The Found Arcana [IC]
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The Found Arcana [IC]
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AM moved the car backward, to avoid a direct line of sight with explosives. Fixing cars was more expensive than fixing people, she had no spell to put the car back together after all.
>> Car is far enough… I can hack the grenade if you enable wireless. -
<<I’ll be fragged before I leave my body with the possibility of shedim around>> Jawsey then headed out of the warehouse at a good clip for someone with a cane. Stepping outside was such a relief that he didn’t really want to go back inside, nor especially want to send a spirit in there, but it was not a situation where what he wanted mattered a whole lot.
Spoiler:Jawsey called up Auntie Spikes, then dragged the bitter spirit into the warehouse with him. She complained that she could barely move, barely breath — Jawsey pointed out that she didn’t breath anyway. The look he got back told him he’s be sacrificing some reagents to her later.
When they met up with Mato, Jawsey asked “What is the safest way to transer this thing? I don’t know much about grenades”
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AM says >> Unless you want to blow up something, we should definitely hack the grenade. Preferably when there is nobody we like within the blast radius.
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After dragging Chau outside, Mato waits for everyone to back off.
<<I’ll try to flip the wireless switch>> he comms. <<Everyone get inside the car.>> He looks at Bobby’s form and decides that maybe a troll-sized bear wouldn’t be best for the Americar’s high amenities. <<Or behind the car.>>
<<Once I flip the switch, we’ll have AM hack it. If she can neutralize it then great. Either I can chuck it or I’ll pass it to Jawsey’s spirit who can take it somewhere safe. I recommend detonating it if only so that nobody else finds it. If AM can’t neutralize it… well, we’ll make that decision once we see if it goes off on its own or not.>>
Mato retrieves his belt from around Chau’s hand and puts it back around his waist while keeping his other hand over Chau’s to prevent it from opening prematurely. Once that’s done, he keeps one hand firmly on Chau’s while reaching in with the index finger of his other hand to flick the switch to Wireless On. He skips backwards sprightly, trying to put as much space between him and the grenade while AM works.
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With the switch activated AM waves her hands heretically as she browses the grenade’s firewall looking for a weak point. She is unresponsive for several moments, and then declares “Grenade is disabled, I sent it the emergency abort signal. It would not blow up unless someone fiddles with it.”
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Mato pries the grenade out of Chau’s kung-fu grip and passes it to Auntie Spikes. Mato gestures vaguely in the direction of the warehouse roof for the grenade’s disposal.
Then he turns his attention back to Chau and tries to see if his condition has improved now that he’s outside of the warehouse. He retrieves the good medkit from the Americar and moves to attach it to Chau. Then he realizes that he has no idea what he’s doing. He looks up to AM and Jawsey. “One of you brainiacs want to set this up so it tells us what’s wrong with Lockjaw here?”
He turns back to Chau. “Alright, spill it about the shedim. We already skewered two like shish kabobs. Don’t hold anything back; we have a bear who can smell fear.” He juts a thumb over his shoulder to indicate Bobby’s intimidating presence.
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AM says I know a little bit of first aid and can bless him with the love of our ancestors. She first prays “Oh ancestors, grant me with the wisdom to help this man” and then she applies the medic kit and injects several stimulants into the man’s jugular using the semi-automatic needle gun. Chau complains, but the procedure is a success and he feels better. What really improves him however is the blessing. AM places her hand on the man’s chest and closes her eyes in concentration. The shivering is gone, and his face feels as if somehow there is more blood in them.
He looks at AM and says “thank you, Angel.” she grins at Mato and whispers “I think he likes me…”
When Mato asks the questions Junior stiffens “I will tell you what I can, I haven’t processed all these things quite yet.
If you follow street politics you know that Haloweeners are rising power and that they seek to hire arcane experts like myself.
So I was working with Nightmare and his lieutenant Dream on acquiring various items of power. Nightmare seems awfully knowledgable of these items and was only interested in very specific items, ignoring perhaps the most exotic items int he entire city. He is not a collector – he needs the items for some purpose. I am almost sure of it.We had a meeting here with Dream, we expected to be punished in some way for failing to retrieve the card. Thank for you guys stealing it, you put us in a world of hurt. Dream showed up along with a cat and two rats, as strange as it sounds. He did not speak to us, just used some wooden stick and cried a word in a language I do not understand. We all were struck by some force, like a freezing wave, but there was nothing physical.
My friends died instantly, while I survived – barely. Then what happened shocked me, the cat and rats just fell to the ground like unused vessels and three Shedim spirits came out of them. Now I assense stuff, they did not look strange beforehand. Well, their auras were a little strange, unlike that of other cats and rats – but they were not dual-natured, and did not seem possessed. It contradicted what I thought I knew about Shedim.
Anyhow, the three spirits began arguing on who gets whom. My body was the most desired since I am an adept of some repute.
They were so eager to argue, that they did not pay much attention that I was not dead yet. So I pulled out my grenade, the one I thought to use on Gau but did not want to escalate too much, and I said “If you do not leave now, then nobody gets anybody… You see, I was a dead man. Badly wounded against Dreamer which is a mage, and three Shedim spirits there was no way I could survive, but they wanted the bodies so I thought I’ll buy time.The Shedim backed off, figuring that I would be dead soon anyhow so no point in arguing. I managed to use the link and disguised myself, just in case some assholes decide to rob or murder me. It is a bad hood you see, being helpless here is not the best idea. Not everyone is like you guys…
Well, I have no idea how long it has been – I got more and more paralyzed as time passed, and you arrived before my reinforcements. So… Thank you for taking the pain away but don’t kill me, please. I’ll owe you a favor.
“ -
Jawsey listened in interest. Arcane specialist? Sounded like a load of BS, but Jawsey had to admit that his own knowledge of magical theory and arcana was woefully lacking, so he didn’t even know he would test to see if Chau was as good as he said.
<<Having him owe us a favour could be decent, especially if the ‘Weenies don’t kill him off too quickly. I say we set the grenade off in the warehouse. With luck they’ll think he passed out and it blew him apart, and won’t go looking for him. Then we take him to Daddy to hide away and clean up for a while. Then later he could turn out to be useful to know. How do the rest of you feel?>>
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<<Yeah, one problem solved: Let’s get him back to daddy and make him take care of his brat. Chau won’t be a bother to Gao anymore.
On the other hand, now we have to find someone to pay us for taking care of Nightmare and Dream. Because, sure as frag, those guys aren’t done yet with their bullshit.
Still, one payday after the other.>>
Bobby moved away from Chau, keeping an eye on the astral, ready to crush any shedim daring to venture close. -
<<Yah, let’s get moving, then set off the grenade once we are away from here. The sooner we are gone the better, there is still at least one shedim unaccounted for!>>
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<<Take him back to daddy. I don’t care if Nightmare and Dream think he’s dead or not. Either way it will keep him out of Redmond and away from Gao. So, as Bobby says, one problem solved.>>
<<I can’t tell if we’re getting attitude from Junior here. I don’t know how he pegged us as the ones who stole the card but evidently he made the connection. Sounds like he might be bitter for the beating he got, and for his dead friends; he may say he owes us a favor, but that well could be poisoned.>>
<<Still, I’m not in the mood for cold-blooded murder at the moment. Not while wearing my good suit, at least. I think we’re in a position to dictate what’s what to him.>>
<<As for the wieners…>> Mato puffs his cheeks and exhales. <<Is there anyone we can alert? I mean, we can run it up the totem pole to our handlers, but I’m guessing they’ll say, ‘Seattle isn’t our problem.’ Or we could try Senior. Redmond’s not his turf, but he might be willing to contribute some expertise. I doubt the Triads would approve of shedim.>>
<<Jawsey, you know that forensic magician, right? Would she believe you and/or could she get it on K-E’s radar?>>
Mato moves to help Junior up, and to stuff him in the back of the Americar. He gets in the back with him so that he can intervene in case Junior gets any clever ideas on the ride back to Tacoma.
<<Not thrilled with all this driving back-and-forth in one night, but at least it’s a business expense that we can deduct once it’s time to file our taxes.>> Mato makes a note of the odometer and logs it to his commlink for further tracking in his commlink’s accounting software.
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AM frowns >>Please, no police or anything. They may investigate the Shedim, but they may also investigate who is complaining. I can’t afford a new SIN with the debt I am carrying. “ AM curses silently, when she understands that they need to drive all the way to Tacoma, but does not say anything.
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<<Doesn’t have to be official-like. Maybe Jawsey can just drop a tip, a hint. ‘Thought you’d want to know, might make you look good, you can take all the credit’ … drek like that. But Jawsey knows his bird better than I do.>>
Once they’re on 405 headed south at freeway speeds, Mato lays things out for Junior.
“We’re taking you back to your father. You can rest and recuperate in Tacoma, safe from Nightmare and Dream. We’ll smooth things out with Gao. You’ve lost your Redmond privileges. If and when we need your help dealing with the Halloweeners, we’ll let you know, and we’ll let your father know too. Don’t bother arguing; this isn’t really negotiable. If this is unacceptable, you may exit the car via the window, but we won’t be slowing down first.”
<<In hindsight I should have frisked him first, for extra grenades or for whatever comm he used to call for reinforcements. I guess those never showed up, so maybe all his friends in the Wieners were back in that warehouse.>>
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Junior beams in surprise “You are in bed with my father?! I thought you were working for that old fart, this is why I guessed you stole my card. ”
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“By ‘old fart’ do you mean Five-Finger’ Gau? If so, we are working for him. His store was firebombed; he hired us to end the threat to him and his business, and he thought you might be involved. We are private investigators, not assassins, so we investigated — part of that was talking to your father. We found him to be a wise man, worthy of much respect. We found you in a state where a child could have finished you off, but your death would have brought sorrow to your father. And we mildly prefer not to kill. And so here we are driving back to Tacoma instead of collecting our pay from Gau already.”
After just a beat, he added “I’m not sure what cards have to do with all of this, but provided you agree to stay away from Gau and his family and business, I don’t suppose they are anything we need to know about.”
Spoiler: -
Bobby grinned at Jawsey’s bit of gaslighting but kept his gaze fixed outwards until it was time to get in the car. For once he put on his pants outside and got in afterwards. He didn’t draw attention to himself and hoped that Chao was still to dazed to actually think about his appearance and the disappearance of the bear.
<<Has anyone of you an idea what this mage used to kill those people? It sounds a bit like spirit powers were at work, but I never came across something liket his before.>> -
Jawsey shrugged, then once he was sure Bobby had his trodes on, he sent <<It’s magic? Like, who knows all the types of magic out there and what it can do? I usually just worry friend or foe, if foe best to fight, flee, or freeze? Maybe by the time we make it to Tacoma, Chau Junior, the self-proclaimed expert in such things, will be together enough to give an answer?>>
Jawsey replied via the matrix in part to lot let Chau hear his ignorance, and in part because he hated admitting out loud how little he knew about magic. That was definitely something he had to work on, at least well enough to BS on the topic.
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AM texts >> it seems like some form of mana based area of effect spell, but I never have seen one so strong to instantly kill healthy people.
Junior shrugs “Nevermind about the card, I got sloppy and went in without backup. It was too hot, half the city was after it.
Gau, yes… Glad you could get some money out of him. If you insist on taking me home then I would not resist.
Some of my contacts are unresponsive, so things may be very bad for me. However, the bright side is that I exposed the Haloweeners for what they really are, and can now begin to form a coalition to wipe them out of the city and finally get the turf that father never gave me. Might hire you if things pick up momentum. “The drive to Tacoma is eventless.
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<<In your dreams, suicide boy.>> Bobby replied to the private network among his colleages in response to Chau’s last sentence.
Aloud he said: “The Halloweeners have been wiped out again and again. Everytime they came back. What makes you think that you can make it stick this time?” -
“Yeah, if the Ancients couldn’t put them down for good, nor First Nations when they were all fat on Tempo profits, then you have about as much of a chance as you do kicking Lofwyr in the nuts and getting away with it.”
The car ride is uneventful, but awkward in the sense of having five adults in a car designed for four, plus the fact that one of them is effectively a prisoner, but one that owes you his life. Mato passes the time by comming the team.
<<Yeah, that spell. No signs of trauma. I mean, it could have been one of those mana spells that basically boils your brain inside its skull, but my understanding is that you usually need to get hit three or four times with those before you drop. This seemed more like a paralysis spell, but one that paralyzed involuntarily muscles too. Maybe the others suffocated if they couldn’t breath anymore. What kind of Talent does Chau have? Maybe he was able to jam the mana just enough to stay alive. Enough to keep breathing, but not enough to drop that grenade even if he wanted too.>>
<<I’m surprised the shedim didn’t just call his bluff. I mean, if all they need is a dead body, why didn’t they just walk off with his friends’ bodies? If Chau blew them up, well, it’s not like they’d be any worse off than they currently are. Which is to say, bodyless.>>
They get back to the club in Tacoma. Mato is gentler with Chau this time, but still stays on his shoulder as he marches him into the club for a reunion with daddy dearest. Luckily Mato already paid the cover charge earlier and so doesn’t have to again.
<<Jawsey, you want to give Gao the good news? Also, maybe best if you explained to Senior what went down and what the expectations are for Junior.>>
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