5. Jason Blood
Getting your answers on the phone would have been too easy wouldn't it? You sighed. It was probably better to get it over with and depending on what you found out, you could still see if you could get Jason Blood to come to the museum and look at the shard. It was still much too dangerous to just go without any kind of preparation and you would rather do this on your own if you could, just not at the cost of being stuck as an animal or worse.
"Alright. Do you need anything in particular or could we just meet anywhere?" Preferably someplace he wasn't familiar with, because you were still far from trusting the man.
"Peace, quiet and potentially some of my books, Miss..." That would have been too easy. Doubly too easy, because he'd finally noticed you had conveniently forgotten to mention your name and names may or may not have power.
"Ellis, sorry." You paused. Inviting him to your home, if he would come at all, was just not an option. Inviting yourself to his meant, meant you had to tell Malaya to be ready to call the police and hope one of the superheroes managed to save you or you could figure out some way to save yourself if things didn't go well, but it didn't leave you in a completely hopeless situation. Even if it was still risky. "I suppose it's best if you pick a place then. When do you think we could meet?"
"Soon, if you can. Whatever your problem is, it's highly unlikely to get better by waiting. My home. You'll find me at 12 Whitehollow avenue." Well... You would consult a map later.
"Soon as in as soon as possible?"
"Ideally. If you're worried it's influencing your mind, I wouldn't leave it to do its work in peace, even if it isn't demonic." You had a hard time refuting his point there.
"I'll get there as soon as I can, thank you." That was what you'd come for after all, despite your apprehensions. You listened to Jason Blood's goodbye, still somewhat grumpy as it might be, your feelings hadn't completely disappeared. You could suppress the fear of course and you weren't going to hide from this just because a part of you was afraid, but that didn't make it go away or the concern any less rational. And no matter what other people might say, it was prudent to be alert in Gotham, especially as compared to where you'd grown up. This wasn't Metropolis.
So logically the first thing you did was to go looking for the priest.
You were still inside a church after all and you might as well at least try. Carefully looking around corners and hoping you weren't too late, but it was still only mid to late afternoon.
Roll 1d100 = 75
It might have taken you a few minutes of looking around, you weren't the most familiar with Catholic churches, but you found him. By ringing his doorbell actually. A man in his 60s maybe was standing in front of you, dressed only slightly more casually than you would usually expect a priest to.
Might as well get it over with. "Excuse me, Father." You hoped that was him anyway. If he wasn't, he would probably be able to point you in the right direction at least. You pulled out steel metal water bottle. "Would you be willing to bless this water and bottle for me?"
He blinked and obviously paused. "Of course. Are you well?" You probably didn't look well, not with that still swollen lump on your head and not the usual amount of care taken before going out.
You sighed. You definitely weren't ready to explain this. "Just bad dreams. I'm hoping maybe this will help."
"If you would like to talk about them." He lifted his hand and spoke the blessing in Latin. You couldn't feel anything, not in your hand, not on your bottle but maybe the faintest buzz. But it would have to do. "To me or to the Lord, you are always welcome, you know that, right?"
"I..." And you suddenly remembered why you usually avoided the overly religious types. They always seemed so sincere as well. "I know, thank you."
But you did actually have somewhere to be. And a holy water bottle that you could probably knock someone out with on hand. Now you just had to call Malaya. Who you hadn't told yet and who might be worried too, but you'd think about that later. Being on your way to a probably dangerous man definitely took precedence.
You tapped her contact and she picked up almost instantly.
"Rissa! Are you alright? They said you had an accident yesterday evening and I haven't seen you all day."
"Yeah, no. I'll explain later. I'm not dying and I don't think I've got brain damage or anything, but I need to meet someone."
"You want to meet someone. While you're on sick leave and haven't talked to me all day. I know you like your peace and quiet, but are you sure you're okay?"
"No. I'm going to explain later, I'm not okay but it's not critical I think. I need to meet with someone to ask him questions and before you say anything, I want you to know where I am, with who I am and to call the police if I don't call back and tell you everything's fine."
"You know this sounds pretty suspect, right?" And usually you were the one telling Malaya to be careful, but it was good hearing her voice. Even if you suddenly had one more thing to be afraid of. How do you even explain these things?
"Obviously."
"You sure you don't want me to come?"
"I'm a bit far right now, I'm not sure how he'd react if I bring someone and, well, I do need you to call the police, don't I?" You pushed The Serpent (maybe you should name it?) back up your sleeve and onto your leg.
"Rissa, please. You're not going on date are you?"
"No. I told you I'll explain. I'm meeting Jason Blood, 12 Whitehollow Avenue and if I don't call back before one and a half hours something's happened."
"That's up there in suspicious names, you know that?"
"Yes." Maybe it was your tone.
"I'll do it, but I want an explanation."
You smiled. Despite the argument. "Thanks, Mal." and switched to using your phone to get directions instead. The sooner you got there, the sooner you would be able to get back, hopefully.
"Just don't die alright? You're supposed to have common sense." That was when you hung up. Before she could try to get one more question in and also because you needed a map and you didn't put in headphones. Whitehollow avenue turned out to be reasonably easy to locate, but still a little under half an hour away by subway.
By the time you found number twelve and Jason Blood's apartment, you were even more uncomfortable from that creep on the train and walking even faster. Right that moment you had actually been upset your new tattoo didn't give you anything like enhanced strength as far as you could tell, that attacking people for being creeps was probably not legal and that you weren't exactly trained. Not completely untrained, but not enough you thought you'd get an easy win.
Expensive place. One deep breath and you rang the doorbell.
The man who met you at the door had broad shoulders and probably some muscles to work with that too. Tall, with auburn hair and a white streak and dressed in a black turtleneck. You were even more glad you'd called Malaya now.
"Miss Ellis?"
"Yes." You nodded. You didn't think he caught the lie, but you didn't have anywhere close to a good enough grasp on him to be able to tell for sure. At least, despite the shadows under his eyes, he looked concerned rather than angry. A part of you wanted to dig into that, but first, you had slightly more pressing concerns. You dropped your backpack in a corner.
He didn't even try to hide that he was watching you, but you supposed that was par for the course. Almost half a minute later, he broke the silence as if he had come to a conclusion. "We'll talk inside."Jason Blood stepped aside to reveal a hallway with a picture, obviously of him, dressed up for the 17th century on an actual oil painting and you were led inside a living room with more pictures. All historical, all of Mr. Blood and all in different styles, interspersed with bookcases, antique and a few very modern devices. You weren't quite sure what to think, but the place made you feel off.
"Drinks?"
"No thank you."
"Alright. Now, you were saying you have a problem with something influencing your mind and transforming you into an animal?"
"Yes." You focused and coaxed The Serpent to slither across your face only to disappear back underneath your collar. "I've got... this. I can't think of it as dangerous directly and I suppose when I focus on it, I can turn myself into a snake, but it's somewhat more difficult to turn back and as soon as I am in snake form, I can only think of the body as natural. I think of the tattoo as natural as well, although I'm aware that it's definitely not. I can't tell if there have been any other effects."
He nodded. You couldn't help following him with your eyes as he walked around you. "Yes. It's a good idea to look for help with these types of things especially if you're inexperienced. Enough people lost themselves to it or to a pact as it is." He looked tired. Very tired for a moment, mingled with frustration, but this probably still wasn't the time to ask. Especially since he started talking again. "I'm going to have to cast some spells on you before I can give you anything but speculation."
"I figured. How long is this going to take?" Would you have to call Malaya beforehand?
"That would depend on the complexity of the spell, Miss Ellis. I will start with something simple. Touch my hand." That... you had Malaya and this wasn't suspect yet. You reached out to feel fingers decidedly stronger than your own.
And you could feel it. Like a faint buzzing in your veins. The Serpent trashed, wound itself around its own body and slithered up onto your neck. Something was odd. Something was feeding it foreign energy and whatever it was, it didn't feel good.
You pulled away, but your stare got you no reaction. Mr. Blood just nodded and straightened, but your discomfort seemed to go ignored. He didn't look like the absolute most caring, compassionate and empathetic type either though, and you were reasonably sure the effect hadn't been intentional. You shook yourself. "That was weird."
"That showed me that your predicament is definitely magical, though not demonic and partially drawing its energy from you." He turned and picked up some chalk he apparently had lying around in a box. "I can't tell you if there is a contract involved, but you have an external source too. More importantly, your spell is unstable and you said that this was caused by only a part of the artifact." He tapped the chalk. "It would be useful if I could see it, but there are other ways to find out more. I'm going to use this to draw a few things on the ground."
"What exactly is an unstable spell?"
"An unfinished one, one that is fraying at the edges or has been tampered with or one that was miscast. Regardless of what it is, most of them are dangerous or have serious drawbacks." Which might explain why he was eyeing you so carefully. And it definitely sent a few shivers down your spine. Nobody wanted to hear unstable, but tampering, fraying or miscast were even worse. And as uncomfortable as you were, you needed to know and you needed to know as quickly as possible.
"Right."
You should still have over half an hour, but you soon found yourself too absorbed with the markings on the ground to properly keep track. They were both intricate and written in a language you still didn't understand, Jason Blood muttering something under his breath. Needless to say, you were also very careful not to move.
"This will probably feel strange, but if you move, it will fail. Ready."
"Yes."
You felt it. You saw it even, wisps coming off you, forming something in the air, Jason Blood's eyes glowing. Something was pulsing through you, pulsing through The Serpent and your link... making everything within so much more important than without...
Then it was over.
And Mr. Blood frowned. Not so much unhappily as as if he were confused by something.
"It's a weakened spell. Most likely because you only had one part of the artefact. It's also somewhat malleable and probably didn't take in the way it was intended to. Your snake is connected to something else, linked to your own power, although you don't currently have much of it. This seems to be some part natural and some part attempting to connect to a god or spirit and some part sorcery. I can't tell you what exactly it will turn into, but the reason you feel it is natural is most likely because it has been merged with your or drawn from you.
You should still be very careful with this however and wherever you found it, if you run into a problem, I need to look at what caused this to fix it." He seemed happy enough when he said that though. "Whatever it is, it's not particularly strong, not enough for a powerful contract to be involved, even if it might have been originally."
But while you might not be sure whether to be relieved or very worried, maybe it could have been worse? At least you definitely weren't possessed. That alone was worth a smile.
"I would be interested in hearing more about how this develops. Where did you find it?"
Pulling out your phone, you sent Malaya a quick text. 'I'm ok, wait for text in 1 hour' before you got around to actually replying.
"Accident at the Museum." That got you a decidedly suspicious look you couldn't quite interpret until... "I'm an intern." You added dryly. "I think if I'd tried to rob the place it would be in the news."
He chuckled.
"I suppose." Then picked up a mug from a coffee table and emptied it. "You also need more information on magic here before you get into anything else, but not now. You're cleared."
You let out a breath and smiled. Despite all of the questions, just knowing why it felt so natural made you feel so much lighter. Your pains became harder to ignore, but the tensions holding you upright and making it impossible to think about anything else had evaporated. You would be fine, at least for now.
"Thank you. For helping me, for finding time on short notice, and for the offer. I'm still way too lost to feel comfortable."
And Jason blood wasn't the kind of person to reassure you there. all he did was to nod in return. "Good. That just shows you've got some sense. Sorry to push you out the door so fast, but I'm somewhat busy right now, so more information will have to wait. I might have something to look forward to after all this is over."
"All this?" And that set you off all over again. The dark shadows under and around his eyes made more sense now and had also become decidedly more concerning.
"Nothing for you to worry about. I would simply appreciate you showing me your transformation when we meet again. Unless you intend to suddenly change phone numbers."
"No." And his intention was clear enough. "Thank you again and good luck with 'all this' I suppose."
Even if your smile only got a tired reply from Mr. Blood. "Try not stumble into any more magic this week. Good Night Miss Ellis."
You should probably correct him there eventually
But what now?
[ ] Go home, finally talk to Malaya and hope you can keep her from trying to make you a superhero and staying out of it in general.
[ ] Go home, avoid Malaya and go straight to bed
[X] Go home, talk to Malaya and see if she can help with research. Maybe it'll keep her distracted, even if it gets her even more involved.
[ ] write in (you will arrive home just past sunset unless you do something here)
Name The Serpent?
[X] Yes
- [ ] Name?
[ ] No.
Parietal Eye unlocked -
Allows you to perceive magic, vague type of magic by colour and very vague direction in snake form. Also allows you to sense lighting conditions on top of your head.
Cost: 15 GP
Swift, slender and flexible 1/4
The Serpent + 3 GP
The Serpent total GP: 8
Buy an Upgrade?
[ ] Yes
- [ ] which one?
[ ] No
Upgrades are found in the info post.
