Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

[DragonParadox]

Of Cars and Cameras ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

As you climb the steps out of the laboratory, Clippy's small light throwing odd shadows along the assorted bric a brac you wonder if you sound out various ways to convince Harry to let you back in here. There's all sorts of things Bob could teach you and he certainly seems willing to do so, not to mention all the help you could give him. You're pretty sure a demon in that model of Chicago to make the wires actually carry power and a few of the streetlights turn on would make it a far more potent focus.

"Hey there Mister," you say distracted. Harry's enormous cat graciously accepts a pat on the head as his royal due.

"You take care here Mouse, the charge on Burny should be good foor or five days, I'm going to have to figure some way to get a charging station in here or in Harry's car." Having checked you found that the apartment fuse box was utterly trashed, not that Harry would notice since the only electrical thing he uses in the landline and that has its own power.

Mouse barks a doggy 'yes' then adds with Burny's help: "You take care as well. Get Harry out. Two noses follow the trail better than one."

As you get into the car another electronic voice echoes, this time from the radio: "Notice of Concern. A man attempted to place something on the vessel's underside, though he fled when the alarm activated."

"Something?" you ask alarmed. "What did he looks like?"

"The vessel does not possess cameras so my senses are limited to rough build and gender, 99.1% certainty male, Caucasian, age range 20-60 years. Speculation, either a tracker or a bomb."

A bomb. Holy Mother of God... Deep breath. Calm down Molly, you are a lot more bomb proof that you look, you tell yourself, though you mentally add external cameras for the Beige Wagon to the list of stuff you need to get.

Wait a second you are still here and the Crown can look at a place as well as a person or object.

"Who just fled at the sound of a car alarm?" you cast the question among the light of a thousand eyes.

Lost 1 Essence

Agent John Jenkins, FBI, the answer comes back, coldly mechanical.

"Clippy check Wright's records for John Jenkins," you say as you start up the Beige Wagon and as you had expected you get a match. Probably a tracker then not a bomb, though you are pretty sure that's really illegal. "Keep an eye on his email to see if Jenkins reports the failure."

When you get home to a cold dinner and an even colder look from mom you make no mention of the incident, something tells you that telling her: 'The FBI tried to track my car' would not be helpful in the plan to keep investigating. It's ten thirty by the time you finally get the bathroom to yourself and well past midnight by the time you feel the cup of your Essence running full. Good thing you don't need that much sleep

Gained 9 Essence, now at 12/12

***​

22st of July 2006 A.D.

For once you sleep is empty of dreams, though maybe because it is so brief with Clippy waking you at five AM, the light of false dawn a pale glimmer over Wrigley Field when you drive by. Another advantage of the hour of course is that you could just leave a sticky note on the fridge and claim it was because you did not want to wake anyone up.

On the drive over you look over the evidence from the warehouse of Harry presumably killing Greene. The first surprise is that it's not that at all. The first frame is 'Harry' slamming Greene's clearly dead body dressed in plain clothes onto an old metal table which had once served as part of the meat industry.

"And so it serves again," Usum offers with macabre humor as the fake Harry starts to take the body apart.

Ah right, demon, it's easy to forget that part. Though even thinking that the sight of blood and dismemberment doesn't trouble you on its own. Sure you feel sad and angry to see this happening to someone but your stomach offers not a moment of discomfort.

"Yours is a power meant to fight in wars beyond human imagination my princess, a poor weapon it would be if the sight of blood and death should trouble you so lightly," the demon at the back of your mind continues.

You nod to yourself, still observing the video and the email it came with. Apparently the reason why the cameras had only started rolling when the body hit the table was because the noise had tripped the silent alarm and that had automatically made the camera start recording. Which begs the question why the alarm had not gone off when 'Harry' had gotten in the warehouse with the body. In fact the running theory by the CPD was that Greene had been shot nearby and then sneaked in since apparently the autopsy on the remains showed .44 Magnum wounds.

No gunshot reports that morning from anywhere in the neighborhood, Clippy reports which makes the prospect even more strange. How far after all could someone have carried Greene's body in broad daylight before getting it into the warehouse? It is almost as if they did not get in there by roads that most people could see.

Unfortunately that is all that Wright's phone and his past messages reveal. You would like to know what the cops know about Greene's last movements. Who had last seen him alive and when?

Maybe I could just ask, you muse. You have Wright's account and it's not like it would be hard to imitate his writing style. Eventually it will come out that his account was hacked into when it comes out he did not send the query, but it's not like they would be able to trace the leak.

Do you send a message in Wright's name asking for more information on the case?

[] Yes, that would give you valuable information fast
-[] Write in what and to whom

[] No, it's not worth the risk to your cover

OOC: Next update will be arriving at Menominee, I wanted to catch you up on what information Molly had as fast as possible so you could use it if you want in the next part.

 

[DragonParadox]

Morning Visitations ​

22st of July 2006 A.D.

After a moment's thought you decide not to risk showing your hand. You have the address for the scene. Once you are back in the city you can look into that inconspicuously. Security cameras mean there is some kind of security system which could reveal all sorts of interesting things, not to mention the property records should be online for whoever owns an old meat processing hall with working cameras inside. As you roll into Menominee under fluffy white clouds and morning sunlight that seems a thousand miles removed from Greene's gruesome killing you start thinking of where you had been that would have a camera. Maybe the general store... Harry had asked a few questions there while you had stayed in the car.

No luck there, the place looks like it had not been renovated since the sixties, though on the plus side the smiling middle aged cashier does remember Harry from yesterday. "Beanpole of a man in a trenchcoat asked after Old Man Matthews, said he was a detective 'r something."

So it goes, you find plenty of locals willing to attest that they had seen both you and Harry in town yesterday morning, from one of the regulars at the pub who had admired Harry's gun to a bunch of kids from the local Middle School who had mostly remembered you on account of your piercings, but had noted Harry as well, though that last conversation does yield an... interesting question.

"Are you one of them Satanists?" a wide-eyed boy around Leech's age asks. He sounds like he is really hoping for a yes so he can impress his friends for having spoken to one.

"No, I'm Catholic," you disappoint him.

"But... but..."

"Last I checked there wasn't anything in the Bible about piercings."

He just kind of nods and mumbles under his breath: "Wicked cool." You have a feeling he'll try to make that argument to his parents when he gets home, not that it's likely to do him any good but that's sure to be a fun talk.

Finally you manage to find a camera in the local liquor store. Alas it proves to be a lot harder to get the footage for yesterday morning out of the elderly owner than it had been to get people to talk about seeing Harry "Well now little lady I'm sure things will work out just fine, don't you worry none. Iffen what you say is true I'll hand the tapes over to the serif and it'll all be cleared right up."

Tapes? Who still uses tapes? You shake your head bemused scrambling to think of a reason why you need them. It's not like you can tell him the Men in Slack are out to frame Harry, or make sure he stays framed for blackmail purposes.

Lost 1 Essence

Maybe you could try... "I'm sure your sheriff's a fine fellow and will send the tapes off as soon as he's asked for them, I worry about when that's gonna be with all the red tape suits love so much. If I can get this right into Father Forthil's hands he can get things settled a lot faster." At his confused look you fake a blush. "Oh sorry forgot to explain, Harry's lawyer also a priest up at Saint Marry's in Chicago. I can give you his number to check in..."

"A priest eh?" the old man seems to consider it. "Well if you're gonna need a lawyer you could do worse than one who's sworn holy vows."

One phone call later you have a copy of the security tape. You were not thinking if it's even worth going back to old man Mathews when you notice the sleek black Mercedes in the driveway. What on Earth is that, a C219 model? That is a showroom and jet setting luxury car from two years ago.

Spoiler: Mercedes

They wouldn't... Surely no one in their right mind would try to do shady business by driving a big black luxury car through the middle of a sleepu med western town in the middle of the morning.

"Common sense is for common sorts," Usum offers delicately. "Being able to flaunt it is one of the privileges and proofs of power."

Do you go check what's going on

[] Yes, if one of Matthews old 'friends' caught up with him then you would very much want to catch up with them
-[] Write in plan (optional)

[] No, you have what you ca,e here for, just get that tape to father Forthil

[] Write in

OOC: Since you guys took mechanics as the crafting specialization Molly knows cars really well so I did not roll for recognizing that one.

 

[DragonParadox]

The Black and the Red ​

22st of July 2006 A.D.

After parking about thirty feet from the land spaceship masquerading as a car you take out Clippy and start snapping pictures like any dyed in the wool car enthusiast would. But behind the humming phone Clippy is at work in spite of having to make use of she dismissively calls 'howling wilderness' cell reception. The car had shown up on Roaring Rides, a small enthusiast forum with the pic dated to the twentieth in downtown Chicago with a a couple more being linked in Myspace pages also around the city, nothing around Fulton Market where the crime had taken place, but that is hardly...

"License Plate Match," flashes across the screen in bright blue text, cutting off your view of the last image. "Katrina Hoff."

Katrina, you do not need to see the next message on screen to suddenly freeze mid picture, but you appreciate is nonetheless. Priority, Priority, partial match, relevant to present search: Katrina Sigfriddotir.

Alas Katrina Hoff does not have a MySpace page or really anything but the license numbers in Massachusetts and, crosschecking property records, some kind of high value property on the outskirts of Boston so it's probably the same woman, but it is going to take a longer search to find out for sure.

You try to get a feel for the car itself, see if it is warded or enchanted. It could even be something else glamored as one, but no matter how much you squint and struggle all you can see if the sun on fresh black paint and all you can smell is the faint scent of plain old gas.

Lost 1 Willpower

Good enough, if it's a magic horse that eats gas I'm going to be really embarrassed, you think, pushing aside Usum's reflexive proclamations that you would never have anything to be embarrassed about.

This time no verses come to mind, only raw notes and the memory of a car chase in a movie about living programs pretending to be gods, pretending to be men. Like with the Beige Wagon you get a connection, but not an everlasting one, a nameless ghost of electromagnetism and spite poured into some of the best and brightest artifice on four wheels. Black Rider, you dub them for another ethereal pursuer that went garbed in the guise of mundane mater on secret roads.

Lost 1 Essence and 1 Willpower
Spirit Bound for 1 Year

Connection Achieved. Downloading...

A boom echoes from the direction of the Matthews house the door smashing open to reveal a woman with hair red as fresh spilled blood flowing over shoulders draped in a studied leather jacket whose studs gleam as so many miniature runes. Her eyes are grey too gleam grey like the sky before the storm in a face that could be any age between a mature twenty and a very well preserved forty, though to look upon her is to know with a dread certainty that she is much older. You have met one akin to her before... Gard. Whatever she is this woman is as well and you have no doubts.

"Interested in the car are you?" She is smiling, though it does not reach her eyes. "I don't mind if you look, just as long as you don't touch. You didn't touch it did you?"

"What had she sensed?" you wonder, thoughts whirling in your mind. For that matter what do I look like to her. Gard at least had been able to sense that I'm outside of fate, but that does that mean? At the very least you don't think she is about to challenge you to a duel here and now you can hear the sound of kids playing not far away and cars passing by the bridge, in the distance the church bells calling the townsfolk to worship.

What do you reply?

[] Try to bluff that you had just been passing through and are interested in cars and... the interesting people who drive them (Manipulation+Subterfuge)

[] Offer to take this someplace more private, maybe she thinks she can take you in a fight, you would wager she is probably wrong (Manipulation+Empathy)

[] Write in

OOC: Well on the plus side you got one of your demons in a super-car, though the driver appears to have noticed. Whether she's noticed that you messed with the car or just your general Exalted-ness approaching Molly cannot tell.

 

[DragonParadox]

Whisper on the Wind ​

22st of July 2006 A.D.

"Look and touch..." you tap your finger on your chin, the nail clinking on the ice cold metal of one of your piercings. "Those words are closer than one would think to some people at least, aren't they?" She had burst out of the house for some reason so you might as well admit fault, even if it is the fault of snooping. "Interesting people."

Lost 1 Essence

The glare you get in return would be enough to curdle milk on its own. Your heart gets just a little faster, phantom flames in the chill place where your sword is drawn from. There's a part of you and it's not a small one that wants to fight, not in public in broad daylight obviously, but a little taunting goes a long way you've found.

"I have found the difference easy enough to distinguish, one is of the eye which only the craven or the timid would avert and the other is of the hand which only the foolish raise lightly," the woman speaks with the same blooding intensity, like the storm in her eyes. "You do not seem craven, are you a fool?"

"One often knows the limits of their courage, but not even the wisest knows the limits of their wisdom until by deed they reach them," for once you quote Usum word for word. Dealing with corrupt immortals feels very much like his wheelhouse. It is only when you see her storm-grey eyes narrow a little that you realize the banter is half a threat as well. The limits after all could be hers as much as they are yours.

Lost 1 Essence

"I did not mean to interrupt your business," you add in a slightly softer tone. This one is even true, you had not after all intend to get caught and have her come out to confront you.

As you speak a wind passes through the grass, rustling and furtive, the leaves on the trees do not move and you cannot feel it against your skin, yet in its whisper you can hear all too well an urgent message. It is Matthews voice in the wind and yet it is not, as though he is borrowing the voice of some other ethereal presence "Get out while you still can girl, go to a place where you have allies behind you and wards around you. This isn't a fight you can win and she will hunt you..."

A breath echoes, a tremble in a voice far off. "She's asking questions about Gorfel, she will ask about you as well soon and I'll have to tell her. They have Cindy."

Kidnapping a little girl, well you guess that settles the 'is Katrina evil' question definitively, you think, carefully keeping the flash of anger off your face. Though would she just be doing it for information? It seems to you that just the threat would be enough to get the old man to talk when he would have no reason to protect you or Harry. They want him to do something and that something cannot just be 'join up' not if they are the least clever over the long run a compelled servant is an enemy in the ranks, they need him for something soon.

"And I did not mean to interrupt your business of the day," Katrina says, seemingly deaf to the voice of the spirit, confirming that it had been meant for you alone. The implication is obvious, 'best be on with it.'

She does not want to get bogged down in an irrelevant conflict. Only it is more relevant than she knows and Matthews is about to tell her so, not that you can blame the man.

What do you do next?

[] Leave as instructed, if she plans to confront you on some lonely stretch of road you will know precisely where she is and have control of her car

[] Try to persuade Matthews to turn the tables in Katrina, you can find Cindy afterwards with the Crown (Charisma+Empath Excelency still in effect)

[] Write in

OOC: Even without stunts things worked out pretty well so far.

 

[DragonParadox]

Barbs and Browsing ​

22st of July 2006 A.D.

She is never going to be weaker than she is right now, not knowing what you can do, not even knowing that you are an enemy, the thought passes through your mind like fire racing through dry grass. If you could sway Matthews to help that would be two against one and he in the place of his power, a place Katrina was not minded to assault. If I could catch her between hammer and anvil... The thought cuts off with a sudden jolt. Then what? We kill her and have to deal with the body while who knows how many of the locals could place Matthews or you as being the last people to speak to her?

Usum notes that you could try to capture her as you did Gorfel and 'dispose of her' in some more discrete way. Quite apart from the proposal of cold blooded killing which is not exactly something you want to have as plan A that assumes you can safely capture someone like her, someone the bearer of Thorned Namshiel calls an equal.

So slowly, reluctantly you nod not so much for her as for any spirits Matthews may have on you. As you get in your car, hidden by the humming of the engine you say for the benefit of ethereal ears: "Don't worry, I'll help you get her back."

"Keep an eye on Black Rider Clippy," you say as you cross the creek and make the turn onto the freeway.

"Confirmed."

"See if Cindy had a MySpace account or something and pull up a picture..."

A few minutes later the image of a dark haired girl looking maybe four years older than she had in the pictures at the Matthews place, around twelve pops up on screen, just her goofing around with friends. 'Driver's Ed' one picture is captioned and it's her and a friend in bumper cars at a fair.

You feel your desire to stab the people responsible for kidnapping her right into a wall only getting more intense.

By the time you are back in the city Katrina is still on the freeway, she had not tried to overtake you on the road after all. Maybe like you she had chosen to be cautious in the face of an unknown threat. Unsurprisingly Matthews is in the back seat, though they do not talk much about whatever 'agreement' the Thule society had forced on the old man only that the sorceress seems to have made an oath to let the girl go free unharmed in body and mind once Matthews task is done. What that task might be you do not know, only that his safety is not assured.

Then, just as you pull in to the parking lot nearest to Saint Mary's Rider picks up the telltale signs of Katriana fiddling with her phone and while she is distracted Matthews asks. "So then will Capricorpus be joining in the Black Feast you have planned for the Eldest Ankou orto you just plan to use her for bait?"

"A mantle divided is a mantle lessened vitki, not that I expect one of your stature to understand. A pity you were not so curious about these things in your youth else our meeting might have been different," Katrina answers.

"Pity... I find it hard to believe you even know the meaning of the word my lady," the old man replies anger flaring like the last flickers in a cold hearth.

"A waste then," she replies uncaring of the jab.

So they are trying to trap the Ankou Harry had been set to look for by Mab for something called a Black Feast, from context consume his power, but it sounds like they do not have him yet, so why can't Mab find him? Had she deceived Harry in order to get him to help against the Thule Society? On the one hand you do not doubt that Mab could do the 'literally true lies' thing better than almost anyone else but why would she have to? It feels like you have the edges of the puzzle done and are still missing the center. Is this how Harry feels all the time?

What do you do next?

[] Go see Harry along with Father Forthil as he shows the tape to the CPD, if you are going to spring him before Monday it's going to take some fast talking especially since the argument is 'this is weird supernatural stuff you do not want to get mixed into'

[] Call Gard, ask her if she has a sister with a sideline in kidnapping children and trying to eat retired death gods. You could use some backup even if it is gangsters

[] Get your dad, this might not be the business of the Knights but the Sword will shine regardless where there are innocents to be saved

[] Get more information from Bob, maybe he knows who Capricorpus is, that's a new name

[] Search for Cindy with the Crown if you can get her out Katrina loses her leverage on Matthews

[] Write in

OOC: Regardless of what you choose here you will of course give Forthil the tape.

 

[DragonParadox]

Of Wicked Workings ​

22st of July 2006 A.D.

"Did something else happen?" Father Forthil asks as he takes the tape. He sounds worried, though to be fair that might be because the radio is changing on its own as the Wagon looks for a decent station. He probably thinks it's malfunctioning because of magic.

"I met someone who's involved in bad things, maybe not framing Harry, but a little girl god kidnapped to get her grandfather to do something. It would be really good if you could get Harry out soon. "

He sighs and shakes his head, a few drops of the errant summer that had just passed rain flying off his shoulders. "Getting a judge to hear a request for bail before Monday is beyond all but perhaps the FBI agents themselves and even for them it would not be easy to arrange. Judges are... ornery about their free time. With the courts being as backed up as they are I can't say I blame them for all I wish they would make an exception in this case I don't think that's likely."

Bob it is then, not that you had expected something else. From what Clippy had been able to find about Cook County Jail it does not seem like the sort of place you walk out of easily, innocent or not.

After rolling past a McDonald Drivethrough to get a Big Mac and a particularly sad looking salad as well as one small burger each for Mouse and Mister to keep them from getting bored with their food if nothing else, you spend the drive to Harry's with one hand on the wheel that mostly moves itself while you text dad:

Found proof Harry was out of town, tape with Father F. It's spooky out there. Pls. get your stuff and meet me outside Harry's apartment

There that should be relatively innocuous even if the NSB people had bugged your phone and you had only shortened the message a little, much as it pains you to spell everything out like you are writing a letter in cursive. The last thing you need is a back and fourth chain of text explaining stuff. If reading through Wright's phone had taught you anything about snooping it's that context is king.

****​

As Mister picks carefully at the meat inside the hamburger Mouse had already eaten his in one bite before leading you through the wards to the lab again. He's obviously happy that you had found something to help exonerate Harry though he's worried as you would expect at the thought of more dark wizards in town and as angry as you are at the thought of a little girl kidnapped. Hopefully Bob can help you unravel the mystery.

The eyes of the skull flare open as soon as Clippy's lantern hits him this time.. "Why hello there. Miss me already?" He tries for a husky voice, but the limitations of form being what they are, it comes out more like dry and clinking.

"Desperately," you deadpan. "Listen I met someone nasty and I bugged their car with a demon, it's not important..."

"Oh sure, sure I see acts of divine authority enacted upon servitor spirits all the time," he mimics your tone, then when you look at his startled he honest to goodness cackles. "The look on your face."

A reluctant smile creeps onto your face. "I would tell you to go into stand up comedy but you can't," you quip back. You wait for the clattering laugh to pass and continue. "They mentioned a person, I think it was: Capricorpus."

The laughter is gone from Bob in and instant, his eye flames dimming down to embers hiding in the deep sockets of the skull. "Oh no, no, no she is supposed to be dead, like for real dead though."

She you quickly learn had earned well the name Capricorpus, a body jumping necromancer and former apprentice of the departed and unregreted Big Bad himself, Kemmler. According to Bob the Corpsetaker had been around for the big showdown on Halloween where she had been able to change bodies with Warden Captain Lucio while mortally wounded and she would have gotten away with it as well it Harry hadn't noticed the chance and shot her. You are a bit vague on what a Warden Captain is, but from Bob's manner you guess it's a big deal,

"Wait a second, if Harry is supposed to have killed her did he fight off her death curse or is he still under it?" you ask, starting to get an inkling on what might have happened.

"Harry said he surprised her..." Bob starts but you cut him off.

"Maybe, or maybe the body-snatcher didn't have as narrow a view of life and death as the rest of us. I mean the only difference between projecting your Hun soul out of your body and being a Hun soul ghost is that one has a astral chord and the other does not, well that and the ghost needs direct spiritual infusion to sustain themselves instead of being sustained by the Po soul bridging the soul-body divide, but that is the difference between running your oil lamp on whale oil or on kerosene, both make light they just smell different."

"You would have to be really bent to think that way as a mortal..." Bob trails off considering the implication. "So you think she didn't use her death curse because she did not think she was dying?"

"And because she had better uses for that power," you nod. "Revenge is nice, but survival is better because you can still have your revenge as a side-dish and still do other things once it's done." That felt like a very Usum sort of thought, but he had not spoken at all, you guess you have just learned to anticipate how the logic of something like the Corpsetaker would work.

"Ankou is probably hunting her, rider of the stolen steeds," Bob offers

"And Katrina is hunting him with the Corpsetaker as bait," you finish. "Trying to eat his power or something with a ritual, she called it the Black Feast..."

"That's... odd," the spirit says slowly and for the first time since you met him it is like he is struggling to remember something which for a spirit of intellect is odd in and off itself. "The Black Feast is a form of metaphagy, soul eating basically though that is not a good translation because souls aren't meat. You do not break them up for energy but co-opt them for knowledge. There has to be a level of mutual understanding and an equilibrium reached between he who consumes and that which is consumed."

Though the lecture you are nodding along, it all makes sense by your understanding of how souls work.

"Just one problem though," Bob continues. "As far as I know the Black Feast was designed in imitation of the way the Black Court feed, drinking more than their blood and it only works on mortals not elder fey."

"How sure are you of that?" you probe.

"I could show you the math for it, Harry never wants to see the math," Bob says, starting to sound a bit more chipper again.

"Maybe later, I'm on the clock right now," you demure. You are pretty sure you know what he means by 'the math' and it would take days or weeks to run though the heuristics and harmonies of ritual magic. Also I probably should not be learning soul eating rituals, you remind yourself. It is surprisingly easy to forget that around Bob. "Cliff notes, why doesn't it work on immortals like the Ankou?"

"Because the main stem of the magic is a shared understanding and shared fear of death, it is the only truly human thing the Black Court keept and since it was inspired from their feeding..."

"You might as well start from scratch and make a new ritual. That is still more than I knew when I came down here." you finish getting up to leave. "Thanks again Bob, you're a lifesaver maybe literally."

"Take care of yourself out there will you," he says and you are about to tell him not to worry when he adds. "It would be a waste in more ways than one if you died." And then he checks you out again.

"Never change Bob," you chuckle at the now silent skull.

Gain 2 Essence

Your dad hadn't arrived by the time you leave the apartment leaving you enough time to call Gard or use your Crown to figure out where Cindy is before he gets here. Meanwhile Katrina had long since left her own car parked.

What do you do next?

[] Call Gard, ask her if she has a sister with a sideline in kidnapping children and trying to eat retired death gods. You could use some backup even if it is gangsters

[] Search for Cindy with the Crown if you can get her out Katrina loses her leverage on Matthews

[] All this talk of old Welsh spirits turned winter's fixers make you think of Lydia and in particular her globetrotting father. This is probably not how Daniel anticipated introducing his girlfriend to dad, but needs must

[] Write in

OOC: Harry will have quite the... er... interesting reaction when he finds out what kind of magic Bob was talking to Molly about.

 

[DragonParadox]

The Enduring and the Lost ​

22st of July 2006 A.D.

The phone rings once, twice, three times making you wonder if Gard is one of those people who doesn't take calls from unknown numbers easy. Do telemarketers trouble occult specialists for the mob very often? you wonder biting back a laugh at the mental image that conjures. Finally the cool voice on the other end replies: "Yes?"

"Hello, this is Molly Carpenter, we met when dealing with a particular group... aggressive litterers." Gorfel and company had left all sorts of spent shell casings and blood all over the place not to mention the chaos at the restaurant. "One of them is back and she felt..." there is no way you can talk about this in code, short of asking her to come meet with you on faith alone you cannot keep the veil up. On the other hand what you actually have to say would make any judge think you are role-playing or crazy so at least they would not be able to use it against you officially. "One of them felt like you, red hair, grey eyes, rune studded jacket. She kidnapped a girl and is planning to consume the mantle of a retired death god."

From the other side of the line all you can hear is silence, not even the sound of her breathing. "Helo, are you still...?"

"Yes," the word is harsh and edged with a burst of static. "Where did you see her, when?"

"Three hours ago, pretty far out of town, but she's in Chicago now. I have... ways of tracking her."

Just because you want her help doesn't mean you want to reveal some of your most scary tricks to someone who works for Marcone. "Me and dad are going after her. "

"A warning for thee and for thine sire before all else," Gard replies her voice level again. "This would not be the first time Katrina crossed swords with the servants of the White God and while she had not met that Sword she is no less dangerous for it. An even field is no guarantee of victory."

"That is why I'm gonna make it really uneven. I just want to know how best to do that, though if you would like to help..."

"I would, others would as well, but she has chosen her moment well, Katrina took well to the lesson of patience if nothing else."

"Well OK then I'm outside of Harry's and dad's on the way. We can meet up at the..."

***​

Half an hour later Gard walks through the dubiously clean glass door of the Burger King across from Harry's place, heralded by the sound of screeching wheels, though one would not think she is flustered from the way she saunters in like she owns the place. The people one table over from yours certainly seem to think she does from the way they scurry away under her glare, to your dad's unspoken disapproval.

You had time to catch him up on what had happened this morning before Gard arrived and he had mostly agreed that you had made the best of a bad situation, but he had been a lot more worried about Capricorpus than you had and you could tell that as much as he wants to help he would prefer that you not be involved fighting someone like that. Hopefully Gard's help is going to calm his nerves a little even if she is a bitch.

"Miss Carpenter, Sir Knight," the woman introduces herself. "Even if nothing more comes out of this you have my thanks for finding Katrina. Monoc Securities lost track of her in '89 and we have not been able to find her since."

Part of you wants to ask what Monoc securities is, but something tells you it it bad form to be nosy right from the get go. Instead you offer helpfully. "She goes by Katrina Hoff now, no internet presence, but property records match a place in Boston."

Lost 1 Essence

It feels weird to manually find the screenshots Clippy tracked down, but you do not want to reveal her either.

"Þetta fer allt í hring." Though you do not understand the words she murmurs under her breath you hear the sorrow in the tone all too well. "Hoff was an estate in Småland, Sweden, the place she was born, the bastard daughter of an English priest back in the days when there barely was an England, a holy man they called him later and perhaps he was, but I had no reason to love him and Cwenhild as she was then had even less cause."

OK now that you can't not ask about... "What is she?" What are you? the question is implied.

"Now she is a traitor, a bloody handed coward, barely fit for Hella's realm. If you mean to ask what she was, she was the last of the Valkyrja the Choosers of the Slain." Gard shakes her head, as though trying to banish a particularly troublesome fly, but you doubt memories and regrets will be so easily cast off. "Perhaps her fate was always a dark one, made a herald of the Victory Bringer on the eve of his defeat. Now is matters little, my sister is as dead to me as if she had been burned to ash in Surt's flames and the ashes cast into the depths of the sea. All that is left to do is slay the murderer who wears her face."

Realizing you are sitting across from a minor Norse Goddess while sipping a Coke is not as weird as the phrase would imply. Maybe it's that you are the one who had brought up retired gods, maybe it's just that you know for a fact that your dad more powerful beings regularly, maybe you are just weird yourself. Wait a second... Gard is a Valkyrie who works for Monoc Security. You might as well ask "Is Odin still around?"

"We are none of us quite what we were but we remember still honor and valor. Even in this changed world, there will still be warriors true and so there must be those who choose."

Gain 2 Essence

So that is a yes on Odin, in some form at least. Looks like whatever you will be revealing here will get to the ears higher than just Marcone, but can you afford to keep anything back when a little girl's life is on the line?

What powers of yours do you reveal?

[] [Reveal] Write in

When do you ask about Katrina, Gard, Valkyrie s or Monoc Security?

[] [Ask] Write in

OOC: I thought about pushing through this, but as good as your roll was for getting in touch, and it was nonsense good, this is a really touchy subject not just for her but for all her sisters. How open she is with you will depend on what you are with her as much as on your next rolls.

 

[DragonParadox]

Blinded Eyes and Broken Moments ​

22st of July 2006 A.D.

After a moment's thought you give a fair accounting of the powers you are likely to use in a duel, not only are you likely to use them in a duel thus making any secrecy moot, but if Marcone interrogated Ace and his ilk Gard would know about all of that already. When it comes to subtler arts though... "I have some skill in divinination enough that I can track Katrina's car in real time."

Lost 1 Essence

"Her car, not her?" Gard asks with what sounds like nothing more then professional interest.

"Her car is a several ton hunk of steel hurtling through the air at speeds that few things that large do in nature. It disturbs the ambient magic a wee bit more than she does." That is technically true even if it's not how you track the Black Rider.

You had been a little worried your dad would give the game away, but he keeps his poker face firmly in place and your new ally does not seem suspicious. She launches into an account of her own prowess, bluntly explaining that she is skilled enough with an axe to have sent many people to their gods as well as being a fair shot with a gun. In terms of magic, what she terms seid Gard prefers warding and protection, being able to deflect spells and curses raise and empower circles as well as cut off her enemies from her magic, though she is just as frank with the limitation of the last one. "I think Katrina and whatever maggot-master she has with her are beyond my power to seal away from their magic."

Lastly she is able to cast a Ward of Warning if you have time to prepare the battleground, basically a ward that instinctively drives ordinary people away from the warded place while also guiding them a little as to the easiest and safest way out. So not only will it not drive someone into oncoming traffic, but it would even make them avoid hidden dangers like landmines.

Part of you is really curious as to when she had to fight with magic next to landmines, but this is not the time for twenty questions you have an enemy to deal with.

"In her mortal life Katrina was a seer as well, far did she see and subtle was her mind, yet as her sight grew stronger, her bitterness grew also, she saw herself going down the cold halls of ages made less than she was, less than she had been promised while the people of Midgard forgot us, while the memory of gods twisted into giants and trolls like an old tree gnarled in poisoned soil. Like a cup with poison she was filled all in secret..."

The blonde woman looks down at the table as though the worn plastic holds the secrets of the universe, then she shakes her head and in a voice even softer explains. "Katrina wished for more than the wisdom of seeing the threads the Norn's weave, she wished to hold them in her hands, to change and to warp them. But what seid we may master is not our choice, not even the Allfather's. Yet in the end she found a way though it cost her station and her honor. She killed three of our sisters and anointed herself with their blood in black rites I do not know the name of nor do I wish to. She gained powers over time, among the rarest and most perilous of magics. Firstly she can entrance the weak of will by changing their perception of time so that they waste minutes in what seems to them an instant, secondly even a strong warrior who faces her might see her limbs slowed as in encased in lead or even halted altogether as if they had been turned to stone. This she can do in and instant, be one veiled even in the arts of Loki himself. "

"Er... wow," you breathe, used to being the one with the magical bullshit rather than facing it. "So if she freezes you how do you get unfrozen. Does it take a spell or...?"

"The lightest touch can break the spell thankfully, anything more than a raindrop. That is the reason why it is a fool's errand to attack her without trusted allies at your back and likely the reason why she decided to come to Chicago now. None of my sisters are available to help until Tuesday at the earliest. Perhaps Katrina thought I would not dare confront her with only mortal allies at my back, or perhaps she hoped so. Katrina never had much respect for mortals."

"So she cannot simply trap multiple foes at once?" you dad asks.

"She can, but it is more difficult for her and she does not have eyes on the back of her head no matter how quick she is to react," Gard explains grimly, though there is a gleam of something bright almost hungry in her eyes, the hope of vengeance after who knows how many years.

"How is she in a fight without the time-warping bu... er nonsense?" you ask, as though you had tripped over your tongue. To be fair you do that from time to time, but now you get the sense hat seeming young is one way to get Gard to open up a bit more.

"Skilled enough to hold me off for a while, not skilled enough to best me." The tone makes you suspect she had the opportunity to test that at some point.

You nod thoughtfully, trying to take another sip of the Coke only to realize it's empty. "I don't suppose you have a better guess of what might be with her other than 'necromancers'."

Gard can only shake her head. "It very much depends on what her task here is, but you can be sure she will have allies with her of one sort or another."

"Her task is to consume the Eldest Ankou. I don't suppose you've met..." You have some suspicions about Lydia, but that's all they are and you would rather have someone without your... aura initiate diplomacy.

"Ankou... those are Mab's death guards right? I haven't met their leader no."

Darn, there goes that idea. After explaining what you understand and that you had seen of Matthews' magic you ask one more question: "What does the Wanderer do these days?"

For the firs time in the conversation Gard smiles, though the twitch of her lips is gone so fast you might have imagined it. She hands you a business card with marked with a circle bisected by a straight line. Omega and Iota overlapped, you realize looking more closely, every last detail, but it also kind of looks like an eye and a cut over it, the blind and all-seeing eye. The card also have an address in thick gothic lettering and of course a phone number. "I'd rather let him explain it, he's better at it than me"

"In other words it is likely her patron has a proposition for you, but one she does not wish to make before your sire," Usum hisses in the back of your mind.

"Thanks," you quickly put Odin's business card in your purse. you would be lying if you said you are not curious. That still sounds surreal to think... but probably not as much as it should.

What do you do next?

[] Search for Cindy with the Crown if you can get her out Katrina loses her leverage on Matthews

[] All this talk of old Welsh spirits turned winter's fixers make you think of Lydia and in particular her globetrotting father. This is probably not how Daniel anticipated introducing his girlfriend to dad, but needs must

[] Ask Gard if Marcone would be inclined to lend a hand, from the sound of things more bodies will at least distract Katrina and might divide her power

[] Try to ambush Katrina by her car, you know where it is and by all appearances she does not know you know

[] Write in

OOC: Not all the answers you guys hoped for, but more than you had preciously.

 

[DragonParadox]

What Goes Bump in the Dark​

22st of July 2006 A.D.

"I think..." you trail off, the lie swift to your lips. "I think I can find Matthews granddaughter now. I just need a few minutes outside to look. Do you mind...?"

"Be careful, there are wards to snare the eye of the unwary seer," Gard answers, though the look in her eye is less one of worry and more of contemplation. Odds are she realized you do not want her to see how you do your divination. Well good for her then, you refuse to feel guilty over a reasonable precaution.

Clippy flips to the girl's picture without needing to be asked and as you set your mind upon it you ask simply: "What is the swiftest path to her?"

Lost 1 Essence

This time the vision does not fade into view around as you as it had at Saint Mary's. Instead you feel as if some unseen force yanks you out of your body and you are hurled formless and insubstantial across the city, you are the whisper behind a thousand voices, you are the sharp glare of traffic lights, the shrill call of a car alarm that goes off without reason, until you come to what looks like a tattoo parlor, though you would not be caught dead inside Karl's Tats' and Piercings because it looks like the kind of place where people have been caught dead, of blood poisoning. You do not get much of a sense of the people inside other than they seem to be of the big, beefy and startlingly well armed variety and yet they are all eerily quiet.

There's a trap door in one of the storage rooms that leads down to a basement that had not always been a basement, then down some rickety stairs into a maintenance tunnel that had not seem much maintenance filled with the odor of refuse and human waste, but the deeper you go the more the signs change, from gang marks to just plain weird graffiti to things that start to look like the markings of the occult, from refuse to old blood to half-gnawed animal bodies and a moment later you see what's doing the gnawing... Sometimes you wish your power were a bit less detailed with the answers.

Hunched and snarling though long double-jointed jaws, dirty claws pulling the meat off the bones ghouls bear all the worst features of a bloated corpse and a hyena mingled together. But these are not just mindless beasts, you know, the most horrifying part about ghouls is that they are born with a hunam-like mind and roughly human sensitivities as well as an unspeakable hunger for the flesh of man. Every single ghoul is driven in some way mad by their broken nature.

Spoiler: Ghouls

There shouldn't be this many of them here fighting over half a stray dog, you realize as you rush past. Something had called them here and by blandishments or by force made guards of them. Past the ghouls there is a heavy iron grate and beyond that to your surprise rusted iron bed-frame set against a brick wall of what might once have been a fancy wine cellar from the hoops quietly rusting not far from it. On the bed, apparently sleeping quietly is the girl you have been looking for apparently sleeping soundly, though the occult markings carved into the wall above her give lie to the impression. Four spears set int a line. Four and three and three and seven lines...

Spoiler: Odd marks

"A spell of slumber and a ward all at once that draws on the life of the bespelled," Usum whispers in the back of your mind. "A way to set a ward where no threshold is. Clever..."

Just as the vision fades you feel a foulness on the tongue and at the edge of hearing the labored breathing in anticipation of one who no longer needs breath. The chamber is not as empty as it seems.

"Well," you start as your dad and Gard come out of the restaurant. "I know where she is and how to get there, Undertown." Harry had told you to avoid it, but that had been exploring alone not with your dad and even more backup. "There's a bunch of mortal thralls guarding the entrance, then a bunch of ghouls... er you know what those are right?"

Gard snorts, though she looks more amused than annoyed. "Yes." Dad just nods.

"Then there is as warded iron gate with the ward linked to Cindy's life-force.."

"The svefnthorn." Now the Valkyrie looks offended, but not at you. "That she would dare to twist it to such purpose. Nevermind, go on."

"I got a feeling like there's ghosts just on the other side, maybe guards, maybe just watchers."

"Good work," Gard says, curt as ever but no less sincere for it. "We need to burn out all the electronics in the tatoo parlor before we go in to make sure the thralls can't send out an alarm then deal with the corpse eaters the usual way. I'll handle the ward and I assume..." she glances at dad. "The sword you bear cuts specters as easily as flesh."

"When there is need," your dad agrees. "What do you intend to do about the people that were enchanted?"

"We could just disarm and tie them up," you say quickly. "Or... we could try to get Special Investigations involved to have some kind of official cover for all the mess."

You expect Gard to suggest asking her boss or employer you guess for some goons. She surprises you. "Or we could leak this to the agents who have Dresden, even if they are infiltrated institutionally the sight of a ghoul nest would clarify their immediate loyalties very well. If we are subtle enough and linger close we can made it seem as if their tool are being too independent and force Katrina into the open on our terms."

What do you sugest?

[] Move in to save Cindy at once

[] Leak the location of the ghouls to Wright and his team

[] Try to speak to Lydia, you suspect her father is somehow involved

[] Wait to see if Father Forthil can get Harry out with Murphy's help

[] Write in

OOC: The question could have been 'What obstacles are on the swiftest path between me and where Cindy is being held?' but your power is not a literal genie, it showed you were she is with the most amount of detail it could manage with an eye for your intent which was a rescue mission.

 

[DragonParadox]

Prisons Within and Without ​

22st of July 2006 A.D.

Cook County Jail Illinois

Jail was a lot less Shawshank Redemption and a lot more industrial packing for prisoners, I thought as I looked around the long grim room with steel framed double beds under the glare of harsh fluorescent lights. No one in here had heard, nor particularly cared about Harry Dresden the wizard, they were all too busy complaining about the slop they fed us or the scorching heat of summer than beat down on the steel and concrete box we were all stuck in. I had always wondered why cigarettes were so common in jail even after people started smoking them less on the outside, turns out that the answer was boredom. Being in jail was mind numbing even as the guards tried to keep our bodies moving.

Now thankfully I am a honest to goodness wizard which means I always have something to do as long as I have a clear head and some place to sit down, meditate. If only I could clear my head. The light above me started to flicker weird colors as stray magic got at the gas inside. I wasn't really in the mood for meditating.

Part of me wondered if I could have bullshited my way out of Wright's little recruitment pitch. He did not sound like he knew enough to ask a wizard to swear on his power and any organization that was willing to bend the system like that to get their own pet wizard didn't deserve the courtesy of an honest answer. Trouble was I'm also not the best liar...

"If only you would accept my aid my host you could be a remarkably good one," a soft feminine voice heavy with exasperation sighed in my ear.

"Yeah, just let you use me like a puppet for a bit and I'll be fine," I answer sarcastically.

"Even if I wanted to retain full control of your voice and face beyond what is agreed upon I could not do it long and the loss of trust that would incur would have been catastrophic," she replies. "I suppose little Molly Carpenter will have to deal as best she can with the would be heirs of Heinrich Kemmler."

She had almost gotten me with that one. Molly had a habit of running towards trouble and not away from it and she was powerful enough to get in a whole heap of it. In the end I reminded myself that she has Michael and Charity in her corner to bail her out. Between one of the knights of the cross and the woman who took a hammer to the gates of Arctis Tor she would be fine enough,

"Assuming she tells them about the investigation of course," Lash needled. Normally I would shut her down about now, but better her company than no company. "If she is trying to make sure they don't worry then you should keep an eye on the news. Who knows, maybe we'll see 'girl with hellfire sword' gets into a fight with police." She sounded like she found the idea deeply amusing, not that it really surprised me, she'd been laughing and joking through Wright's whole recruitment pitch. The worst part was she was getting funnier.... Was reverse Stockholm Syndrome a thing? I wondered.

"Yes, it's called Lima Syndrome," she helpfully replied. "I demand more exercise or I'm going to start banging cups on the bars."

She was wearing a orange jumper now that clashed badly with her hair and even more so with her bearing. You do try to keep from smiling, though I do not quite manage it.

The rest of the physical prisoners instinctively avoided by eyes because even regular people could feel a soul gaze starting which meant I more of less registered as dangerous and/or crazy and most of these people just wanted to get on with their lives.

"Harry Dresden!" the call of one of the guards interrupted the conversation before it could get any further. "Your lawyer's here."

***​

It was strange to see Father Anthony Forthil in a suit and even stranger to see him look look over the room with suspicion than glare at the camera. "That had better not be recording audio or there will be consequences."

Turning to you with a sigh and a weary expression that deepens the wrinkles you cannot usually see he starts "We now have proof that you were not in Chicago for the events they have charged you for, unless of course someone wants to make the case before a judge that you can be in two places at once. If one of the agents were to come to you with let's say a softer offer that's why. You do not have to take it, but I have not been able to get your case before a judge for bail before Monday so if you really want to get out of here today or tomorrow you might want to at least listen to what they are offering."

"How's Molly doing. Is she...?"

"She's fine. Busy..." the word has all manner of worrying connotations. "Busier than anyone her age should be, but to each it is given to bear our own cross and none beyond our messure. She said to tell you that she's been looking after Mouse and Mister."

"So... what are you willing to bet on her having found and spoken to Bob?" Lash interjected again. "I'm sure he gave her all sorts of fun ideas."

That sounded disturbingly likely and just plain disturbing.

"I'll keep that in mind Father," he replied to the priest. "Is her father also helping."

"Yes." I could see him hesitate for a moment before adding. "Do not agree to anything you are not comfortable with Harry, I'm doing everything I can to clear your name and to clear up certain misunderstandings about what is and is not reasonable behavior from federal agents."

Church backchannels then. I really didn't want him to put his neck on the line for me, but on the other hand it wasn't just me that was in trouble. It was rarely that simple when queen Mab asked for 'a simple favor'. "So nothing too bad's happened."

He lowers his voice so low you can hardly hear it. "Cindy Matthews has been kidnapped. Do you know anything that can help."

"God damn it!" I can feel my cheeks going red at saying that in front of a priest. I shake my head no as Lash looks over at you over his shoulder. I half expect some sharp quip, but she is quiet, thinking. Is it too late to go back to the quips?

OOC: Harry is not used to being stuck like this and Lash is taking advantage of his frustration as much as she can.