The Found Arcana – Chapter 5 [IC]
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The Found Arcana – Chapter 5 [IC]
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Bobby had taken the opportunity to get a few hours of sleep. As sunrise came and Jawsey informed the team that the Crimsons still hadn’t emerged, he replied: “Can you call up another spirit to resume that job? I’m calling the Brain Eaters. They might be interested to know, that the Crush currently is at half strength and their leaders likely hung over.
Also I have to go meet Lysander to sell her our info about Nightmare before she hears about it elsewhere. With any luck someone else will look for and find the cauldron.”
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Jawsey is cranky at dawn, having slept poorly and not long enough. Nonetheless he summons another spirit of man, then flies out with it astrally to help locate the improvised fire-bottles. As well as check if there are astral watchers out that could spot the spirit .
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AM feels more relaxed, at home. As cold and dark as it is, she decides to spend the night at the magical lodge. Normally she moved in with Jawsey because she believes that living in the shamanic lodge may attract the attention of the Sioux spirits, and as holy as these are their attention should be avoided. However, after a party with no electricity, no hot water to wash off she feels awkward to share her living space with another.
The tent is gone to fix the roof, but walls are still painted to feel outdoors, and the dream catchers, ceremonial masks, and pipes are still at the lodge the way she likes them. She lies on her back on one of the mattresses and observes the neon stars on the ceiling. Feeling frustrated then ever, there she thought she was doing okay. Surviving, and paying her debt, but then Urubia throws away so much wealth making the small elf realize just how little she really has. It takes her some editing, but she fells asleep and remains in that situation until late morning. Not very interested in throwing Molotov bottles unless Bobby/Jawsey wake her up for an invisibility spell (which she would provide with a small grown).
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True to his word, Bobby scheduled an early meeting with Lysander: <<Was at the funhouse, got a load of info for you. Meet and eat at Wafflehouse in 30?>>
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Lynsander is a bit slow to respond, and groggy when he does so. It’s clearly early by his standards.
<<Wafflehouse you say? … damn, what time is it … in 30? … okay, that should be enough time … order soykaf if you get there first…>>
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Jawsey zips across the Barrens with his spirit of man. Touristville isn’t the most pleasant astral background, but Jawsey is at least familiar with it. The surrounding Barrens are decidedly less pleasant. The early morning hours aren’t as emotionally charged as the nighttime scene but they’re draining in a different way, as the early light wakes people and reminds them of the drudgery of day-to-day existence. It’s a heavy, solemn feeling.
It’s not too difficult to find the hiding spot for the Molotovs. They’re undisturbed and waiting on the corner of a roof. In theory, anyone headed for Crimson Crush turf should pass by on the street below.
Astral security is minimal, at best. What little there is comes from the Funhouse, which is a kilometer away but is still the tallest building in the neighborhood. As such, it has a commanding view of the surrounding terrain. On the astral, the Funhouse is just as different as it is on the physical plane. It’s clean – neat and tidy – seemingly untouched by the surrounding misery, or literally and metaphorically above it.
On the astral, Jawsey can see Urubia on the roof. She’s facing away from him – toward the east, perhaps performing some sort of sun salutations – but even the sight of her from behind is enough to send a chill up his spine. Or is that feeling really a thrill? She’s a magnificent creature, even more so on the astral where her true being is undisguised.
There’s a roar of motorcycles. Looking, Jawsey and his spirit see Bonita leading a small pack of Crimson Crush. Maybe six in all, including Chaz. There were obviously many more than that at the party; they must still be inside. Emotionally, Bonita looks fired up. She’s feeling angry, determined. Many of the others are harboring conflicting feelings of loyalty and uncertainty. Their overall health is fine, although several are hung-over.
Jawsey and his spirit have maybe twenty seconds to decide to act before the small pack will pass by. The spirit can throw the bottles from an elevated position, which would be an advantage, or it could duck into an alley and throw from there. The rooftop is visible to the Funhouse, although whether anyone there would notice or care is a separate matter. They’re probably tired and sleeping too.
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Jawsey’s mind races — any sort of ambusher probably would not have stayed in view of the Funhouse.
“drop down into the alley then throw both bottles at the bike as they pass by — then your service and done, please depart immediately.“
Jawsey follows the spirit down into the alley, and erases any astral signature before running a long loop toward home — passing through buildings and trying to avoid line-of-sight with the Funhouse, knowing that if he heads west he’ll eventually hit downtown, and he can navigate the way home from there.
Once in his body he staggers to the lodge, muttering to AM “Sorry, the deed is done but in case I didn’t cover my astral backtrail enough, I’d rather be in the lodge for the next bit.”
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Bobby did as his contact asked for – and added waffles with lot’s of maple flavored corn syrup to it.
Once the elf arrived, Bobby gave both of them a few moments to get some soycaf and waffles inside them, before laying out the facts and guesses he had.
Full disclosure on Nightmare – getting that fact out was quite important to weaken the spirit.
The alliance wasn’t as hot a news item, but he did tell about the tensions – without mentioning that it was their own agency that had brought them about – between the parties.
After that it was mainly a rundown of who is who and who did what at Urubia.
He also went into detail about Bonita and her status among the CC.
He stopped only for a moment when Jawsey announced that the fake assassination attempt had been performed. Excellent – he now had a good alibi.
Finally, he mentioned the dragon sitting around with the mayor.
“…and that’s about all I have for you today. Should be worth a couple of grands in your hands.”
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Lysander takes a few bites of waffles while Bobby talks, but soon stops eating and just listens. Occasionally he takes a sip of soykaf. His eyes repeatedly get unfocused and distant before returning to the present. Either the elf isn’t fully awake yet or he’s spinning through all the possibilities in his mind. He turns the quicksilver photo in his hands, contemplating it. Physically the image is in color as seen with a normal photograph, but with iridescent marks overlaying the image. These swirls and spots represent the alchemical reaction to recording the astral plane.
“It makes sense,” Lysander says after a long contemplation. “The Halloweeners have a cauldron somewhere in The Jackal’s Lantern they call the ‘Ever Burning Inferno’. There’s a fire in it and it stays lit all the time upon pains of a very violent death. Even letting the fire dim below an acceptable level can result in some very painful burns as punishment. No matter what the Halloweeners are doing, they have a Rager and a half-dozen gangers on ‘fire watch’ over it. I always thought it was more religious than anything – a ceremony or celebration of fire, something silly that gangers do for bonding purposes like mystic underwear or dumb tattoos – but it seems that there’s a practical side to it. They never used to do it before Nightmare came along; it was something he – it – introduced.”
He pulls out a credstick, a silver one that implies that will hold more than the ¥5,000 of a standard credstick. He taps it to the credstick reader on his commlink, loading it with funds.
“That’s ¥10,000,” he says, sliding it across the table to Bobby, “for exclusive rights to this intel. Nightmare, Urubia, the mayor, all of it. Don’t sell it to anyone else or we’re done doing biz and I’ll come back looking for my nuyen. Savvy?”
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AM scootches over, letting Jawsey admire the ceiling. She is not that comfortable without a shower, and while good shamans usually have superb willpower to willingly do something that physically harms their bodies, she does not feel like a cold shower.
“Whatever.” she says, a bit detached, and then she asks “What happened?”
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Bobby nodded and took the chip: “I’ll keep mum about it and so will my colleagues. But you have to understand, we needed to use the part of Nightmare being a spirit to split the CC leader from that brewing alliance. We insinuated that Urubia has control of the true name, so when the info leaks out, it will likely be distorted.”
While Bobby spoke, he send a message to another number: Tiko Nine Knives of the Tiošpaye was his contact to collect the outstanding debt. With this credstick – after taxes – he could finally pay of the rest of his debt.
<<Tiko, get my collateral ready. You are getting your money and I’m going to close my ledger today. I’ll meet you at the bar.>>
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Jawsey looks at AM with a somewhat hunted look. “I had the spirit attack from an alley, but we only had seconds to make our move so I couldn’t position it very well, and it wasn’t good at hiding …. in other words they clearly saw it, because they ALL swerved to try and dodge. Some got hit I think, I saw damage and anger in their auras, but I doubt they died, well unless someone crashed their bike outside of where I could see. But they are all going to be able to say they were attacked by a spirit.“
He shudders “I erased any astral signature, and then did my best to get away unnoticed, passing through buildings, breaking lines of sight, all that sort of thing. Plus first heading towards downtown before working my way back here. I guess it would have been better to head to ‘Weener territory, in case they tracked me somehow, but I was just trying to get as far away from Urubia as possible. She was up on top of her building, looking at the rising sun. Well, her astral was, I’m not positive if it was bodily, or if I’d be able to easily tell with a dragon, I’ve never seen one’s astral form outside its body. I don’t think I left any astral trail, but that is that a human could detect, I don’t know about a dragon? Who knows what they could see or sniff or something?” Jawsey realizes that he’s started babbling, and forces himself to stop.
“The Crimson Guard have all sorts of magic, but why would they attack outside the Funhouse? The Crush know I have spirits. So do some in the Halloweeners and the Ancients, but the Crush’s list of who could have done it can’t be all that long. I shouldn’t have done it when it was such a rush. I don’t want to leave the lodge, but I don’t know if this building is even safe now?“
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Jawsey’s spirit – an ethereal, metahuman form – lights the Molotovs and steps out of the alley. Bonita sees it immediately and swerves as the first cocktail is thrown. She gives a shout to warn the others but the two orks in the rear are talking to each other and not paying enough attention. A Molotov bursts right between them and engulfs them in flame. Another strikes one of the orks in the lead, lighting his clothes and hair on fire.
The Crimson Crush, to their credit, stay in control. No one crashes. The three that are on fire screech to a half and then stop, drop, and roll. Bonita and the other two set up a perimeter, weapons out, waiting for the next attack that never comes. Bonita rushes to check on the fallen orks, who are smoldering but look like they’ll survive with some scars. Her aura has a distinctly maternal, protective edge to it that’s currently making her even angrier than she already was. That’s the last thing the spirit sees as it dematerializes and returns to its home metaplane.
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Tiko doesn’t seem that much more awake than Lysander did. <<What…? Who…? Oh, right, damn… Later. LATER! Oh my head… what time is it… The bar, okay. I’ll be there like 17:00.>>
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AM holds Jawsey’s hand. Close your eyes she pauses sync your breathing with me so that we can merge our talents. she takes a deep breath and then let’s go. She inhales, and exhales a few times calming her mind, and reaching a state of clarity.
Perhaps it is time to learn some ritual magic? she says, figuring out that timing is never great, and they have some time to practice.
Within an hour or two we can extend our awareness to the entire neighborhood, and we can see what happens, and learn a bit about the effect of our actions. We can even take another look at Urubia without the risk of her noticing us. If she makes herself visible outside of the Funhouse. Since we are not going anywhere but extending our awareness there is little risk of anyone spotting us. The medicine lodge would protect us from magical detection, but an extended awareness gives perspective and clarity.
Without opening her eyes, she begins chanting quietly and repeatedly, hinting Jawsey to follow her lead.
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Bobby came home with something of a spring to his step. 10k in your pocket could do that.
When he found his colleagues huddled up in the lodge he grinned: “Am I interrupting something?
Got us some good money from Lysander. Splitting the cash right now. And I’m going to pay of my debt today. Which is good for you, since after my demise the collectors might come to you.
Come on, cheer up. We gotta visit the mayor in an hour. Important though: No details on what we know about Nightmare – Lysander has exclusives on that.
By the way, how did the pseudo hit go?”
After learning about Jawsey’s doubts: “Don’t sweat it. The Weeners have a few wizkids of their own. And Nightmare could have bullied some lesser spirits into doing his bidding too.
All we have to do now is keep our cool – and maybe look into the matrix for a new location for our agency. Once I’m debt free I can set more aside for a deposit.”
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Once Bobby has moved off, Jawsey joins with AM on the ritual. He really should have spent more time practicing ritual magic, but he hates to pester AM for more time as a teacher.
As his mind focuses on the magic, he has a passing thought that his ancestors must have practiced something very much like this, other than that theirs hadn’t actually worked.
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The two elves keep chanting, eyes close for the better part of the hour, then AM stands up to make some tea, and she offers her and Jawsey a glass. After drinking the herbal tea, with the natural warmth spreading through their mind, she holds his hand and begins with the second phase of the ritual. The spell itself, since Jawsey already knows how to astrally project she selects the Clairvoyance spell as the ritual anchoring herself as the subject. She casts slowly the spell slowly, spilling a small glass of tea as tribute to each of the Sioux spirits. Watching how the light on the small gas cooker flashes after each blessing. It takes about two hours to develop the sense, and finish the blessings.
Afterwhich, AM instructs Jawsey to close his eyes again and lie down. The strange thing at that moment is that Jawsey becomes blind, well not blind but his eyes are not at the right place. He sees himself from an outside perspective. Closing his meat eyes makes the experience feel nicer, as it feels more like a very vivid daydream than a handicap. AM first takes Jawsey across the room, showing him the two of them laying on the floor holding hands. Then she takes him outside of the building and showing him the roof, and then they soar in the air high above Redmond. Watching the city and its glory from above. Seattle looks pretty from above, even Redmond looks very nice when you are too far to see the ugly details. “Have you ever seen Seattle like that? She asks clearly enjoying the view, as she slowly changes their perspective above the city.
While he has seen the city in the astral, it has a different beauty in the physical world. In addition, the picture is somehow sharper, and more colorful than his own eyes would allow. The colors are somehow more clear, and he can tell the difference between minute changes in shading. After a short while of admiring the view, AM asks “Are you seeing it? she asks and then takes another deep breath as if taking it all in.
“It feels so different from above as if it is an entirely different place.“ she says quietly with a warm evident smile in her voice. AM would ask Jawsey what he wants to watch next, and would happily shift their consciousness to show the next location. Possibly returning to a more professional goal, she would also be happy to just spend the time enjoying themselves as they effortlessly move through the city.
Spoiler:Remote sensing is the sum of participants’ magic (8) times the force (2) times 100 meters, or 1.6 KM for each direction from the lodge. Initially, I wanted to take Jawsey diving in Lake Washington but I am not sure if we can make it with that kind of force. So I went with a flyby of the city which is less committing. AM controls the sense but all the ritual participants see the same images, I figured it should feel special.
I’ll respond to Bobby next post.
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At first Jawsey holds onto his sour mood from uncomfortable night badly executed ambush, even polishing a nugget of resentment at the suggestion that this experience would offer something that asensing would not.
But gradually that melts away. It really is a view different than he gets from the astral, but also different than he gets from the street. The physical details are engrossing, and the background sense of misery is absent. He eventually admits “This is soothing, and a whole new perspective. Thank you.“
Then he remembers “We have to head off to see the mayor. I’ve lost track of time, but I think we’d best get moving. But hopefully more ritual practice another time. I’m nervous about leaving the lodge, but I’ll take my chances on not being hit on the way there, and I hope we have some safety in the mayor’s offices.“
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“Yes… work. Let’s hope she pays us.” AM says, suddenly losing her sense of abandonment. She then says The astral clairvoyance spell can also offer some benefit to you, even at a low force shifting your perspective by ten or twenty meters may allow you to be a lot more stealthy. I mean, I use it as a substitute to projection, but it is a matter of perspective after all. she returns to her senses, and slowly stands up “You are finishing your debt today? We should party or something. I take it it went well with your contact?”
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“Well enough. But no party, not yet. We still have the Weeners to worry about. Come on let’s meet the mayor and let’s get this over.” Bobby replied while tossing each of his colleagues a standard credstick with their share.
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AM pockets check the content and then pockets the credstick. ”Not bad Bobby!” she stands up, feeling a bit awkward not to shower beforehand, and goes brushing her teeth. “Ready. she says a bit bitterly a moment later.
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