You stand atop a familiar apartment complex - unfortunately, Caster isn't with you at the moment; that would just be too much of an unfair advantage, wouldn't it? - as you scour the south of Mitakihara for anything out of the ordinary. Now that you know what to be looking for, you can really sense that knot of corrupted magical energy Rin was talking about.
How the hell did you manage to miss it before when it's this strong? You turn your gaze to the area where
Walpurgisnacht's Grief Seed fell, scanning for irregularities.
Then you see one. There's a building nestled among some trees - a building you'd
swear hadn't been there before - that's been built right above where
Walpurgisnacht's Grief Seed was paved over.
Now, this is all looking pretty
Suspicious right about now. Buildings don't normally appear out of nowhere, and yet here's a building you'd swear hadn't been there before today. Or maybe it had, but it was being hidden from onlookers by a Bounded Field. Either way, you've found something of note, and that means it's time to check in with Homura to share your findings with her.
You imagine you'll be checking in with her several times in the course of this investigation.
"I found a building sitting on top of where Walpurgisnacht's Grief Seed fell," you say to Homura.
"Funny thing is, I could have sworn it hadn't been there before. I'm thinking this might be the place."
"Do you need backup?" Homura asks.
"I can see about having Rider or Saber back you up if you think you'll need the assistance."
"Actually, I was hoping to get Rin involved in the investigation. I know she's not my master, but she's still one of the best mages I know, and I'd feel more comfortable having her around for her expertise in case we find something that needs to be analysed."
"You'll have to be the one to contact her, then. I'm picking up some headphones at the mall, and when Madoka is done with her club she's going to meet up with me."
"Uh-huh. Are you going to be home for dinner, then; or should Minako and I make something without you?"
"I don't know right now. Maybe you should think about whether you'll be home in time for dinner, yourself."
"All right. I'm just keeping you informed as I find things." You'll let Homura get back to her afternoon plans. You've got a Rin to call. You haven't changed into your full servant garb yet, so grabbing your phone from your pocket and dialing her number is all it takes to put you and your former master in touch. "Rin, it's me. I've found something interesting while I was investigating the southern edge of the city, and I'd be honoured if you would be willing to join me in checking this place out."
"Where are you?" Rin asks.
"I'm standing on top of the apartment complex where Tomoe lives."
"All right, I'll meet you outside the apartment complex then. Give me twenty minutes."
Twenty minutes later, and true to her word Rin meets you outside of the Tomoe apartment complex. "Man, talk about deserted," she says as she glances around the empty lot. "Does nobody else live here besides Tomoe?"
"She's got a few people crashing in her apartment, but aside from them, yes; Tomoe is the only person living in this building." Saying those words gives neither you nor Rin any comfort. "Come on, I"ll show you where we're heading."
The building in question is about a kilometer's walk away, and - "Ugh, couldn't we have just met up there?" - Rin is taking the walk none too pleasantly. "Seriously, what was the point of having me meet you here if we were just going to walk the entire way?"
"Because you know where the Tomoe apartment is," you reply; "And you don't know where this building is. Besides, I've been by that way before and never noticed anything, so there's likely a pretty strong Bounded Field at work. I wanted to make sure it was possible to approach this place from the ground."
"If there's a Bounded Field around this place, I'm pretty sure I would have been able to break in by myself, you know."
"And if you broke in and something happened to you while you were waiting to meet me, then I'd feel responsible," you say. "You may not be my master any longer, Rin, but you're still someone important to me. I'm a father now; worrying is kind of in the job description."
"You know, I'm still thrown for a loop over the whole 'you being a father' thing," Rin says. "How'd that even happen, anyway?"
"It's actually a pretty long story," you say. "The short version of it is, Homura and I trusted one another to the point where she accepted me as a substitute for her late father, and by that point in time I had no trouble accepting her as being like a daughter to me. Then I met Minako when she and I went as chaperones to a beach party the girls were hosting to celebrate, one thing led to another, and here we are."
"I'd be interested to hear the
full story some time," Rin says. "But it looks like
here we are is a bit more literal than you meant it to be."
Here you are indeed. The building,
a red-brick church that has clearly seen better days, looms large over your heads as you and Rin approach with caution, the barren trees which surround you and ground beneath your feet practically
screaming in agony from the thick corruption seeping into the earth from the Grief Seed which lays buried beneath dozens of meters of concrete and topsoil. 'Should we be concerned that it's a church?" you ask, recalling far too many bad experiences with churches for this one in particular to give you any good vibrations.
"Who knows?" Rin asks. "Maybe it's meant to be ironic, but since Japan doesn't have the same history with witches that Europe and the United States do, I doubt anyone around here would get it if it were." You and Rin both stop where you stand and take a look around, eyes scanning for anything out of the ordinary. Well, anything
more out of the ordinary than a building appearing from nowhere. "Can you sense anything?" Rin asks.
"Aside from the massive amounts of corruption poisoning everything around us?" you ask; not in jest, this time. "Then no. I'm not feeling anything aside from some seriously bad juju." Rin nods, and you ask her "So, what's the plan now? Do we go in through the main door, or should we try for one of the side doors or the windows?"
"First, we should probably see if it's even safe to approach this place," Rin says. She produces a small emerald from one of the inner pockets of her coat, chanting a few words over it as her clenched hand glows green. "Alright, let's see what this little birdie can tell us," she says, letting the gem loose into the wild. LIke a tiny green hummingbird, the emerald floats from your position over to the old church, occasionally flitting close to the ground before immediately coming back up. It stops at the door below the archway of the large brick spire - you're guessing that's the front door - before making an odd figure-eight over the door several times. Actually, maybe it's more accurate to compare the emerald to a little green honey bee than to a hummingbird, because as soon as it finishes its odd dance, it zips back to Rin and, hovering above her open palm, repeats the dance in miniature.
"What's that, boy?" you ask; this time in jest. "Little Timmy's trapped in a well?"
"Be quiet, you," Rin says, concentrating on the waggle dance her emerald is performing for her. "Okay, so aside from the
disgusting amount of corruption seeped into the ground, there aren't any traps, alarms, or other forms of dark magic waiting to murder us if we try to approach. There does appear to be some kind of early-warning alarm set up by the main entrance, but if we go around the side and try one of the doors there we should be safe from being detected. Granted, that's only covering what's on the outside; I'll need to make another check of the inside before we commit to anything more, but we should be safe to at least move in a little closer."
You and Rin advice across the courtyard of yellowing grass and mossy stones, as all the while the sickness beneath your feet screams at you. You make it to the side of the building, but dare not touch the brick or gaze through the windows to the inside. "Okay, now how are you planning on getting that thing inside?" you ask. "I saw a window that looked like it was boarded up from the inside further along this wall. Think we can use that?"
"It's worth a shot," Rin says, releasing her little emerald honey bee in the direction of the boarded-up window. "If it can slip in through the boards, that might be our best shot." The emerald is indeed able to slip through the boards, and a few tense minutes of waiting later, it returns with the good news. "The coast is clear," Rin says. The inside's just a normal church with a whole bunch of sleeping quarters off to the side; might be a convent, or a former convent, anyway. Whatever the case, there didn't seem to be anybody inside, so maybe our target isn't home at the moment."
"That's strange," you say. "There's an alarm set up by the front door, but you're saying the inside is completely normal? That can't be right."
"I know; it just doesn't add up," Rin says. "I didn't even see a workshop or anything; and on top of that, what do they need all that space for if it's just the one witch? Did an entire coven of witches set up shop here, or does this chick
really like having a lot of space to herself?" When you have no answer for Rin, she shakes her head, adding "I can send this guy in for another pass and we can hope it finds something the second time around, or we can take the chance that nobody's home and have a look around in person. Maybe we'll spot something this little guy couldn't."
Do you
[ ] Send Rin's scout in for a second pass
[ ] Go in and look around for yourself
[ ] Other (write-in)
