and a gate.

"Yeah, they are fairly normal in strength. Not like that plant spirit at the apartment. I totally agree that 'taking them out' would be bad. For once, it immediately informs the conjurer, that something is wrong here. And given that they are willing to have four spirits guarding this area 24/7, which also costs quite a few resources over time, you can imagine what happens, once one of them gets disrupted. But also, please keep in mind, that these are sentient beings. Think of them as security guards. Would you just 'take them out', if they are inconvenient? Surely, we can find a better way here."

I nod, "I see, I see, so they must have made a sudden break to avoid a collision, though I saw no record of any other vehicle present."

Mato nods to Gladius. "Okay, make me a field mouse," he says.

I would never say that to Bobby, he thinks to himself.

Once the illusion is complete to Gladius' and Raven's satisfaction, Mato will start walking down the length of the fence toward the gate. There he'll examine the lock and the sensors nearby - especially in the road - to see if there's a dead spot that might offer a place to slip inside.

He also does a quick scan to see if there are any Matrix objects connected to the farm or gate, or if there is anything running silently, but he doesn't do a great job of it.

Intuition 6 + Computer 2: 8d6t5 1 hit

2354h: San Angelo Hospital

The paramedic shrugged: "Could be a the driver had a sudden stroke and wrenched the steering wheel around. It happens.
We'll never know since the car's battery cooked off and burned everything inside to a chrisp.
So thanks for the chocolate, I've got to go back to work."

2355h: Some 20km west of San Angelo


Gladius needed two castings, as he wasn't satisfied with the first try. Raven noticed the power focus around his neck again: It looked like a very ordinary piece of rock, unworked and raw - not at all in line with it's force.

Mato found the fence in some disrepair. There were several pieces that looked rusted enough to be parted with a little force. Though the metal in the ground behind it turned that into a very dangerous idea.
The gate had an obvious signal and didn't seem to be slaved to anything, making a hack against it pretty trivial. Though an opening gate would be pretty obvious for the watchers in the astral.

But mato noticed something else: another irrigation ditch and a duct about 30 cm across that let directly beneath the fence into the closed of area.

"Thank you for your time and patience." Can I ask one last question Did she leave alone? or did someone came to get her?

I update the team
>> A few pieces to the puzzle, the paramedic that treated Arione says that there was some sort of fear effect that made it difficult to approach her, and then she smiled, and it vanished. Arione looked like she was in shock; she sat silently and did not say a word until they arrived at the hospital. She was not examined by a mage and was likely tossed through the windshield.

Now, I am not saying it is impossible these guys are super talented but to use the heal spell to such mastery she needed to overcome massive pain and background count from the intense emotions of the accidents and since she was covered in blood I suspect it did not happen imminently. Impossible to know with mages there are so many possibilities so all in all it still does not compute to me - but it is strange that there was no police investigation there are just too many coincidences, like the perfect healing, the battery, a driver error, the foreboding feeling there is something there.


I text the doctor >> Hi, can we meet? I am investigating a cold case, and you are the doctor that treated the patient. A car accident where the driver drove into a ditch, the battery exploded and the only survivor managed to be tossed through the windshield and arrive at the hospital in perfect health. Two people burned in that car; any chance you give me a few minutes if you remember the case? I'll appreciate it greatly. Perhaps there is something that was missed.

Emma Miller, Private Detective.

2354h: San Angelo Hospital

The paramedic turned to go: "No idea, as far as I know, she walked out alone."

The doctor was less forthcoming when he wrote:
<<I'm quite busy and I don't think I can discuss patients history with a private detective anyway.

That said, I remember the incident - very tragic. I was questioned by Lonestar about the same issues that you raised, but as far as I know, nothing came of the investigation as the surviving victim left the state before they could be questioned.

While you are here I'd recommend you get a soycaf and a banana in the cafeteria in the next five minutes.>>

>> Coffee and Banana seems great thanks.

In response to the text, I get to the Cafeteria to get some soycaff and a Banana. It has been a long day, and I could use caffeine and vitamins. Though I imagine the doctor meeting me there, I don't hold my breath too much. If he does not appear, I'll text him again and try to convince him that Arione is dangerous and that she has done more, but in the meanwhile, I am grateful that there is not much line at this late hour.

2355h: San Angelo Hospital

AM's banana break turned out to be the right choice. As she set down in the nearly deserted cafeteria, a man in scrubs, sat down next to her along the long table.

"Just to make this clear, I never talked to you and you do not mention my name in any form." He whispered.

"I remember that bizarre case well. Lonestar tried to sue me for not keeping her confined until their investigators arrived. Nothing came of it, since we are a hospital and not a prison. Still, it would be best not to draw attention.

Truth be told I don't think I could have held her even if I wanted. From looking into her eyes you wouldn't have thought she had seen her coworkers just burn to death. She seemed to regard us all more like a nuisance, like mosquitos bothering her and she was about to get a swatter.

She also was in such excellent health that the bio monitors couldn't even find recently healed scar tissue. I've seen that kind of healing only once before: In a study about vampiric regeneration ability. But I doubt that she was an HMHVV sufferer. She didn't respond to UV light and had no other typical allergic reaction that would have been detected by the standard tests."

I considered it a possibility, and the heal spell seemed a bit over-optimistic to me - at least when considering my performance with the period and the background count of a car crash. Then the doc spells it out for me. "That strangely makes a lot of sense, doctor." I answer, the pieces move into place, but I wouldn't say I like the picture I see. I bite my lower lip, trying to suppress the implications of all this circumstantial evidence.

There is some complication here, but I am uncertain what to do with it as the Doctor says she left before Lonestar, and the paramedic suggested that they took her prints and 'let her go.'

She came to the hospital of her own volition but then took off quite suddenly, right? Do you happen to know what was it that got her to leave so urgently?

Mato walks back to Raven and Gladius.

"This might be as far as we can take it for now," he says. "If this place were truly abandoned then I'd hop the fence and take a look around, but everything about the place says, STAY OUT! Or, alternatively, STAY IN! With what might be mines on the inside, it reminds me of a prison, and the spirits are the guards.

"Ultimately, it might be superfluous. We should let Gladius conduct his ritual to get a sense of where to be and when. How long will that take?" he asks. "Hours, I presume.

"If we need to get in for sure, let's come back with AM and Tamarind. AM can take care of the sensors and Tamarind can scout with drones. The drones can fly over the fence, avoid the mines, and probably escape the notice of the spirits. That's better than anything I can offer under the circumstances.

"Let's head back, confer with the others, form a loose plan, and maybe get some rest while Gladius does his ritual."

Tamarind had been letting AM do the talking, while monitoring the messages going back and forth. It seemed likely she'd gone with the wrong team, but nothing to be done about that currently -- next time she'd at least send an Auntie or two and maybe a Harriet along with the other group.

When the mother and daughter showed up for the cat, she happily passed over Trouble to the girl. Commenting, as much for the spirit as the others "I think this one is trouble. Good luck holding on to them. I have a feeling they might make a break away attempt in a while. But maybe if you give it enough pats and head scritches it will be calm for a while?" The spirit might as well at least get some affection out of all this. And feeling a bit sorry for the girl she added "If it doesn't work out with this piece of trouble, don't give up, you'll find some pet that will work out better. Maybe a dog that you can take for walks on a leash?"

That farm sounded awfully odd. Perhaps she could find some passed history of it on the matrix? Worth putting some time into searching, at the very least.

I mentally share my thoughts with the team + Gladius.

>>> Guys, from what I was told. There is a sinking suspicion that Arione in the hospital is not the woman that watched her friends die. Her behavior was off, and the wound recovery was highly unusual more a kin to regeneration like vampires or certain spirits than to a healing spell. She flew out of the windshield, bled a lot, and the healing was too good for a plain heal spell. No traces of injury at all. She also had some aura of fear/dread that the paramedic noticed.

- Tien 4rd - has it, too, which is why he radically changed his behavior. In any case, both seem to retain their memories and capabilities.

- They did not try to murder Galdius per se - they tried to recruit him like what happened to Arione and perhaps to the 4th.
The warehouse and the apartment are private places in controlled environments, but they are also deeply associated with the murderers - it makes little sense to leave a dead body in any of them. So perhaps they had no intention of leaving a body behind - to get their chief of security... but without humankind inhibitions.

- I was thinking Shedim or perhaps Bug spirits hidden since the happy MITT days, but I am still thinking about it. I'll need to consult my books for it. It is a lot to process based on bits and pieces and still feels a bit of a conspiracy theory rather than an established investigation but we need some working assessment of what we're up against, and there is not much time.

Gladius responded:
<<It's probably not bugs. They need prepared environments to create perfect mergers. Unless she was taken before the accident, I don't think a bug could have managed an inhabitation in that short time.>>

Rachel responds to Mato: "I agree, we have gotten as far as we can without risking detection here. And when we do that, we better all be here. Also, maybe the others can dig something up about this place in the 'trix, that could help us. We do not want to misstep here, just because we didn't take the time to think things through."

<< So, that leaves what... Shedim? I only heard of those in stories... and they were never good. >>

Tamarind shares what she'd found about the farm. <<The farm is trapped in a long running border dispute. It had an owner, but she died about six months ago with no heirs so now there is nobody officially allowed there. And there is just a shade of a hint that run went down there about a year ago. So possibly not the first time that something has happened in relation to the ley line you found? Unfortunately I didn't dig up any hints at who was involved in the run, making it harder to get information. But perhaps we can look for any other unusual happenings at that time frame, see if we can put anything else together to give some idea of what that was about, which might give us a hint of what this is about? But we don't have a lot of time, so possibly safest to just assume that we are dealing with something like Shedim, and get on to getting ready for their arrival?>>

Mato starts to head back to the vehicle with Raven and Gladius.

<<I'm not up to speed on all the astral flavors>> Mato comms back.

<<If that's what we're up against, what's our playbook? Will explosions and lots of fire do the trick, or is there something special we need to do to pull this weed up by the roots?>>

Mato doesn't savor the possibility of having to be the bearer of bad news to the client, but he'll do what needs to be done.

Gladius answered Mato: <<Big enough explosion will take down anything eventually. If we are facing regeneration we need to pour in so much damage that the ability is overwhelmed. Alternatively, finding the correct allergen will temporarily halt Regeneration. Finally, certain magic damage can't be regenerated.
Personally, I like to throw lightning bolts until they stop moving.>>

Gladius added: <<Let's regroup at the hotel. My shard still needs a bit of processing time. But I'm almost certain that either the farm or the key line will be the target site of the ritualists.

Meanwhile someone could start a search on what is known about shedim and similar shadow spirits.>>

Trouble:
As much as Trouble would feel amused to be cared for by strangers, the little cat hops off Tamarind's hands and gets out of the hospital, the distraction already done. AM did not need him there. Cat speed is much more than sufficient. "If you run away from security, I can run away from unwanted attention; same thing, right?" he thinks at AM, that think back "Well, perhaps they would have fed you." She thinks back at him "You think?" he answers, feeling doubtful. Either that, or they would have tried to cook you for extra protein. You have a dark sense of humor..., Praise the Trickster for that. she comments and then thinks happy and calming thoughts back, conveying love and empathy to her adorable familiar.


AM:
Once the doctor leaves, I head back to the van, and once there, I stroke Trouble absently as my awareness shifts to the Trix. I take on Galdius'es suggestion - and search the Trix for Shedim or other spirits that have regeneration and can merge with a recently deceased or heavily wounded person. Shadow spirits.

AM found a surprising amount of information on Shedim, also called "The Walking Dead".

Those shadow spirits had first appeared through the Watergate Rift. These spirits look on the astral like jellyfish, are unable to materialize and can't last on our plane very long in their natural form.

What makes them so dangerous is their ability to possess dead bodies or the bodies of projecting mages who foolishly left them unprotected. Their regenerative abilities return even badly decayed or mutilated bodies back into pristine health. Worse, the spirits are able to access the memories of the deceased.

Normal Shedim seemed to be content to use their abilities to cause havoc and destruction, seeming only interested in killing the living.

There seems to be another class of Shedim, so called Master Shedim, who posses not only greater intelligences but also the abilities of sorcerers. The only think they can't do is actually summon other spirits. But there are accounts of Master Shedim using various kinds of rituals to modify vessels to enhance the abilities of their fellow possessor spirits. Those Master Shedim are very adept at infiltrating human society and seeking power and influence.

In recent years there was a noticeable shift in Shedim behavior: Instead of causing widespread havoc, they became much more cautious, turning from crazy axe murderers into secretive serial killers that spread fear within communities.

A prevalent theory surmises, that somehow Shedim access to our plane has been cut off, preventing new Shedim from coming here. Not even the astral rift power that the Master Shedim possess seems to be able to overcome this connection loss. The only reliable way for them seems to be teaching mortal mages techniques to summon Shedim and hoping for them to lose control of their summons.

That is easier for the Master Shedim than one might think: Beside compulsion powers and mind manipulation spells, they also know how to prey on human weaknesses, hubris and selfishness.

AM remembered little of the magic theory on this topic, but knew that Shedim were very dangerous, as their only apparent goal was the complete annihilation of every living being on earth.

I compiled a summary of what I discovered in the search and sent it to the group.

>> Ahm... Well, Shedim fits; Master Shedim fits better as they are almost full mages. Which I suspect can also regenerate drain, otherwise, I am uncertain how they can bind F12 magnifications in Psionic terms. The drain alone would be hazardous to almost anyone, but regeneration may take the sting away if they don't stay dead then there is not much of a risk.

My next search is "How to kill a Shedim." figuring out it would be useful to know just in case Iktomi is not playing us, and they really are Shedim because all the evidences are circumstantial.

<<We need to break their shells>> Mato agrees. <<Do damage faster than they can mend it.>>

<<The good news is that I'm guessing that the IV is not a shedim. He is almost certainly being used for his summoning skills. As his father said, the IV 'is very talented where conjurations are concerned.' But, based on what AM found, he'd lose that if a shedim took his mortal coil. So that suggests that Victoria is either compelling him magically - which I doubt since he would eventually be able to shrug it off, if only for a moment - or the old-fashioned way: mentally and emotionally. I don't know about Phillip.>>

<<So we have to take Victoria out, but we have to do it surgically to limit collateral damage. That makes it more challenging.>>

<<Let's see what Gladius', uh, shard comes up with. Meet back at the hotel.>>

<Best to assume that they are the types of magicians who carry defensive spells, like encouraging bullets to curve away. Best to assume that they will be hard to hit that way, and be pleasantly surprised if they actually cooperate with being shot. >

Tamarind enjoys a quick day dream of commanding a fleet of flying drones auto-firing fragmentation grenades, melting away their quarry. <Explosions, or any area of effect I guess, would be nice, but I don't think we are well equipped on that front. But perhaps we could get our hands on some or tear gas grenades? I'm not sure what is available in the stores here, we can see in the morning if we still have time. In the meantime, anyone have anything on that front to at least soften them up some? If anyone does have anything, especially if it is hard to shut down with magic, please chime in.>

<< How about this as a working theory: Victoria is dead. She died in the car crash, which was caused by a Master Shedim, who might have just manifested in front of the car, which could have been enough to spook the driver. Victoria was thrown out of the car and died there. The Shedim then took control of her body and cooked the battery to burn the evidence and her two colleagues. The Shedim probably couldn't leave before the rescue squad arrived, so it played along as far as necessary. >>

<< The big question is... how are the other two being controlled? I really doubt, that there is no magic involved here, since they cannot be that dumb. In fact, they are supposed to be really smart. They would not do this without being forced out of their own control. So, assuming there is just the one Shedim, maybe some really big manipulation spells, that they cannot shrug off over time, quickened perhaps? >>

0045h: San Angelo Workday Inn

The two teams reconvened without trouble in the hotel. Even the largest room felt cramped and hot with so many people inside, but Tien had at least organized a large cooler with various non-alcoholic beverages, including fresh fruit juice as well as energy drinks.

When the discussion had stalled for a moment, Gladius announced:
"My shard has finished it's calculations. There is a 90% confidence for us intersecting with Tien IV at the ranch within the next 24 hours. The most likely time of arrival for them is during early dusk around 1800h."

Mato nods.

"If it's just after sunset, Raven's spirit will have just departed. Can't prepare that one in advance."

He turns to Tamarind.

"I have some grenades, including pepper punch. I am unsure if they would do anything. I also have some not-so-gentle options, but I hesitate to use them if IV is nearby.

"Let's remember that their weakness is tech. We need to turn AM's Erika and Tamarind's drones to our advantage.

"I can envision AM disabling their vehicle, maybe even locking them in. Maybe Tamarind's drones can deliver a payload in a stealthy manner. Perhaps the pepper punch can smoke them out. I have a couple tranq patches, if the Aunties can deliver them.

"I don't know how to take down Victoria except through extreme violence. Repeated shots to the head, but - to Tamarind's point - will they have anchored spells to negate all that?

"I wasn't planning for this to end in wetwork, but it sounds better than the alternative. And, as best we can tell, Victoria is already dead."

I text a thumbs-up emoji to Raven and add
>> I am perplexed that a Shedim can have a relationship with our kind. No point in speculating here; Victoria and Tien were kissing when they did not know anyone was looking. So I take all our stories with a grain of salt. I assume the truth would not surprise us, but there are multiple possibilities and no conclusive evidence as to which one is true. If it were a detective job, we'd still be collecting intel.

In the room, I am a bit off. I can handle being stuck with SIS, and even that can get on my nerves when I experience strong emotions. Having Gladius and Tien 3rd in the same space is very difficult for me. I can't be cranky, or cry, or curse. I keep the facade of being well together - knowing that this entire ordeal is way more than we bargained the pay is good but that kind of job is the kind that gets one killed.

You can't show fear when your boss is with you, right? I am uncertain about the entire direction this is going - that spirit could have wiped us. The only one that could do something was Raven, and if they keep more spirits like that, then I don't even know how to handle them. We also have Gladius now, but... still.


I respond to Gladius, "The farm makes a lot of sense because no police or border patrol will likely interfere without causing a diplomatic incident. I take a deep breath and then release, feeling like coming out of the closet. I text only the team (without Gladius)>>We have some C4 in Seattle; we all were a bit crazy in the days after Mato's injury. Bobby insisted on keeping it if we needed crazy in the future. Putting it out there, in case you want to make a plan that involves explosives."

I sigh . Ahm...We need to catch them off guard and surprise them. Can we reliably get into the farm? what kind of equipment can we get at short notice? I brought a gun and an axe. I don't have combat spells, but I have the petrifying spell that may take one of them, providing we can somehow exhaust their magical defenses prior to casting it. Any mundane methods of turning them unconscious without collateral damage?

Tamarind let's the conversation go for a bit before offering "I hate to ask it of them, but the Pellipers could carry enough petrol to cause real damage, as a back up we could have them fly high at the appropriate time where they would hopefully not be noticed, then drop straight down, coming in fast, opening their delivery hatch in time to let a blast out. Obviously only if we are going lethal, but it might get around their magical detection and defenses."

On a more cheerful note she adds "Scooters are not too expensive and can go at a fair speed. Even if we can't arm them they could be a distraction or also carry petrol bombs. Remote igniters would be the challenge there. Finding something to buy or cobble together could be hard in the time frame."

"Assuming, the Shedim theory is right. And, everything we know points into that direction, so it probably is. Gladius, you have seen them in astral space. The spirit cannot mask its presence there, as far as I know. It will always be active. It can only make itself look like another astral being. So, they are likely using that same spell you did near the place, in order to make it look like a spell. It's the only way I can think of, that could hide its presence in astral space. What auras have you seen on each of the three? You mentioned masking foci, have you seen their auras? Anything else? I assume, you have never seen Victoria without at least one additional aura. Have there been more? How about the other two? If they are not possessed, they could probably be masking everything else with their talents and foci."

"Also, do we know whether the Shedim would be able to use the host body's, in this case Victoria's magic? Or does it only get access to the knowledge she had?"

Gladius answered: "It's important to distinguish properly between what I observed and the conclusions I've drawn.

Arione has the aura of a human awakened as far as I could make out. I saw her pretty continuously on the hyperconscious level, but dissected her aura only twice - the first time I met her and after I brought back the suspicious amount of reagents.

Both times I could not see anything on her aura beyond a health spell construct, powered by a sustaining focus.
I assume it's a suppression for allergies - a common enough occurrence.

If she is indeed a Shedim, that is probably her way to deal with mild sunlight allergy.

Shedim have an innate way to cloak their auras, allowing them to pass as mundane. This technique can be learned also by regular awakened and even improved to include active spells and foci. So you never can be sure what you have spotted is actually all there is.

The spell construct I use is more flexible, but suffers from all the vulnerabilities of the generell spell technique: counter spell, dispell, high background count, concentration, etc.

Now, Phillip Creamor has an interesting aura: he has several spells active at any given time. As far as I know, he has learned two separate techniques to keep spells going without his concentration suffering.
One is a specialized trick to power illusions - I have learned that technique as well, so I could recognize it.
The second one is called a focused concentration - which almost all spell casters learn at some time to some degree.
There is a third, forbidden technique that allows a mind manipulation spell to be sustained. I wouldn't be surprised if he knew that as well, but for obvious reasons, you wouldn't advertise the fact.
He also possesses two sustaining foci of high power, tattooed on his back. One for health and one for manipulation spells.

Tien IV has a very strong power focus, that enhanced his abilities to nearly double capacity. He also has a centering focus of great strength.
These two tools allow him to summon and bind such powerful shards without suffering immense backlash.

All of them are at least twice initiated like myself. And all of them have another focus that I believe is a tool to obfuscate their auras. Naturally, I can't be sure about its power.

I agree, that longtime mind manipulation is not feasible on its own, but a combination of innate shard powers, drugs, spells and psychological conditioning could create a long lasting hard to break effect.
Love and lust could also be involved as well as greed and hubris."

"Thinking about this further... Victoria will be dead, so the body won't actually have an aura anymore. The Shedim possessing her actually is her aura now. That also means, 'she' - it - will be astrally active at all times. While the others will only do so when it is necessary. Has this been your observation as well, when you were in their presence? Have Tien IV and Phillip Creamor been astrally active at times and not at other times? But Victoria has been astrally active all the time?"

"Actually, Arione appeared to operate less often on the hyperconscious level than the other two. But that would likely be a result of her obfuscation. It could very well be a trick to mislead observers.

But yes, we could use a sufficiently strong ward to filter her out from the other two.
I am able to cast strong barriers on the hyperconscious level - even two simultaneously - to force intersection. We'd just have to make sure, that the three can't counter spell them. If we bate them with other, flashier spells to expend their ability first, we might pull it off."

Gladius replied

"Intersection seems like the witch trials of old if they are spirits, it should disrupt them, and if they are metahumans they should not feel anything. I can create wards that sustain themselves for a while, but it requires hours of prep time at the location. It might give some degree of protection, but perhaps not ideal because it would tip our presence off. "

I seem pensive and remember the Duchess' job, where that overprotective bodyguard used a smoke grenade to try and overcome my levitation spell. Which is why I decided I need the petrify spell to more reliably disable a person without harming them. No line of sight, no sight-based magic seems like it would hurt them more than us. "I think we can block counter spelling with a smoke grenade. Intersection is an indirect effect so you can still do it, but many other spells require line of sight and would not work in a giant smoke cloud."

Looking at Tamarind "Petrol bombs may work by forcing them out of a building if they have to do a long ritual, but I don't want to damage the 4th."

"I don't want to hurt him either, but he may be packmaster to a squad of spirits too strong to easily deal with, so i would like a kill option that gives a chance to eliminate that threat. I would rather keep him alive, but not at the cost of any of you. Or me.

"We should try to knock him out somehow. That is likely the best way to actually keep him safe."

"We have to avoid a direct confrontation at all. I highly doubt we can deal with three powerful mages. We need to surprise them."

Gladius chimed in: "There are several ways to go about: Tasers are pretty reliable - especially on drones. Pepperpunch in sufficient quantity can be pretty effective as well and is easy to obtain. Though I personally like to use an assault rifle with gel rounds. Unfortunately, I'm all out of blight, or I'd have brought ammo for that as well. It is very effective against shards and awakened.

If nothing else works, a bunch of flashbangs at once will shatter some eardrums, but should reliably take the opposition down with minimal losses.

The other option, since we do have mundane support, would be to artificially increase the local background count to disrupt their spell constructs. Though I'm loath to go there. Not only makes it over half our team's job harder, we are probably weaker then them, so we'd be disproportionally affected."

"I have four flash-bangs," Mato volunteers. "And five pepper punch grenades.

"This being Texas, I presume we could get more. Pepper punch isn't even illegal in the UCAS, and I can't imagine the CAS being stricter."

He thinks.

"Gladius, you said they bought six figures of reagents, is that right? Do you remember exactly how much? Is it a large volume or fairly compact? I'm trying to figure out if the can only transport the reagents via vehicle or if they could potentially transport the reagents themselves"

He thinks some more.

"The job is to recover the client's son. Recovering the X-T is secondary. One possibility would be to disrupt the materials of the ritual. If the X-T is destroyed, the greater threat is neutralized. And it's possible that Victoria would then flee, abandoning Phillip and the Fourth. Outside of her influence, IV may recover his wits. If that's not possible, then destroying the reagents themselves could disrupt and delay their plans."

A thought occurs.

"Are there bounties on shedim? I know the Draco Foundation and the Dunkelzahn Institute of Magical Research offer them for blood mages and insect shamen. We should check to see if shedim are on the list."

Then, back on topic.

"We should pick our spot. We have, what, two klicks of road between the highway and the farm? Action near the highway gives us more space to fall back on, but risks catching civilians and other passersby in the crossfire. Operating near the farm doesn't give us much of a cushion. I don't know if those spirits on patrol around the perimeter could be convinced to help us; we certainly don't want to get on their bad side.

"If they're driving, maybe step one is to neutralize the vehicle. If we're lucky, maybe we can gas them while they're stuck inside before they realize what is happening. Perhaps some smoke too, which I can see through but maybe they cannot. Maybe some drones with tazers swoop in and open fire while they're still seatbelted in. It isn't much, but it might give us a shot."

"That's a good spread, but we should try to get more. As you say, this is Texas. Getting ordnance shouldn't be too big a problem.

The reagents was a mix of regular powdered semi precious stones - regular unrefined materials of about 2000 drams worth 40k, 100 drams of refined for 35k and 40 drams of radical reagents for 90k. It's no wonder they wanted me to fetch that order - it certainly tripped some government flags somewhere.

One dram is about 1.8 gramms, so all in all, the shipment was less than 4 kg and no larger in volume than a bowling ball.
Destroying this isn't particularly easy though. We'd need explosives and for that. But stealing... We know in which bag the X-T is - likely with the refined and radical reagents. If we could manage to steal the bag, that would be a partial success.

As for bounties: I think your employer here is paying your bounty. Also, you need to bring those in alive to be studied.


Attacking a moving vehicle without risking to kill everyone is tricky. You'd have to shoot out the motor, use a sufficiently strong taser or some of those new hacking rounds.

But the three face the same problem as we: They can't just enter the compound, so they have to prepare something to cross this obstacle - and likely without being in a vehicle. I assume a combination of invisibility, obfuscation on the hyperconscious level, shard power and levitation.

Also, at least one of them is still human and needs breaks. So we should also consider hotels, motels and eateries where they head at arrival. There might be a chance to steal from them."

Gladius replied.

Gladius, how difficult would it be to force the car into a mana barrier? There is physics limiting how fast they can break; what if we ambush their car after making it collide with multiple mana barriers? We could knock down anyone dual-natured, and many of their spells and magical defenses. Grab Tien III, the XT and the reagents, and GTFO.

Gladius smiled: "That could work. A windshield is opaque on the hyperconscious level. They wouldn't be able to see it unless they had a shard or watcher construct riding herd.
If we additionally disguise the barriers as something else, like a mundane swarm of mosquitos, even that wouldn't help them.
Though we need strong barriers and as many as we can sustain. It would knock out their maintained spells as well as Arione herself. If we could make the others open their third eye as well and distract them, we could get them all at once."

Perhaps if a spirit is attacking her in the astral - the others should look into the astral to help her out? Can't harm something purely astral otherwise. I can do watchers, and Raven can summon a spirit.

Mato can't contribute to the discussion about shards and intersectionality and whatnot, but he perks up a bit when it comes to stealing.

"Stealing the bag could be done," he says, "if we know where the bag is, or will be.

"But that just paints a big target on our backs. Victoria will be after us with a vengeance, and if not us then Tien III or whoever has the X-T. So if we don't want to be hunted, we need to neutralize the threat. The safest way to do that is an ambush.

"On that note, I wasn't thinking about shooting the vehicle. I was thinking about AM hijacking it, or - failing that - Tamarind tazing it into submission. We know they aren't as strong on tech, right? Then that oversight might leave them vulnerable when it comes to defending their vehicle.

"If AM can kill the engine and lock the doors, that could be enough time for us to pump the cabin full of pepper punch and flash-bangs. They'll just sit there and stew in it.

"If we get real fancy, we could get some of that Hold-Fast Adhesive Spray. They use it down here in the CAS for non-lethal crowd control. It sprays like a fire extinguisher and hardens in about 30 seconds. If Tamarind's drones could apply that, maybe when they're turning off the highway, then that could make it that much harder for them to get out of the vehicle. If they bust the windows to let the pepper punch out, maybe Raven can have one of her air spirits there to make sure the fumes don't escape."

"The hard part is getting access to the moving car. Shooting windows out without hurting a passenger is pretty hard. If they have their car online and accessible, that would be great, but we shouldn't base a plan around that hope.

But why not a combination: We set up the barriers and have a shard materialize inside the car with the order to switch the car manually into online mode. The timing will be tricky, but if we grant the shard permission to cross our barriers, it will be unaffected by the trap. We can take control of the car before it crashes and should our barriers not have worked, we'll be able to use the Pepperpunch/Riot Foam combo."

Gladius replied.

"I like that plan... but it has a single point of failure with the barriers. Only Gladius can cast them, and we may need many of them with the number of spells they are sporting. I am not sure that Gladius can do that alone. We'll need many powerful barriers, which would seriously drain. Him, so I wish for a plan that does not hang on the ability of a single mage to continue pushing out powerful barriers nonstop. Magic is unpredictable and all,and if the plan does not work we'll need to directly confront them.

I may have a slight improvement to the plan... What if we use a watcher spirit and anchor mana-based spells and position it in the car's way so that it has to intersect with it? Then we can create these constructs ahead of time, and perhaps rest the drain. We may also be able to use alchemical preparations on the watcher to trigger a few minutes before the attack.

The issue I have with a materializing spirit in there is that it would take it a short while to materialize, and if these guys are still awake, then they would disrupt our spirit very quickly and regain control of the car. Stopping a car on the road should be easier than hacking it with or without spirits. Why don't we use the van to block the road? or perhaps even two vans so they cannot u-turn? Once they slow down enough, perhaps Mato jumps them and drops a bunch of flash bangs and grenades into the car. While they contend with a spirit materializing and astral intersections. Then if they exit the car to avoid a grenade then they are in range for the petrify spell. Would need to formulate it all, but I want a lot of redundancy in the plan.

Tamarind finally breaks into the conversation. "As a back-up to maybe get them to stop, or swerve, or something, perhaps we could get the cheapest anthro-drone available and dress it up in a police costume and have it run into the road in front of them? Likely lost nuyen as they may run over it, but if we also strap contact triggered explosive to it .... no wait, we don't want to kill one of them, but we could have a flash bang to at least maybe blind them. Well, the mana stuff is probably still the best bet, but it is a thought. Another back-up might be sufficient quantities of stick-and-shock rounds?"

"As for opening up the vehicle, if we can disable it all, Toothless, my Crashcart Medidrone, should be able to open it up. That is what it is made to do, at least, it depends on how armored they might be. And yes, I'm sure we could set up Stitch to spray someting on a passing car, be it foam or paint. If we really want to gas them, or even just smoke them, we could see if we could rent a crop duster drone -- or 'borrow' one that is not being used right now. We'd need to find someone willing to sell us a fair dose of whatever we want to spray, but they are meant to spray large areas."

"Tasing, yes, once we open a gap I can send in the Aunties and even Uncle. They might be able to drop them quickly with say a spell-shaped lightning ball, but if we can get them in close enough where it is harder to target before they can pull that off, then we'll see see how good their deflection spells are -- and hopefully the intersection will have helped with that."

"And finally, I can put up my surveillance balloons, not too close to the border, to help give us a bit of notice. They are hard to see by eye, and probably harder in the astral, so as long as they are not running more advanced sensors I doubt that they see them. We just need to figure where exactly we put them."

"We don't want to park the van across the road," Mato says. "We don't want them to have any indication that something's wrong until after something has actually gone wrong.

"They will have to slow themselves to turn off the highway. That will provide an opportunity when they are vulnerable. I should also be fast enough to chase them down from behind. Closing the distance won't be a challenge; we just have to make sure that's what we actually want to do.

"Our plans need to be tight. We need to be like those Wildcat snipers that can synchronize their shots so that all the hostiles are neutralized simultaneously."

Gladius nodded: "Yes, we need to work on our timeline.
Ideally it would happen like this:
They drive down the road, I'm laying in ambush, maintaining six to eight high magnification barriers.
If you are willing, I can teach the spell construct to you two as well.
You try to hack the car if it is online. Otherwise we sent a mind shard each into the car. Arione sees them on the hyperconscious level and alerts her companions - a strong defensive posture should prevent them from being overwhelmed directly.
They open their third eye and crash into the barriers.
They go unconscious or have at least a lot of spells deactivated, giving our shards opportunity to manifest and possess.
At that moment, we target the car with tasers and whatever else we can scrounge to disable the engine.
Next, we cut open the car, with or without the help of the spirits inside.
We foam, tase, pepper punch them as appropriate."

"If you cast the barriers ahead of time, they might be tipped off, if they use any astral reconnaissance. They will know that the CAS and Aztlan forces have spirits here, so there is reason for them to do so, already. They might also be looking for the leyline. I can have three spirits to help out, one higher Force that I still have to summon, and two that I have bargained with in preparation. My spirit friends do not possess, though, they materialize."

"A completely different idea. There was talk about them making stops for food. Maybe we could also manage to slip some drugs into their drinks?"

"You forget that I can move my barriers - including orientation. If I hide them at the side of the road they will be invisible among the vegetation.
My shard can only possess creatures and objects, not create a body of it's own. Though at high enough magnification it might actually be able to possess the car.

Still, no reason not to try to catch them while their guard is down. Any idea how to find them? A shard search would have to be well timed to pinpoint their location."

Gladius replied