Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

[DragonParadox]

Signs for the Seeking ​

24st of July 2006 A.D.

"Dad do you mind if Lydia comes along with us tomorrow? To... Ohio?" You hesitate as much because you still don't know precisely where you are going as because you invited someone else along on the father-daughter evil fighting mission. It's for a good cause OK, you tell your conscience. Unlike the demon in your head it does not talk back, but it does twinge from time to time.

There's a pause as dad turns off the sound on the basketball game he had been watching.

"It's going to be dangerous," he points out reasonably.

"She knows, I get the feeling she just wants to do something good, have an impact on the world you know, what with her life being turned upside down. Being around people who aren't gonna freak when she starts to glow is probably important to her as well."

He shakes his head, not so much in denial as puzzlement you would say.

"God moves in mysterious ways?" you try, your voice rising into a question almost without meaning to.

"That he does Molly... that he does," he chuckles. "Remind Lydia to check in with her father's lawyer and keep in contact. She should bring a camping bag as well in case we have to get off the road. I don't plan to but you never know with these sorts of trips."

You quickly settle what Lydia is supposed to bring along. The difference between camping for fun and camping 'on the job' seems to be mostly a lot more medical supplies, though the negotiations over what snacks to bring remains all too familiar:

"Daad, I can literally live off chips, crackers and Mars Bars and be healthy as a horse, it's part of the whole superpower package. As long as I get remotely enough calories I'm fine."

"Think you can make that point to your mother?"

Touche

In the end the ratio of junk food to actual food does not resemble the 'how not to eat' part of a school PSA, but you get most of your favorites in and you are pretty sure that Lydia's weird assortment of European candies will be fine. More importantly you find out where in Ohio you are all going.

***​

"Cleveland...?" Not the most exciting place for an adventure, but maybe there is some secret part of Cleveland that has vampire dance clubs and underground fey grunge rock concerts or something. Then dad sets down a pamphlet that had just arrived, seemingly by accident, though really by Providence according to him.

Soul's Rest Wellness Clinic, is emblazoned in golden lettering on the front. It does not take more than a look down the glossy pictures of smiling seniors to realize that this is a retirement home on the banks of Lake Eerie. Golden years, golden memories seems to be their motto. "Any idea what's wrong with this place. Feelings? Signs?" You could just ask of course... but you only get one question and if you ask the wrong one from lack of context there goes that lead.

"Not any kind of sign from on high but one thing stands out, the price they are advertising on line is too low for the services they are offering," dad explains. "I did a bit of digging myself and they are blowing the competition out of the water. The simplest mundane explanation for things like this in my experience is money laundering, but there is little chance I would feel a pull for something like that."

"Leave that with me dad..." Leave it with me and my digital friends. You are not the only one who has grown since the fight with Katrina. Like explorers cutting their way through a dark forest of knowledge and secrets Clippy and her kin had learned how to navigate the internet and growing bold they had learned to walk beyond the lighted paths. Passwords, keys, locks and ports all these they navigate like fish in the sea.

There's something else you would like to know about of course. So far the investigation into the Museum has been all over the news of course, how could it not be with twenty eight people gruesomely killed and no suspect in sight, but law enforcement has been very tight-lipped about the whole thing. One of the few things you know for certain is that there is federal involvement... Daedalus

So you now set them to search for more information on Soul's Rest and on project Deadalus.

How deep do you want your assistants try to to dig into this?

[] [Daedalus] Light, hack a few agents email accounts, get a feel for their basic procedures as well as more on how they see the supernatural. Also includes data on the Museum incident

[] [Daedalus] Medium, hack the internal network, full personnel files, see how they get their funding and from whom, who are their allies and their rivals

[] [Daedalus] Heavy, you mine as much personal data as you can fit on the agents, seek out their most secure files, if it has an internet connection and is associated with them you want to have access to it

[] [Daedalus] Write in

[] [Soul's Rest] Light, track the staff and the residents. Are the latter communicating with their families? If so what are they saying

[] [Soul's Rest] Heavy, Try to get into the company financial data

[] [Soul's Rest] Write in

OOC: Normally Michael would just get signs to lead him to the place of interest when he is sent in a mission like this, but someone knows a party to this search has computer magic so you get a bit of a heads' up to start the digital search.

 

[DragonParadox]

Cybernetic Infiltration Report Alpha​

Target: Daedalus Project/National Security Branch/Federal Bureau of Investigations

Penetration Level: Light

Methodology
Making use of preexisting contact within the device of the mortal agent designated 'Wright' we quickly extracted the full complement of regularly used passwords {Minor aside: Contempt for Repetition/fallible human memory requiring it}. Extraction of the full report of the events at the Museum of Science and Industry and Security in Chicago on 22/07/2006 was followed by infiltration of the account of one of his less experienced colleagues, James Castle, who also took part in the observation of the Museum and the debrief afterwards.

Said lack of experience was instrumental in discovering introductory documents which he accessed repeatedly in addition to psychological welfare aid {query: reason for mental damage unclear?/source potentially compromised} . All information obtained from Castle was thus exposed to more through testing to account for his potential dissatisfaction with baseline material reality. No discrepancies were found, beyond expected baseline biases of his organization.

After Action Report
Confirmation of Class 9 Esper activity {See Terminology and General knowledge} and LLE hot spot as well as memetic dangers which pushed agents on site off the property during initial investigation. The agents on sight initially estimated a much lower threat rating due to their equipment remaining in good order though later analyses of the bodies as well as the anomalous flooding confirmed a breech into a para-terestrial realm. No samples of foreign matter could be recovered due to the dilution in water from the broken pipes as a result of what Doctor Richards called 'the principle of sympathy'. Both the ritualistic nature of the deaths and the symbolism used indicates a connection to Cluster C Beliefs {Note: Germanic and Celtic Pantheons/Frustration}.

Signs of defensive post mortem animation in many of the victims would indicate that the breach did not go to plan, either to to PTEs entering reality using said breach as a path or due to intervention by other interested agents within the city. Due to the pattern of camera failure in starting at 9:03 at the main entrance the latter seems more likely. Forensic data is still being gathered for processing, made more difficult by the fact that the large number of postmortem animations require the use of specialists with the highest level of clearance.

There is no sign of lingering LLE presence either during the day or at night, thermals have not detected any anomalous signs associated with the chamber that seems to have been the focus of the ritual. Signs of SAP {Note Spontaneous Anomalous Combustion/Extreme Frustration} are consistent with an High Threat Esper conflict. Lawmaker activity cannot be ruled out particularly given the fact that their agent Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden had been freed more than three hours earlier, giving him more than enough time to reach the scene in time to be the attacking agent. Pursuant on investigations from central no attempts were made to contact him again. All charges against him have been dropped.

Cooperation with local law enforcement has been uneven, on the one hand Chicago's Special Investigation Unit has proven very knowledgeable, even possessing certain 'tried and true methodologies of dealing with what goes bump in the night'. Given previous association of their Lieutenant with Dresden we suspect it is Lawmaker-sourced information. I suggest that Karin Murphy be assigned a Lawmaker Collaborator tag and flagged for later investigation. All information gained from Chicago SI has been attached for verification and potential use.

Terminology and General Knowledge

Esper - mortal capable of using magic. They are ranked in an exponential threat scale from 1 to 10. Seemingly biased towards blunt applications of sorcery. Daedalus assumes that those capable of channeling more power are also more flexible and skilled overall. There is some indirect indication that this perception is changing over time, though the insistence on exhaustive experimental data for hard conclusions makes initial biases hard to root out despite the fact that they are based on some of the most incomplete data. {Exasperation/Query Disassociation with reality?}

PTE [Para-Terrestrial Entity] - Colloquially used for any non human being that was created by or can manipulate magic, though it is most properly used for beings of the Spirit World. It is broadly assumes that all PTEs are hostile to human life and dangerous to approach. Field Agents are advised to not approach and contact central command if contacted
-LLE [Life-Like Entities] - Specters; ghosts and spirits. As the name indicates the field-guide indicates that they are not truly the people in whose image they form. Simile used: 'no more than the lure of an Anglerfish is a tasty worm'. Some of the terminology might lead to certain fey being catalogued as such
-ASG [Archetype Spirit Guides] - Animistic spirits which watch over mortal communities from some greater interest. Daedalus seems to recognize this, but they appear to believe that such beings are limited to the American South West. It is advised that these 'PTAs' do not present a memetic threat if contacted

ACE [Anomalous Catalogued Entity] - the proper designation of non-human beings of the material world which have been catalogued and for which some response is designated.
-PMA [Postmortem Animate] - zombie; seem as flesh puppets of a deranged esper 'Kill' on sight' order. Would likely include vampires of the Black Court
-Hemophages - Vampires of the Red Cort - one of the most well catalogued entities, means of holding them at bay, weakening them by draining their blood reserves as well as killing at range are effective and professional, though awareness of their wider organization seems lacking. This may be due to the source of the information being meant for junior agents
-NHH [Non-Human Hominids] - Mortals which do not precisely fit the Daedalus definition of 'human'. small populations of them are said to exist in remote regions of North and South America and Asia. They have remained hidden with the aid of 'Esper-Like Abilities'

AUE [Anomalous Uncatalogued Entity] - the proper designation of non-human beings of the material world which have been catalogued and for which no standard response is yet designated. General procedure is to break contact unless the being presents an immediate threat to human life in which case the agent is authorized to intervene, though with emphasis on preserving the mortal in question not eliminating the threat. No-standard expression used: 'Don't be a cowboy' {Querry what is the significance of herding cows?}

OOC: This is about as High as you could roll for information on Light infiltration. The Soul's Rest info will be in the next proper update as that flows more easily into the investigation proper.

 

[DragonParadox]

On Roads Far and Old ​

24st of July 2006 A.D.

You spend most of the journey 'on your damn phone' as the stereotype goes. Granted you are communing with a dark spirit that dwells within its heart of silicate and which you had let loose upon the world wide web, but it's for a good cause honest: spying on some old people to make sure they are safe. OK that doesn't sound much better, but still. As far as Clippy has been able to tell none of the relatives of the people at the home have registered any complaints with the authorities and while there are complaints sent to the official account of Soul's Rest they are all about normal stuff. Though you are far from an expert in this kind of thing some old people complaining that their bed is too near the east side of the building and they get woken up by the local church and others complaining about the quality of the beans and kidney...

Lydia looks at your curiously as you shudder.

"It's nothing, just looking over the menu at the old folks home," you explain. "There are complaints, but it's all about normal stuff and if their relatives are complaining to the staff about things like this that means they are in contact and mostly fine. I'd probably be more worried about it if everyone seemed Stepford-happy."

"If the staff is doing something weird they probably would not do it to everyone," she offers. "I mean you can tell who's interested and who isn't, who comes to visit mom and pop, so you can use the ones with attentive families..." she cuts off as you pass by an old Sycamore and sneezes. "Sorry, allergies. Like I was saying, unless the bad guys have come way to only get people without family support they are better off using the ones with a support structure as camouflage."

Clippy hums in your hand in electronic agreement. She seems to tentatively like Lydia as much as she likes anyone beside yourself.

"Have you looked into the finances?" dad asks from the front seat, sending a warm glow of pride through you, not so much because he recognizes how useful you are, but because he did it so casually.

Alas the news you give him isn't all good. "It's all tangled up, one company that is 75% owned by another company that's 90% owned by another company..."

"Those are what are called shell companies," Lydia cuts in, tacking a swing of Pepsi against the glare of the noonday sun, more than the Ac could cover. "They help dodge liability and depending on where you put them tax burden."

"Isn't tax evasion illegal?" you ask startled.

At this Lydia ducks her head, looking a little sheepish. "Not if you are rich enough. Then it's just good business sense to find the loopholes."

"So if I were to say that the last of those companies Polku Pharmaceuticals is registered in the Cayman Islands...?"

"Tax heaven," Lydia confirms

"Well that's a dead end then," you sigh. "The company is a ghost online, all I know is that they own Half-moon Ohio Limited which owns Soul's Rest."

"Polku... that is a weird one, what language is that?" Lydia asks.

"No, idea, Clippy look for a translation site."

The phone hums for a bit then comes back with an answer from an online dictionary. Apparently it's Finnish and it means 'Pathways'. Looking up Pathway Pharmaceuticals gets you a weird result. There had been a company by that name headquartered in Cleveland Ohio which had been shut down by the Food and Drug Administration in 1953, but you cannot figure out what for because the rather bare bones website doesn't have records online for why it shut down a company more than half a century ago, but the coincidence is surely too great.

What do you suggest the three of you do when you reach Cleaveland?

[] Stake out Soul's Rest

[] Break into Soul's Rest at once

[] Try to find local records of the 1953 shut down of Pathway Pharmaceuticals

[] Trail some of the staff home

[] Write in

OOC: I'm going to give you guys the full sheet for Lydia at the end of the arc, but so far you discovered she has both a bit of finance and investigation as abilities.

 

[DragonParadox]

Of Elder Poisons ​

24st of July 2006 A.D.

"So. Pathway Pharmaceuticals." You try, and fail, to steal one of your dad's snacks. "There's an FDA office thirty minutes from Cleveland that we could visit and ask why it was closed. We could also go to the local city office and ask for public records dating back to 1953." Lydia makes a face at the last sentence, and you nod. "Yeah. Local government offices can be slow. Orrr.....local paper. Its been 53 years, so any reporter from that time would be in their 70s. And probably retired. But they would have personal knowledge. Whats it going to be first Dad?"

Dad nods and a few minutes later turns on the road towards Brunswick. The town looks more affluent than well planned, a snarl of nineteenth century roads still forming its backbone and yet still somehow more boring than affluent. Redbrick houses with identical trim remind you less of gingerbread houses and more of the little houses you use in Monopoly. As for the office of the FDA that has to be worth at least a thousand dollars in Monopoly money, a big squat building of sandstone and glass that is reaching for modernity with all the energy of someone in the early stages of Thanksgiving food coma reaching for the remote.

"I am certain you could do better Serene Smith of the Divine Ignition," Usum laughs as he flatters leaving you shaking your head, unsure if you should feel guilty or not.

As dad decides to stay in the car you and Lydia go in, already settled on a story to the receptionist. You make up a story about the school paper and how you are really interested in the early history of the FDA after the Durham–Humphrey Amendment. For all the uncanny powers you have gained this last month the ability to seem bubbly and downright fascinated about obscure regulatory action from the fifties might just take the cake.

Lost 1 Essence -> Essence now at 11/12

"That sounds very interesting dear, I'll call up Clive in Records," the lady at the desk finally agrees much to the annoyance of everyone else waiting in line.

The two of you duck out of the reception with Clive, a sandy haired man in his fifties who wears bright orange suspenders and glasses so thick you wonder if his nose hurts to carry them all day. He is as nice as the receptionist and a lot less busy. He helps you navigate the literal halls of Bureaucracy until you get to his cubicle, waving and smiling to people along the way.

Lydia gets him talking about the local geology of all things, which is apparently his hobby and she even promises to write an article in the hypothetical school paper about it, but first thing's first... the 'article' you had come here to research.

You do not even have to bug the computer. Clive looks up local enforcement cases and Pathways just pops right off the screen, it's not a very pleasant popping granted. The words 'psychotic episode' and 'catatonia' come up. From what you can discern Pathways was researching psychoactive drugs back in ye old days of psychology when everyone still thought Sigmund Freud was hot shit, according to Lydia he is really not. Anyway the idea Pathways seemed to be going with was that certain anxieties and neurosis were amplified by dreams when the Id could run rampant so they made a thing called Dreamless Sleep which was supposed to do the thing on the package and it did do that for most people. But there were side effects... ho boy there were side effects. Even reading a summary of a report Clive had pulled out of the archives you wince at the mention of some of that stuff. Some people just didn't wake up, but others got violent, mostly in the form of self harm, but in a handful cases they had attacked those around them with the worst being a man drowning drowning both his children and then shooting himself. There had been a huge uproar at the time and when the connecting factor had been discovered no amount of lawyers could save Pathways.

Unfortunately the documents do not have the names of any of the victims, but you are pretty sure you can work your way back thorough newspaper archives now that you have the dates. To keep up your cover Lydia keeps taking notes of other events at the time, but your own mind is already flying to what spooky things could cause someone to either go catatonic or violent.

Lost 1 Essence -> Essence now at 10/12

The first thing that comes to mind is what your own stupidity had done to Rosie and Nelson, but no, this was not carelessness, it was malice. Still you do not think the violence was the point, not with so few instances of it proportional to the number of pills handed out. Maybe the catatonia. That is a really nasty way to go and it is also pretty uncommon. If something was feeding on those people or just enjoyed that particular brand of misery... No, that still doesn't make sense. A lot of people went catatonic sure, thirty eight compared to only seven cases of psychosis, but proportional to the amount of Dreamless Sleep that was still a fraction of a fraction.

Am I missing the forest for the trees? You wonder suddenly. What if the point was to get people to forget their dreams? What was in those dreams?

That is alas not a question Clive can answer no matter how helpful he's been... probably more helpful than was strictly legal so it's for the best that you're not going to be writing any articles with this info.

What do you do next?

[] Find out who the people adversely affected by Dreamless Sleep were and see in any of their close family members are willing to talk

[] You have a supernatural thread to pull on, see if any of the local supernatural powers know anything about people mucking around with dreams

[] Time to take a look at what Pathways is doing at Soul's Reach

[] Write in

OOC: Welp you rolled right over the poor people at the FDA, especially poor Clive. The power of throwing social excellencies around.

 

[DragonParadox]

A Horror Unveiled ​

24st of July 2006 A.D.

Putting your heads together it isn't very hard to find the people mentioned in the case summary from the FDA, after all you are only a few miles drive from the offices of the Plain Dealer, one of the state's premier papers. Granted from the harried looks of the staff, the creak of the front door and the wallpaper which seems to have seems to have been laid sometime in the last century you do not think they are doing quite as well as that proclamation might entail, but you manage to snag a junior reporter not that much older than you out of the chaos with a smile. He's probably just happy to be out of the din of half a dozen ringing phones.

"He is smitten by your beauty Dark Majesty," Usum chines in.

"Shut up," you snap, distracted. OK so he's about two of three years older than you and kind of cute with the messy brown hair and profusion of freckles along his cheeks, but this is really not the time.

You go with the same student paper lie, though you use the name of the Saint Agnes' paper just to be on the safe side. The fact that Lydia actually has the are bones plan for an article down is really helpful and the reporter, Jack is also really helpful. First he finds the articles, on microfilm of all things, leaving you staring at them like he had just unveiled carved stone tablets, much to dad's amusement. Then he offers to drive you across town to Helen who used to be the editor back in the day and would know more about that stuff.

"Sure dad can drive us after you," you reply cheerfully. Granted was a little mean of you, but the sinking expression on Jack's face is hilarious all the more so when all dad does is thank him for the help.

Helen turns out to be an interesting old lady, soft spoken and quick to whip up a pot of coffee but still sharp as a tack. "Oh I remember those articles and sure that I do. You youngsters think the wild west was all wild horses and stand offs at high noon. Ha," she snorts. "Nah the real wild west was when folks could do what the pleased selling snake oil, stuff to put on you or in you. Just because the reporters didn't carry guns in those days doesn't mean they could not be targeted by those that did. Muckrakers we called them and it was a mark of pride. Now everyone wants to be a blogger or run an online newsletter. Bah, just chewing old facts like a cow with its cud."

Jack gives you an apologetic glance, but you pay him no mind, someone who is passionate about things is all the more likely to talk and talk Helen does. By the end of the meeting you have gained a new appreciation how how to make a 'proper' latte... and a list of names including everyone who had died from taking too much Dreamless Sleep

So you say goodbye to Helen then outside the apartment to Jack... who much to your surprise and Lydia's amusement hands you a card with his name and number at you mumbling something about 'further investigation.' You glare at dad. just on general principles, but he does not say anything, seeming very interested in the skyline of the city. If you asked him why he's smiling he would probably say he 'd seen a funny pigeon or something.

Gained Jack the Reporter's number.

Alas the good humor does not last long. "I think... I think we should go to the cemetery. I can ask questions looking at the graves."

***​

The sun had well and truly faded from the sky by the time you make it onto the flower-guarded alleyways of Lakeview Cemetery, leaves of oak and needles of pine rustling overhead as if sharing rumors in some strange verdant tongue about the strange visitors that had passed its gates so late. The place sprawls over dozens and dozens of acres, marble angels casting shadows over paths that might have been laid down more than a hundred years ago or just last month as though death itself were warding this one place among the bustling city from the passage of time. The lights are few, like electric fireflies among the leaves and ivy, the visitors this late even fewer, all speaking in hushed voices, filled with that instinctive circumspection that most of the living have in the presence of the dead.

For her part Lydia seems more at ease here than she had been all day, not unduly cheerful or anything, but certain of herself as she navigates the paths, hand-drawn map in hand. It seems to you as though the distant smiles chiseled upon marble lips are more for her than any other, a fellow guardian's salute.

So you come to the place you had been seeking and read the name upon the headstone: Edvard Nieminen, the man who had killed his children, then himself. The grave was wild and unkempt that only bugs and beetles should find joy in it and little wonder, but maybe you could find some answers.

"What did you dream of last of all your days?" you ask softly, a thousand eyes unseen opening around you

Lost 2 Essence -> Not at 8/12

You hear the words like singing far away, carried on the breath of the cold north wind, spoken in crashing of a cold tide upon the sea: Thousand Headed, Thousand Horned, Son of Old Age, Ocean Monster. Then it seems to you the song becomes color without light and shape without distinction, something that should not be seen but was. It has in it the guise of things that swim in the sea, the ivory tusks of the walrus and the grasping tentacles of the octopus but not arranged in such a manner that would allow any creature of flesh to live. A thousand horns it had indeed, a thousand mouths, like gaping maws that that opened into some other place singing songs of ruin and enchantment.

Fey, you almost call the thing in your mind, but then recalling the presence of the Queen of Air and Darkness it seems ill fitting not in form but substance. Another, older, name comes to you, one you had heard but once before from Usum when he name his offer to you in the depths of Arctis Tor: Raksha

The vision fades, with the soundless scream of Edvard Nieminen's splintering mind.

"Molly," your dad shakes you urgently. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," you swallow, throat suddenly dry. "He wasn't though, he really wasn't, saw something terrible, unspeakable, formless seeking form..." You are not quite sure where that came from. After all that thing did not do anything before Nieminen's mind broke, maybe it was from the same place the name came from. "Formless seeking form so that he might unmake it," you finish.

Gain 2 Essence -> Now at 10/12 Essence

What do you do?

[] Look into the names of the people in Soul's reach, see if they have any connection with the experiments in the fifties or with each other

[] Try to find an in with the local supernatural scene, that thing is no more a friend of theirs than it is of mortals

[] Write in

OOC: Once more you are smashing through occult rolls so instead of an uncanny sense of familiarity you get... that.

 

[DragonParadox]

Secrets Spoken, Secrets Heard ​

24st of July 2006 A.D.

Squeezing your dad's hand with one hand for reassurance, yours as much as his, you fumble your phone out one-handed as you continue talking."Polku Pharmaceuticals, the current owners of the nursing home? Is the Finnish word for pathways. And Im willing to bet that if I type into Google...yes." You look up. "Edvard Nieminen is a Finnish name as well. Well, he was Finnish-American. Poor guy. Just seeing what he saw, it broke him utterly. "

I should really be more worried about this, you realize. I'm more worried than terrified at the sight, the knowledge. I can do this, I can kill that thing or drive it back, something within you whispers. Is is Usum's flattery, some misplaced self-confidence or some deeper truth you can hardly put into words.

"Lydia do you know anything about Finnish sea monsters, something with a thousand heads and a thousand horns?" You ask after a moment had passed with nothing but the whisper of the wind through the branches.

"I haven't read much about that part of the world but that sounds a bit like... Typhon, the titanic beast. It's the a archetype of things without definitive, that cannot be bounded by the gaze of man and so live in their tale contained only by the bard's imagination. A thousand with a thousand rhymes because it is like acid upon the tongue of the storyteller to say that they do not know or worse still that it is unknowable."

"Titanic beast, like a beast that is a titan?" you ask. That does not sound quite right.

"Like a beast you have to be a god or a titan to fight," she replies. "When you come right down to it the big stories, the first stories are all order against chaos. Do the floods come or does the water irrigate the crops, does the earth shake and sunder or lie still that walls might be built upon it? Sometimes they get called out as good and evil and maybe from where most people are standing it is that, but to the beast itself.... well what care does the storm have that hail ruins the farmer's crops?"

"So why would anyone want to bring a thing like that into the world?"

Lydia shakes her head, as bemused as you are, not that you are surprised. The answer that comes to mind is because they have been tricked somehow so maybe you could tell them the truth and then.. And then what? The crazy cultists that are responsible for dozens of deaths at least get to walk? Maybe that's just you not being merciful enough, but it feels awful and unfair.

The three of you find a nearby bench, tucked away from the main paths through the cemetery and you turn your attention to Clippy. She had thrown a wide net and found quite a lot of fish. For one there are a lot of people with Finnish names at soul's rest, a lot more than in the city as a whole, though this area of the Midwest apparently has the most Finnish-Americans in the country. But even more importantly she had pulled up the Finnish national saga, the Kalevala. 'Son of Old Age' and 'ocean monster' are both a match as are descriptions of thousand heads and thousand horns.

"I've got a match dad," you say excitedly. "Iku Turso, father of diseases who can shoot plague arrows... well that does not sound like good parenting, shooting his kids at people. Anyway he is also an ocean demon thing that was apparently bound beneath the sea by an oath given to the hero... there is absolutely no way I can pronounce that. Clippy you give it a go."

"Väinämöinen," the mechanical voice dutifully sounds out, before the text keeps scrolling, one site flowing into another in a way no limited algorithm could ever do, intuitive and attentive.

"Huh... according to some sources Iku Turso was the one who impregnated the Maiden of Air, Ilmatar that she would later give birth to the very hero who bound Iku Turso."

"So it's kind of like Jupiter binding Saturn?" Lydia asks. "Only in this case the one who bound the elder god was mortal."

"If this hero of the Finns was indeed a man who lived and died than he could well have had mortal heirs," dad cuts in. "Depending on how long ago he lived there could be hundreds of thousands, millions even, bound by blood to both the oathbinder and the oathbound." He stops suddenly, right hand reaching for the hilt of the sword as he turns to face the alleyway to your left and calls out: "Who's there? Show yourself if you mean no ill or be gone."

The shadows under the linden trees shift and the silence that you had not even noticed fell under them, not even the chirp of a cricket to break it, suddenly lifts: "I mean no ill to those who do not mean me ill in turn," the man steps out as though from behind a tree, though to your gaze it seems stands revealed that he steps out of its shadow like a swimmer from dark waters. "I could not help but overhear you speak of weighty things freely where both the living and the dead might hear."

He's pretty enough to look at in a 'windswept executive' sort of way, a little tanned and sporting a little more than a five o'clock shadow, the kind of guy you would see in an inoffensive shampoo add. But there is nothing inoffensive about him, you see it in the way he moves, with boneless grace, you see it in the glint of his eyes fixed upon the hilt of the sword and most of all you see it in the cast of his features, a bit too carefully set, a flesh-mask over inhuman hungers. The last time you had met his kind they had no use for masks.

Spoiler: Red Court Vampire

Looking around you see that you are alone, unless perhaps more of his ilk are hiding in the shadows. Maybe this is a chance to give the White Council a bit of help in their war,you think darkly, but Usum councils differently. "Why not extract the most advantage from the meeting Princess of the Age to Be. Question him about Soul's rest, compel his aid on pain of death and ruin. Then once the greater task is done dispose of him and his kin if that is still your will."

What do you do?

[] Kill the spy, the Red Court creep you out and they have given you plenty of reason to kill them already

[] Threaten and compel the spy as Usum suggested, maybe he knows something useful

[] Write in

OOC: You guys do not even have that good perception+alertness, he just rolled terribly. On the plus side you get to test out Demonic Primacy of Essence if you like, a Lord of the Outer Night this guy is not.

 

[DragonParadox]

What Darkness Dreads ​

24st of July 2006 A.D.

As you rise from the bench the leaves sigh with the whisper of a chill wind and the shadows of the branches seem flicker and crawl along the ground like worms seeking refuge. Like a Queen dispensing of her throne in anger, some distant part of you notes, the memory of Mab still fresh in your mind. But I have no kingdom, the part of you that is just Molly Carpenter, argues. "Not yet my queen, not yet," Usum replies and you know that in part at least he means such as the being before you. A monster, a predator recognizing at once something far more dangerous than him. The smile slides off the face of the vampire, like oil off water. He opens his mouth to speak again, to lie no doubt, but you do not permit it.

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 9/12

"I know you vampire, I hear the truth behind your sweet words and see your true face beneath the mask of flesh." The words ring strange in your own ears, cold and distant, not cruel only because cruelty would be an effort he is unworthy of. "Know that our conversation shall be brief one way or another. Now speak, how came you to spy on us in this place and at whose behest?"

The spy freezes in place, face slack eyes wide then his arms twitch in sinc, upper body shivering, though not with the sudden cold. You know the true vampire twists in the cocoon of human seeming fit perhaps to burst.

That would make questioning in a public rather inconvenient.

Fortunately the vampire manages to gain enough control of his body and wits to nod slowly then bow his head.

Trying very hard not to think of how satisfying, how right this feels, you begin to question him, staring with his name. You thus find out that his name is Andre La Blanche, one of a group of eighteen Red Court vampires new come to Cleveland for the purpose of preventing an old enemy gaining ascendancy, ones he calls the Pathfinders.

"They are as much your enemies as ours Knight of the Cross," the vampire looks to dad with pleading eyes, but he keeps silent, trusting you to handle the interrogation. "They seek to bring an Age of Unreason, the end of the ascendancy of man, that all should kneel in the shadow of god-monsters as it was when our ancestors cowered in the light of the fire and propitiated themselves before the things that cavorted in the dark. They are the devils in the nightmares of all that live."

"And so you and your ilk seek to save mankind from this dark fate?" you cut off the tirade.

"We feed on the blood of man yes, never taking more than we need, but if the great nations of the world should fall back into savagery there will be fewer men and we will starve."

And you can believe as much of that as you like, you think, unable to read the the body behind the false flesh now that he has gained some control again.

Andre goes on to explain that the three Blood Packs that had come to Cleveland had followed standard operating procedure for a temporary infiltration, focusing on those mortal assets that would give them the most resources in a short amount of time without caring about sustainability. So they had not bothered with any of the local politicians or business people, but they had infiltrated the local police, including the traffic cops. "You were spotted on a traffic camera coming into town, the license-plate numbers are known and we were told to have the thralls check for them especially this close to Chicago."

Of all the ways to get picked up, you mentally sigh. Of course dad's car and his license plate would be known, it's not like he uses anything other than his pickup. Grand theft auto it is, you resolve, half-seriously.

"What was your mission?" you ask, letting none of your annoyance show on your face.

"To listen to spy, to seek an opportunity to direct you against the Pathfinders, though not tonight, too soon."

"And?" It is hard to miss the way his eyes keep darting this way and that as if seeking an escape, but now they fall on Lydia in particular.

"If you or she were to part from the knight I was to attempt to... gain your confidence." Something tells you the the original contents of his orders was a good bit less euphemistic, but you get the gist. Whoever is in charge of the Red Court presence in the city has identified you and Lydia as weak links which could be manipulated to their ends.

"Who is your master?" you snap.

"You are," the vampire blurts out in terror and starts to propitiate himself.

"No, no, get up." This time you cannot hold back a sigh. "Who gave you your orders and where are they?"

"Don Phillipe de Leon, he is old and cunning in his cruelty." The shadow of a different fear passes over his features, though whatever sway the elder vampire might have on Andre it is less than the weight of your gaze. "He took over the Blue Dog, it's a dance club in the Warehouse District, I can show you where it is. He is there planning, organizing... I do not know what. I am too young, lesser yes to know the whole of his plans, but they say that he is planning an attack on the house of the aged, yes. Soul's Rest. A fire maybe? Fire makes it so that many magics are disrupted."

You are almost certain he is pulling that last bit out of his ass, trying to get out more answers to placate you.

What do you do next?

[] Ask more questions
-[] Write in

[] The vampire has serves his purpose
-[] Release him
-[] Kill him

[] Write in

OOC: For the record if you want a Red Court servant that is on the table, though I cannot think of any way to make Michael agree to it.

 

[DragonParadox]

Minds of Stone, Eyes of Glass ​

24st of July 2006 A.D.

Quickly you consider and dismiss simply killing the vampire... Andre, even if it might be saving his next victim, that is what, one vampire out of eighteen? Dealing with all of them will require going to the heart of the matter. Going now? You glance back at your dad, hand on the hilt of the Sword looking worried and Lydia fidgeting a little like she is almost going to bounce onto her feet and do.... well you are not entirely sure what she would do, maybe she isn't either. God knows power alone doesn't itself answer questions of what to do, only how.

There's something to be said about striking while the iron is hot, but Usum points out in his usually round about manner that the advice sounds like it is meant for blacksmiths and in this context you do not know anything about the quality of the iron or where the quenching trough might be

"What to do with you?" you ask, the question sounding lot more rhetorical on your lips than in your head.

He is doing a very good impression of a deer in the headlights, or a trembling subject brought before the throne of a despot most high. How you know what that looks like you are not sure you want to question.

"Phone," you command and he scrambles to obey.

"Y... yes mademoiselle... er... my lady."

First handsome guy to talk to me in French, actually a half bat blood drinking parasite, you think, a joke you are not planning on sharing but which curls your lips into a smile just the same. It is apparently not a very reassuring smile to judge from the vampire almost dropping the phone as he hands it to you.

"What do we want to say to this Don Phillipe?" you ask dad and Lydia casually

Dad thinks for a moment before answering. "A request to simply leave the city is unlikely to be well taken. The best we can hope for is... a truce enforced by staying out of each other's way." You can tell he does not believe you are going to get one and generally speaking you agree, but there is a deeper reason to mess about with this phone than the send the electronic equivalent of 'a strongly worded letter'. Spies come in all shapes and sizes.

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 8/12

Power hums to the tune of ones and zeroes, in your mind, inside the mechanism of wire and processors and in the dark and claustrophobic realm beyond. The spirit is not particularly well rooted in the silver flip phone, but it is not like you expect this to take more than a week, a few days at most.

Andre's phone bugged for 1 Week

Once all the details are set including a burner email in case the head blood-sucker actually deigns to talk back you hand the phone back to the vaguely shivering figure before you and say: "You will carry a message from me back to your nest."

"Yes my lady," he replies and with that he fades along the shadows of the graveyard, a bit more readily than he should perhaps, though it it is sorcery or mundane skill alone you cannot be sure.

"I think it should be roost," Lydia pipes up after a moment. At your curious look she explains. "They are bats right and bats have roosts, or maybe colonies?"

"They are not actually bats, they are bat-men, bat-people," you counter. "Look they are always called nests when it's vampires."

"Always?" she prompts, walking to the car beside you.

"Sure like in Buffy...."

The conversation on various forms of vampire shows and books carries you all the way into the pickup and halfway to the hotel you are staying in. Dad did not sigh on the way, you choose to believe, the armor is just heavy.

Once you are in the lobby you give a nod to the receptionist's computer, but you feel the power sputtering along the way, like bad transmission in an old time radio. You should be able to take a nice bleach bath inside so you try. again. A day... a day will do.

Lost 2 Essence -> Now at 6/12 Essence

Camera feed secured,Clippy announces in her auto-tuned voice as you brush your teeth. A rather boring hour and a half later you are refreshed and ready for any nighttime adventuring. For her part Lydia is no less ready to take on eldritch horrors, apparently her inner stores top up not at sunrise but midnight when there is most need for one to guard the rest of the dead.

Hotel Camera Feed Secured
All Essence Regained -> Now at 12/12

What do you do next?

[] Sleep, the next stage of your investigation is best done in daytime, all the more so now that you know there are Red Court vampires in the city

[] Do some snooping around Soul's Rest itself

[] With the help of your digital assistants try to figure out just who the Red Courts has their hooks in

[] Look for information about the Pathfinders online

[] Now that you know Iku Turso has something to do with all this search the family history of known patients at Soul's Rest and see if any of them are Finnish-Americans or know to have taken Dreamless Sleep back in the fifties

[] Write in

OOC: The shift from Princess of Darkness to arguing about the 'proper' name for a gathering of vampires is giving Michael a bit of whiplash, but is is preferable to just staying in the former state.

 

[DragonParadox]

Path's Price ​

24st of July 2006 A.D.

You look longingly at the door, but your better sense asserts itself. "I think we should probably stay in. Dinner and an early night." You admit grudgingly. "Especially with the Red admitting that they have our vehicle description and license plate on a police watchlist, Dad. "Accidents" " you make air quotes, "are likelier at night. Especially with the Reds having their hooks in the local PD. Gonna have to look into that." Pulling out your phone and checking for signal strength, you turn to Lydia "Bring a laptop? I have homework, and I could use the help."

Lydia just kind of looks at you funny. "You have homework? Can't you just...?" she sort of wiggles her fingers in a vaguely magic-y way.

"No... wait you can do that? With homework, like math and English and physics? Frictionless ball attached to an ideal spring and all that nonsense?" At her slightly sheepish nod you cannot help yourself. "That is so unfair. I mean I get a little help sometimes, but it is as likely to be mussing on how to weaponize magnets as it is to be actual help with how to solve the exercise."

"I feel like I should be objecting to something about now, but I am not sure what," dad says, not doing a very good job of hiding a smile.

"There is no rule that says you can't use magic to make yourself better at studying, especially if the magic is a part of you. Now if you asked some external being to help you out that could arguably be considered cheating," you point out.

"Not sure if anyone could enforce that one either," Lydia gets into the spirit of things. "You would have to ban prayer as cheating."

With that very weird, but not inaccurate thought you make your way to dinner. The Blue Lotus Hotel is in an upscale enough suburb that your tattoos and Lydia's fashion draw a trail of breathy whispers. For the most part you ignore it, you are used to it by now, though you catch one elderly lady say something about 'some people letting their children run wild' which just gets under your skin as an insult to dad. Fortunately for her dad knows you well enough to ask loudly when you would like to order, cutting off plans for making her eat her words instead of the seafood platter she had ordered.

On the plus side the lasagna is good and the ice cream after it is great, chocolate as usual, unlike Lydia who... "What is that?" you ask looking at the multicolored melange in her cup.

"Watermelon pistachio mint and lemon," she replies mixing a sliver of each of them in one spoonful "Best combo I found so far but I am still looking,"

You shake your head. "Hey if you want to perform self-experimentation can't stop you. I'll just stick to what works."

"It's ice cream not Kantian idealism," she counters and you pretend to know what that is.

As the two of you go up to your room it turns out that Lydia does have a laptop on her... though from the weight of it you would guess Arawn acquired it at some point in the mid nineties. Not that you end up needing the thing in the end. Vast swaths of data trawled from the depths of the internet are quickly sorted and sifted. You are not looking for a car, or an RPG zine, though admittedly that one looks kind of cool. Private chatrooms filled with people with a lot more interest in the occult than actual understanding of it are opened and closed over the span of a few hours. What cracks it in the end is looking into an old list of sites that may be associated with the Chicago area supernatural.

You are basically posing as... you of two months ago, clueless and new come to magic talent, seeding your messages with a story about howa bunch of people called 'Pathfinders' had offered to mentor you, but they seemed kind of sketchy. That is when an account named Rose of Autumn sends you a private message

Rose of Autumn: /Listen to your gut, don't take anything they offer you and break contact right now. What they are selling you don't want. No one wants it, no one in their right mind at least./

Seeker of Secrets: /What do you mean?/

Rose of Autumn: /You wouldn't believe me if I told you kid./

Seeker of Secrets: /You would be surprised what I'd believe/

Rose of Autumn: /Then you would never sleep a full night in your life. Just listen to me, get away from them. Whatever they are promising, whatever they've shown you, it's all lies and their masters are not what you think they are./

There's a pause, but as you are about to type out your next response hers pops up. It is clear she is getting more nervous the more she writes.

Rose of Autumn: /I can tell you're young and you're looking for asnwers, but you are not going to find the ones you're looking for. The world isn't a friendly place. It's not Disney, it's the Brothers Grim. One man's dream can be another man's nightmare and the Pathfinders have been making these kinds of nightmares before either of us were born, if my teacher had the right of it before the US was a around, back in the Old Country./

You feel a little guilty for goading her, but it's for a good cause. From the corner of your eye you see slender shadows move across the wall, the motions of your fingers twisting until they look like spiders dancing on unseen threads. The words are yours and they are not, an insight whispered from afar.

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 11/12

Seeker of Secrets: /The Old Country? What is this a musical with cartoon mice? I'll be sure to watch out for any creepy cats pretending to be my friends./

There's a long pause after that, so long in fact that you are starting to worry she had gotten tired of speaking to you, but what follows next is a wall of text.

Rose of Autumn: /You want answers? You want power? Well then you are in luck they have both, all it is going to cost you is the love of your family, your friends, everyone and everything you have ever cared about, cut right out of your soul. But don't worry, that is a bonus really, once you can't feel anything you won't be sorry when you cut them and bleed them and torture them so that their agony can feed the things that lives behind the curtain, the things that have been here before our slope-forehead caveman ancestors tamed fire. GET OUT!/

Now you feel a lot guilty, you had freaked this lady right out, but if you don't press now it will have all been for nothing.

Seeker of Secrets: /OK, OK, I get it. Listen can you tell me how they hurt you? I have been feeling weird lately/

Rose of Autumn: /They do not take what you do not give, they are like evil genies or like the Devil the Christians would call it, I don't like to use that framework, but it is appropriate for this. It starts out like self help or at least it did the last time I heard about them, cut out your fear of spiders and gain an aptitude for music maybe, something useful, something small. Then they will ask for more and more of your dreams, good and bad and in exchange they can hand out all sorts of things, things you think you want: power, wealth, beauty, revenge, the one thing they never cut out is the desire for more. As you become less you, less human they are going to start asking for proof of loyalty, to isolate you further. That is where hurting people, killing people comes in, the last tethers broken. And then you will be one of them, looking to feed the things that made them. I /

The message cuts off. Maybe she had hit send accidentally. Regardless you rush to apologize for upsetting her, but she is not done. She does not acknowledge the apology, maybe she does not even see it as she keeps typing faster and faster.

Rose of Autumn: /I've seen this happen to someone, I was a little girl back then, but I could see it I could see my uncle pulling away, he was always strange, but goofy, but then he got cold and scary. My mother later told me that the thing he was trying to sacrifice was my trust. I barely got away. I was lucky. You don't want to turn into those one of them. PLEASE./

Seeker of Secrets: /I'm not going to cut up my soul with magic, promise./ You pause a moment to let her take in the message then add. /But if they take me backing out badly what powers do they have? What should I look out for?/

Rose of Autumn: /They are stronger, faster, more perceptive, that sort of thing but as they become more like the things they serve they get marks, mutations, fingers that grow long and grasping but harder than iron, eyes in the middle of their forehead that can see when you're lying, pheromones that can enslave animals to them, poison breath, poison touch, spring-knees that let them jump far after you./

Seeker of Secrets: /That sounds wild.I'm not saying you're lying, but I haven't seen any of this, maybe the... people I know aren't as far gone./

Rose of Autumn: /They can hide it under a glamor like the fey, maybe the things they serve are a kind of mad fey from a season no one knows../ She cuts off again then: /Look I can't explain all this, I don't know all of it myself. You are going to need sanctuary. I normally wouldn't be sending someone as young as you to them, but if you say you haven't done anything go to Harry Dresden. He's a Warden of the White Council, sort of like the wizard cops only they are even less accountable than the real ones. Still a corrupt cop is better than the soul-flaying serial killers./

She types out Harry's address much to your bemusement.

What do you do next?

[] Try to get more information out of your new contact
-[] Write in how

[] Close up for the night
-[] Write in suggestions for what to do tomorrow (Optional)

[] Write in

OOC: I hope the format for the online chatting works for this longer form.

 

[DragonParadox]

Among the Dead Anew ​

24st of July 2006 A.D.

After assuring the nice lady again that you will not mess with the 'soul-flaying serial killers' and promising to call 'Warden Dresden' you ask her if she knows anyone in Cleveland. Rose of Autumn does not, though she does say to keep in touch and implies that she would be willing to meet with you when you get home from the family trip.

"She does not wish to give you her name while you are yet in this city lest these foolish 'Patchfinders' consume the mortal whose guise you took on my lady," Usum points out clinically.

"Which is just common sense," you point out, a little annoyed that a demon would impugn someone's character on the basis of putting their own safety before a stranger.

"I never said that it did not my lady, only pointing it out if your eye had slipped from the matter to grander things."

The last thing you do before going to bed is ask Clippy to send Burny a message asking for whatever information Harry can get on the Pathfinders, as well as set some tasks for the network to handle while you sleep.

***​

25st of July 2006 A.D.

Though you toss and turn in the unfamiliar bed enough that the sheets end up on the floor instead of on you whatever dreams had troubled your sleep are left behind in the shadows that spawned them as Clippy gives her report. Unsurprisingly your assistants had found a statistically significant number of Finnish American names among the residents at Soul's Rest and they had even managed to cross-match eight of those people, five women and three men as recipients of Dreamless Sleep. There could be many more of them since you do not have the full name of people who took the stuff and suffered no ill effects, just names which had coincidentally made it into articles of the day.

1 Essence Gained -> Now at 12/12

They did not manage to dig up anything significant on the cops, but that had been a longshot with no access to their internal network and the vampires trying to be at least a little subtle this close to Chicago and one of the White Council's more... incendiary members. Whatever contact the Blood Packs have with the Cleveland it is way above Le Blanc's pay-grade apparently, nothing about how to call for clean up on there. then again he hardly uses his email at all and his inbox is full of spam, Clippy announces, with an accusatory tone to her synthesized voice. As you are going down to breakfast she chines in with a last minute update on unusual activity at Soul's Rest. You had told them to focus on hirings, firings, deaths... so they had almost missed the element hiding in plain sight.

On the 19th of July the head of the facility registered a complaint about speedboat races and parties on the lake. Input from law enforcement was nil, yet fortuitous misfortune was achieved, the next stage of the 'Eerie 2006 Turbofest' was postponed following the death of one of the semifinalists to an apparent stroke. Estimated probability of natural causes: low.

"So..." you carefully sip your morning coffee. "Either the evil cultists are really not down for 'those damn kids' on their watery lawn or that guy knew something or saw something he shouldn't have."

"And if he saw something than you can see it too, like yesterday," Lydia finishes.

So you find yourself back among the headstones in the shadow of stone angels, looking now upon a much more recent grave, the ground still looks freshly turned over. The trouble now is what to ask for the wider you make the question the shallower the answer.

What do you ask?

[] What did you see at Soul's Rest? (If cogent will provide a detailed vision)

[] Why were you killed (Will give a shorter less detailed answer, but will only return a null result if the boat driver actually died of natural causes)

[] Write in

OOC: I kind of struggled with this one, a part of me just wanted to roll Wits+Investigation to see if you asked a good question but that just felt like taking away player agency when talking about limited resources like Crown Questions. This is the only question you got for the speedboat race discovery so better a shorter update with a vote at the end I decided eventually than one bad roll killing the lead.