A History of Not
12th of January 2007 A.D.
After a moment's thought you take out Clippy, holding her with two fingers
just so that she would know what you intend, you need some kind of test on the screen to justify a faux message, in this case nonsense code more special characters than letters. One tap for close, one tap to open a search then type in Lauren Fischer.
"Does the group Pallbearers of Ra Descending mean anything to you?" You say, meeting the eyes of the woman across from you. "What of the name Lavender Fischer?"
"Can't say the name means anything to me, but the
group," she taps a manicured finger to her chin. "They are new, quite wealthy, though that is hard to judge in this city where the easiest way to get rich is to play the part." She does not seem to like these people very much, though it does not quite cross over into open enmity, more the way someone would see a group with is astray, like devout Catholic might talk about a really out there denomination, which is quite odd on its own. Ancient pagan cults are not after all known for caring about each other's specific rites. "Their leader a Mr. Oliver Adkin tried to buy the Xanadu from Silk, though she is unwilling to sell, you'll have to ask her why. Instead they
somehow acquired the right to set up in the Springs Preserve..."
"Greased palms or twisted thoughts?" Tiffany asks bluntly as Harry looks deeply worried at what to him would be a whole Black-Magic-adjacent cult, but you have to wonder how hard is it really to keep something like that under the Council's radar? Sure some dumb kid like you stumbling into mind magics would be caught in short order as they warped their own mind away from any sense of discretion, but if the warlock had some sort of support and control network or better yet an otherworldly patron things get a lot more manageable.
"You'll have to ask them," Arlene shrugs. "All I know is they are not looking to found a
casino, the land is protected and it is too high profile to set up a less regulated establishment. There is one thing that binds the Xanadu and the Preserve together, both are places of power. I can think of many things for which such a place could be used, most liable to get everyone involved killed."
"Because of the sin eater locked up in the basement?" Harry prompts, trying to get a rise out of her.
Alas the priestess is not playing along, her answering nod serene, her next sip of wine as calculated and elegant as all the others. "Among other things yes."
"When did they arrive in Vegas?" Harry presses.
"Mid November last year," comes the reply. You don't have to look at him to know he's thinking the same thing you are, about the same time Sandra started making waves according to Maeve. Sure it might be coincidence that two newcomers show up in the city at roughly the same time, but that seems unlikely. "I've only met Adkin once he seemed..." she hesitates. "Inspired but not touched by forces beyond himself, not very interested in worldly matters for a man able to keep such a large following together, not to mention his age. It is hard to judge given the talent for magic lends one vigor, but by his mannerisms he is over a century old, British or he lived there for a long time."
With that the four of you nod and take your leave. Once you are well outside the club and any reasonable eavesdropping range you turn to the others: "She wasn't telling us everything she knew."
"She was indeed not an fool," Lash confirms, causing Lydia to giggle as you take out the rat pose the obvious question: 'What is the full list of beings responsible for this rat being sent to Kenneth Mayeda?'
Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 10/15
Not-Nathaneal Cobbler
"Uh... wow didn't know a word could taste like ash and grave dirt," you stifle the urge to spit to clear your throat, Mom had taught you better than that. "One moment while I cross-check that..."
A quick search turns out the name in an appendix of a work on the life and escapades of
Giovanni Battista Belzoni an Italian-born 'proto-archeologist' at the tail end of the Eighteenth century and start of the Nineteenth if one were being generous and a particularly successful tomb robber with a background in the circus if not. From what scant evidence Clippy and company had been able to collect, breaking into a buch of academic databases in the process Cobbler had been something of a 'low' acquaintance of the already colorful Belzoni there really isn't a lot to go on, one lady of the ton, the upper class society of London called him out as being 'akin to a highwayman' not at all like the cultured Mr Belzoni in her letters while Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marquess of Lansdowne supposedly once claimed that Cobler 'was a better shot than many a man of higher breeding and more liked by women than they would admit.'
"Sour grapes," Lash says in a sotto voice when you get to that part.
"It's not a true Elder at least," Lydia says more gravely. "That would explain why he hates the White Court in particular, he could have been what, at most eighty years into unlife when Stoker's book came out. Surviving must have been
rough."
"If he is a former tomb robber maybe he knows the cult of Ra Descending has something of particular value," you posit, raising your voice to cover someone leaning on their horn, one assumes in celebration from the streamers trailing the beat up old Ford Fairmont.
"Do we care? Just..." Lydia makes a staking motion with her hand. "
Done and come back here for more information on the person we're actually after."
Even at a slow amble the Venetian Canals are only at half an hour's walk, so you aren't exactly topped up from your little bottle of poison by the time you reach the mega-resort lit in blues and greens, over white marble and pristine waters.
Regained 2 Essence (RVD/CSR) -> Now at 12/15
"Uhm... the dead are many," Lydia begins, only for Harry to start and grab his blasting rod.
"Stars and Stones kid, put that another way!"
"Many are the dead," she counters, so straight-faced one would almost believe she wasn't pulling the wizard's leg. "There are a lot of dead here, wandering souls which for a building this young is unusual to say the least, unless they built it on an old burial ground or something in which case it would feel different."
"Like Poltergeist?" you ask absently.
"No, those are very minor... oh," she catches herself. "Is that a comic book?"
"Movie." It's easy to forget Lydia has not been immersed in the same culture as you until moments like this come up, more awareness of obscure ghost lore than landmark films. "So are our spooky friends doing something or?"
"Crowding in to look," she answers.
What do you do?
[] Attempt to greet and speak to the dead, Lydia should have some power over them
[] Go look at the crime scene for the staked incubus, perhaps you could ask some questions there
[] Go inside, try to arrange a greeting with the boss, given the kind of power all of you radiate there's no doubt you will be directed to someone supernatural
[] Write in
OOC: Since I know people are going to look for him, Cobbler himself is an OC, though everyone else mentioned in that paragraph is not. 
