Re: A Difficult Choice, Martha and Missing Widderslaintes IC Thread 9

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"Yes," he said, and once they started talking about the cars, he decided he'd have to look at that too. They'd had Freddy give a look at things, try to keep the off the security, but like Adjan had said, who knew what the Tremere could get up to.

"We will have to tell Deacosess Rose about the cars and that they might have been tampered with, for now we need to find a way to shake these guys."
Adjan said and glanced behind them again.
"I would like to avoid a fight with them if we can."

Three cars of vampires or vampire ghouls was not welcome. He got to work as best as he was able from within the car, first seeing and then plucking apart the traces of prime that he could see linking them, breath fogging up the windows as he chanted, searching for where to start.

The connections you work with now are much fainter, the connection between two enemies, two people who have been to the same place, weak, impotent connections, you cut them but it is doubtful whoever are pursuing you are using them for they are but flimsy wisps in the great pattern of the macrocosmos. There is something there though, something more substantial, a link created and maintained like a fisherman having hooked your group and each member in it with an invisible line and hook, it was a somewhat crude, and quite static effect but still elegantly made and it would make it able for someone to know exactly where your group are.

(OOC: Sorry for the late reply I was out playing MtG with friends.)

[Warpmind]

Colin grumbled, "Good idea, Adjan - for now, do you have a suggestion for where to go?"
He glanced in the mirror, "Find anything useful, Adley?"

[Adley]

"There's something alright, something they've made...latched onto each one of us...it's like we're towing their car around like we're a giant marlin they're trying to land...or a GPS on our asses...." he grumbled in response, then tried to see how he could split the connections away.

// I dumped a bunch of rolls to try to separate things - but if you need some more as it needs a different approach due to it's static-nature let me know, I won't be able to make them till I get home though!

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin grumbled, "Good idea, Adjan - for now, do you have a suggestion for where to go?"

"Well we can not go back to a Chantry before we decide what to do about Molly."
Adjan said and sigh.
"Somewhere populated and crowded perhaps, our pursuers are not likely to attack there, on the other hand it might make it more complicated for us to find a place to stop when Adley's Umbrood friend returns so we can heat what it have to say."
The Euthanatos commented.

"There's something alright, something they've made...latched onto each one of us...it's like we're towing their car around like we're a giant marlin they're trying to land...or a GPS on our asses...." he grumbled in response, then tried to see how he could split the connections away.

"Well then we know that the ones following us as not mundane at least."
Adjan commented.
"Do you think it is static magic they are using or true magick? How static is this shit?"

You do not think the same rote that your mentor taught you to cut arcane connections will cut it here, as this is not a arcane connection but more magical tracking, a good old fashioned banishing or counter magick might be able to solve the problem but it is a different approach all together."

(Well that is allot of rolls, if you describe how Adley go about banishing the tracking I do not require any new rolls for it.)

[Warpmind]

Colin frowned, "Bloody hell, if that's what they're doing, I have an idea, but Adjan will have to take the wheel while I concentrate... Shouldn't take long, but a crash only takes a second..."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"Fine but then you will have to stop so we can change who is in the driver's seat."
Adjan said then he pointed.
"There is a bus stop there, we can stop and change drivers and be on our way again right away."
He suggested.

[Adley]

"It's pretty static by our standards. And it's not arcane, so I don't think it's true magick," he replied. He was not sure if he could discern if it was linear magic or specifically Tremere bullshit (it was probably Tremere bullshit) but he also didn't feel like he needed to, in order to get it off of them - he knew everyone under the effect better than these vampires did, anyway.

Frowning, Adley returned his concentration to trying to remove the links, banishing the static tie that had ensnared them. First, he concentrated on himself, since that was the easiest place to start from as he knew himself best and then from there to the other connections, tracing that lingering sense of the static working clinging onto them to try to banish it in preference to his will.

"Perdo vim," he began, reaching out towards the car behind them in a series of gestures, simple and blunt as he spoke a series of short phrases in Latin. "I burn away these unwanted connections from the Tapestry...with every Word, these threads of power diminish as shadows shorten before the climbing sun; I banish these connections until they are no more...exsilium!" He repeated the whole entire sequence for each (unspoken) Name under the effect, until he sensed the bonds loosening their hold and dispersing or had to stop for some other reason.

// it's a bit quick and dirty, being a spontaneous effect but his idea is that he is focusing first on the tie to himself which he feels must be essentially less powerful than his own inherent ties to himself and using that to banish these new ones, including that of his friends.

[Warpmind]

Colin nodded and pulled over, "Right you are. You hop seats, I'll go around."
He hopped out of the car and ran quickly around the front and slid into the passenger seat once Adjan had moved, "Alright, Combat Aviation 102: Countermeasures. If the incoming missile is a heat seeker, use a flare. If it uses radar, deploy chaff. For other advanced targeting systems, there are equivalent responses. The methods vary slightly, but the purpose is simple: Make the projectile lose track of you."
He fished out his Chaos Wand and held it in his right hand, twisting the ring to the engraved face plate touched against the wood, drawing patterns in the air corresponding to well-remembered evasive maneuvers he'd practiced in the RAF, "Aspecti mutandi, secutori conturbae!"
Then he tapped the wand against the car, willing a shifting, disruptive field to cover the car for just a little while.

((OOC: Essentially, Correspondence 1 (if applicable), Prime 2, Entropy 2 - and a heck of a lot of Dynamic energy - to create a scrambler against anyone trying to pinpoint the car or the people inside. Taking the time for three Arete rolls: 2,5,0 - 8,8,9 - 7,8,0... Jesus, my Mach Dice app loves me tonight! O.o ))

[Tane Karyak]

Friday:

It's serious, but i think she'll make it if she can get over the trauma. Tane said with a sad grinn

Seriously one of them lives in a chantry? Fuck, and here they treat Coawa like my overzised dog

Saturday:

Tane could stand his own against any men or women unless they were martial artists, but in any case he knew he could go away with it, so he kept dragging her to the house. As they intended to call the police Tane shouted She's my friend's sister! Leave her alone! and called Coawa.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Adley, Richard and Colin

"It's pretty static by our standards. And it's not arcane, so I don't think it's true magick," he replied. He was not sure if he could discern if it was linear magic or specifically Tremere bullshit (it was probably Tremere bullshit) but he also didn't feel like he needed to, in order to get it off of them - he knew everyone under the effect better than these vampires did, anyway.

"Hedge magick of some sort then, and probably our vampire friends...well better than the Nephandi."
Adjan grumbled.
"Can you get whatever it is off us Adley?"
He asked.

"Perdo vim," he began, reaching out towards the car behind them in a series of gestures, simple and blunt as he spoke a series of short phrases in Latin. "I burn away these unwanted connections from the Tapestry...with every Word, these threads of power diminish as shadows shorten before the climbing sun; I banish these connections until they are no more...exsilium!" He repeated the whole entire sequence for each (unspoken) Name under the effect, until he sensed the bonds loosening their hold and dispersing or had to stop for some other reason.

It was not the most elegant rote ever created and cast, and it did not have to be, it worked, instead of finding an arcane connection and severing the unseen ties between a person or object and something else, here you forced the invisible fishing line as it where out, using your knowledge of yourself and your will to deny it entry. It was crude, Perdo Vim...I destroy magick, nothing else, base countermagick as effectively and crude astrally as a fireball in the physical world would be, but it worked and in your mind's eye you could see those invisible lines burning away into nothingness, denying your enemies that hold on you, yours companions and your car itself.

Colin nodded and pulled over, "Right you are. You hop seats, I'll go around."
He hopped out of the car and ran quickly around the front and slid into the passenger seat once Adjan had moved,

The Euthanatos nodded as soon as Colin was out of the driver's seat he moved from the back seat to the front, he was fairly tall but even in the cramped space he moved quickly and nimbly. The moment Colin was back in the car Adjan hit the paddle and ped of, any magick to stop their pursuers tracing them would be worthless if they simply caught up to them.

"Alright, Combat Aviation 102: Countermeasures. If the incoming missile is a heat seeker, use a flare. If it uses radar, deploy chaff. For other advanced targeting systems, there are equivalent responses. The methods vary slightly, but the purpose is simple: Make the projectile lose track of you."

"If the missile in this instance is asshole vampires then I bet flares will work either way."
Adjan muttered stress putting a bit more swear words into his usually reserved and polite speech.

He fished out his Chaos Wand and held it in his right hand, twisting the ring to the engraved face plate touched against the wood, drawing patterns in the air corresponding to well-remembered evasive maneuvers he'd practiced in the RAF, "Aspecti mutandi, secutori conturbae!"
Then he tapped the wand against the car, willing a shifting, disruptive field to cover the car for just a little while.

While Adley's somewhat crude banishing rote might have removed the attached strings, your own magick followed up, making it far more difficult to create new tracers, and even giving you some obscurity physically as well, looking behind you will see the two BMW's and the Mercedes falling behind, traffic lights, a convoy of three trailers transporting meat, several private cars, all of it subtly getting in the way, making them most likely loose sight of you while their spellcaster or whatever it was they had where unable to sink more lines into you and your friends, effectively evading them, at least for now.
"Where to?"
Adjan asked.

Molly looks at Colin as he works his magick.
"That is a interesting way to work Mr Wainwright...and makes sense to use your wand as you would fly a helicopter...birding memory and will."
She muttered.
"Though I doubt many of us who have been trained in a Tradition would have thought of the idea, or been able to fit it into our Paradigms."
She continued.

Tane:

Friday:

It's serious, but i think she'll make it if she can get over the trauma. Tane said with a sad grinn

"That is good..."
Lily said she looked like she might be about to ask what had happened to your friend to cause that trauma but she thought better of it, thinking that doing so might seam insensitive.

Seriously one of them lives in a chantry? Fuck, and here they treat Coawa like my overzised dog

"Well Mië is in effect a hedge wizard like me, I am not sure everyone even knows that she is fera and not just a hedge wizard shape changer like me, as I said they can learn hedge wizardry, why they can do so when no other fera seam to be able to, I do not know, but they can."
Henrietta said and smiled.
"She is a nice if somewhat puzzling woman."

Saturday:

Tane could stand his own against any men or women unless they were martial artists, but in any case he knew he could go away with it, so he kept dragging her to the house. As they intended to call the police Tane shouted She's my friend's sister! Leave her alone! and called Coawa.

That you knew the woman seamed to calm and disappoint the crowd, a herd could be cruel in ways a single individual seldom was and several of them still had their phones out, filming, ready to get their five minutes of fame by posting videos about the ugly naked chick on the docks, oblivious to the girl's feelings. You do make it out of the crowd though and if you knew her then they had no reason to follow, no reason to demand anything and slowly the crowd vanished though a few of the filmers stayed their phones pointed at you and the confused Rokea muttering speculations on whatever the woman had snapped or if she was drunk or on bath salts.

You call Coawa and he picks up the phone, you hear the sizzling of something frying in the background, probably he was cooking himself and Alessa a meal.
"Yes Tane it is me, is something wrong."
The wereshark said as you hear him flipping something in the pan, probably fish.

(OOC: Well now that will be some frustrated pursuers.)

[Tane Karyak]

Friday:

Maybe i'll get to know her someday. It's gotta be impressive being part of two supernatural kingdoms...

Saturday:

Hey there. Umm, i got a little girl here, i think she had her first change and is completelly naked on the street. SHould i leave the people film her or do i do something else? I think she doesnt look odder than a naked girl. I'm taking her home.

[Adley]

"Hedge magick of some sort then, and probably our vampire friends...well better than the Nephandi." Adjan grumbled. "Can you get whatever it is off us Adley?" He asked...

His answer was just to start the working; no use theorizing about it. He thought he could, even if he'd never tried it on this sort of spell before. That hadn't stopped him so far, sometimes the only way to find out was to try it. Over the top of his chanting he could hear Colin describing strategies...but by now he had dug his heels down to push and drag the fishhooks of magic out. Therefore, he was a bit confused about the sudden 'fire drill' routine of Adjan moving up to the driver's seat so Colin could work at the passenger side. The Orphan's words filtered back through again and he looked at the back of his head wondering if, by his reckoning, that meant his way had been to shoot rockets out of the sky with...well, bigger rockets. "Hmmm....well, that seemed to have done the trick between us. I broke those anchors. Whatever you did though, we should clear some way so that my friend can find me again. I hope it will not be too much longer..."

// lol I think that about sums up the differences in the way they think pretty nicely xD

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Tane:

Friday:

Maybe i'll get to know her someday. It's gotta be impressive being part of two supernatural kingdoms...

"More impressively she Chantry Westchapel's librarian, it never hurts to make friends with a librarian, it can make finding what you need for studies or research that much easier."
Henrietta said and smiles.
"I will introduce you one day."

Saturday:

Hey there. Umm, i got a little girl here, i think she had her first change and is completelly naked on the street. SHould i leave the people film her or do i do something else? I think she doesnt look odder than a naked girl. I'm taking her home.

"Well it seams humans like to shame one another for being naked for some reason, and especially females tend to get the brunt of it. I will never understand it, but right now I think perhaps that making a fuss over the filming might create more attention than just getting her out of there."
Coawa said.
"What sort of changer do you think that she is?"
He asked.
"I will make enough lunch for four then."
He declared.

Adley:

"No we will need to make a decision soon."
Adjan said then he sigh.
"I think either we go to the most crowded place we can find and loose ourselves there but as the car is full it can make it hard for your Umbrood friend when she return, or we find some side street with no sleepers and I bring us all into the Umbra to wait there, it will cost a bit of Dox but it should not be to bad."
The death magus suggested.
"And we should be relatively safe there, at least for a while."

[Warpmind]

Colin exhaled slowly, then smirked in slightly smug self-satisfaction, "Mundane skills and magical parallels; I might not have come up with such an idea if I had not been trained to do similar things without magic in the first place. Other backgrounds might lead one on to different ways of losing pursuers; a cabbie might know a shortcut through a technically legal back alley, or an actor might come up with a quick disguise. To be honest, whatever the method and mundane parallel doesn't matter as much as getting the desired result, wouldn't you say?"
He glanced back at Adley, "Nice work severing the linkage, by the way. Very neat and functional. I must remember that incantation."
He relaxed a little in the seat, "So, we should be looking for, what, a reflective surface to drive the car through, or something?" He frowned, "Would a lake serve that purpose, for example, or would that be highly impractical? I don't think we should leave the car on this side while we hide - make it easier for them to locate it, and by extension us again."

((OOC: Fight rockets with bigger rockets? Hardly. More like fighting rockets with a small cloud of tin foil shreds and a freefalling heatstick at a some 1600F. Or, as was the rather impressive case, with his own face... That one stung a little. ))

[Adley]

"No we will need to make a decision soon." Adjan said then he sigh

"I have not forgotten," he said, as the thrill of getting away, breaking the anchors (at least for the moment) faded. There was always the chance that there would be no answer, or not one in reasonable (for them) time, which in itself was it's own sort of answer.

He glanced back at Adley, "Nice work severing the linkage, by the way. Very neat and functional. I must remember that incantation."

He winced slightly at him and then shrugged. "It was a bit rough," he admitted, then allowed himself a small smile. "But it worked. Still, it was whatever you just did that will put them off trying anything like that on us for a while, I think."

"...we find some side street with no sleepers and I bring us all into the Umbra to wait there, it will cost a bit of Dox but it should not be to bad." The death magus suggested.
"And we should be relatively safe there, at least for a while.

I don't think we should leave the car on this side while we hide - make it easier for them to locate it, and by extension us again."

"I agree we should try to get the car off the street if we're going to keep using it. If they have their thumbs into any of the sleeper systems they might be able to cause us some problems. I'm not sure if it would be easier to hide it somewhere instead rather than trying to put us and it into the umbra," he mused. "Can you do that?" he asked Adjan.

// Colin surely has had his fill of -actual- rockets aimed at him D: Poor guy, once was too many times.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin exhaled slowly, then smirked in slightly smug self-satisfaction, "Mundane skills and magical parallels; I might not have come up with such an idea if I had not been trained to do similar things without magic in the first place. Other backgrounds might lead one on to different ways of losing pursuers; a cabbie might know a shortcut through a technically legal back alley, or an actor might come up with a quick disguise. To be honest, whatever the method and mundane parallel doesn't matter as much as getting the desired result, wouldn't you say?"

"Hum...well I guess it do create a strong link in the mind to what you are doing, and since in the end, no matter how attached we are to our Paradigms and tools and Foci that is all we are actually doing, finding a way to trick our own minds into letting magick happen."
Molly said and smiles momentarily more fascinated by Colin's make shift ritual than frightened by her predicament.
"It was a most elegant way to work though."
She said with a grin.
"Did we shake them?"

He relaxed a little in the seat, "So, we should be looking for, what, a reflective surface to drive the car through, or something?" He frowned, "Would a lake serve that purpose, for example, or would that be highly impractical?

"Well if the goal is to drown the five of us a lake would be most practical."
Adjan said with a grin.
"But for getting into the Umbra anywhere with as few sleepers as possible should do, through I guess drowning is also technically a way to get into the Umbra."
He muttered seemingly oblivious to the fact that someone not as morbid as him might not find his jokes quite as funny as he himself did.

I don't think we should leave the car on this side while we hide - make it easier for them to locate it, and by extension us again."

"I was thinking of bringing the whole thing through yes."
The Euthanatos confirmed.
"Just find me some dark back ally where I am not seen working my magick."
He said as he drove along, keeping an eye out himself for a suitable spot.

"I have not forgotten," he said, as the thrill of getting away, breaking the anchors (at least for the moment) faded. There was always the chance that there would be no answer, or not one in reasonable (for them) time, which in itself was it's own sort of answer.

Adjan just nodded at that as he drove though in the back seat Molly's temporary good mood over Colin's rather unusual working faded and she glanced out the window sadly but she said nothing.

"I agree we should try to get the car off the street if we're going to keep using it. If they have their thumbs into any of the sleeper systems they might be able to cause us some problems. I'm not sure if it would be easier to hide it somewhere instead rather than trying to put us and it into the umbra," he mused. "Can you do that?" he asked Adjan.

"Yes I can do that, though chances are it will stop once we reach the other side, keeping something mechanical moving in the Umbra is not easy, at least not for me."
He said, through it had apparently not been hard for your mentor when you and him had driven home with the wounded Nico.
"I think we go for the full Near Umbra though, there is a chance that vampires might be able to interact with the Penumbra."
He muttered more to himself than anyone else.
"If someone read the map and find a good location I can get us of the streets."

[Adley]

"Well if the goal is to drown the five of us a lake would be most practical." Adjan said with a grin. "But for getting into the Umbra anywhere with as few sleepers as possible should do, through I guess drowning is also technically a way to get into the Umbra."

"I'd rather not go to that part of the Umbra, right now thank-you," he said, raising an eyebrow at him. No, he'd rather not visit the land of the dead, there was much too much left to do to die right now, unless he had to do so. He'd just started figuring it out, this week...

"Yes I can do that, though chances are it will stop once we reach the other side, keeping something mechanical moving in the Umbra is not easy, at least not for me." He said, through it had apparently not been hard for your mentor when you and him had driven home with the wounded Nico.

"Hm...are we pushing it back into the material world later?" he asked. His mentor must have used some way to make the car move. And then he realised that had been that same morning - early, early in the morning.

"I think we go for the full Near Umbra though, there is a chance that vampires might be able to interact with the Penumbra." He muttered more to himself than anyone else."If someone read the map and find a good location I can get us of the streets."

"Can I volunteer someone else? I need to think about something. Plus you are luckier than I," he added. Then he said in a tired but contemplative tone of voice, "You know...the cauls...if it's true that some are weaker than they 'should be,' according to the Nephandi and all those avatars that survive the event and return, though twisted and inverted, there are some few that are not quite 'as they should be,' according to the Nephandi..." he mused aloud. "It would stand to reason that, knowing the caul itself was once alive, someone sacrificed, not by choice perhaps, made to unbe and twisted into that, Name taken and destroyed. If the caul exists in its own sort of destruction of time, or from before there -was- time, of the formless Void before there was space or time. Then each of those that keep reincarnating are a natural extension of the fact that the caul is 'weak,' by Nephandic standards. Imagine that these widderslainte return to gain another part of their Name, another piece of themselves that if they manage hold onto or find or make that does not Fall but is still linked to the caul. Linked to all their past reincarnations...though parts have been darkened and draw downward, there is another part that continues and it remembers what it gave itself for out of love and somehow remains relatively innocent, at least for some while as their names unfold in material time...if we are destroying them as if they were all the same, irredeemable, then we're doing the Nephandi a favour. And...I don't think I'm the only one that believes something like that..."

He didn't think he had all of it, not yet, but he had more than he had just days before. He didn't think it made the choice easier, or made him more wise. At least not yet. But for Molly, they would have to do something, very soon.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"I'd rather not go to that part of the Umbra, right now thank-you," he said, raising an eyebrow at him. No, he'd rather not visit the land of the dead, there was much too much left to do to die right now, unless he had to do so. He'd just started figuring it out, this week...

"It is a beautiful place..."
Adjan muttered sounding eerily longing.
"But no, there are more things to be done and it will not serve our purposes."
He added as if that was the only reason not to drive into a lake and drown.

"Hm...are we pushing it back into the material world later?" he asked. His mentor must have used some way to make the car move. And then he realised that had been that same morning - early, early in the morning.

"We can if I make a rift in the Gauntlet like a portal, but it is much easier to just fold the layers of existence back over it to bring it back into physical reality."
The Euthanatos commented.

Then he said in a tired but contemplative tone of voice, "You know...the cauls...if it's true that some are weaker than they 'should be,' according to the Nephandi and all those avatars that survive the event and return, though twisted and inverted, there are some few that are not quite 'as they should be,' according to the Nephandi..." he mused aloud. "It would stand to reason that, knowing the caul itself was once alive, someone sacrificed, not by choice perhaps, made to unbe and twisted into that, Name taken and destroyed. If the caul exists in its own sort of destruction of time, or from before there -was- time, of the formless Void before there was space or time. Then each of those that keep reincarnating are a natural extension of the fact that the caul is 'weak,' by Nephandic standards.

"A formless void..."
Molly muttered softly from the back seat.
"I have nightmares at times about that, and at the same time those dreams give comfort, there is a place with no time, no light...no reality, there is only pain, endless torment, endless torture...but sometimes in those dreams I think I see a child, just a flicker of him or her, deep in the formless shadows, or no, shadows is not right, shadows have existence this place do not, deep in the nothingness...and then I wake, covered in sweat, afraid but still longing to go back to that dark place that is not a place..."
She said her voice low and dreaming.
"I do not know if it means anything though."

Imagine that these widderslainte return to gain another part of their Name, another piece of themselves that if they manage hold onto or find or make that does not Fall but is still linked to the caul. Linked to all their past reincarnations...though parts have been darkened and draw downward, there is another part that continues and it remembers what it gave itself for out of love and somehow remains relatively innocent, at least for some while as their names unfold in material time...if we are destroying them as if they were all the same, irredeemable, then we're doing the Nephandi a favour. And...I don't think I'm the only one that believes something like that..."

"If some Cauls are weak and do not manage to fully invert some of it's victims then yes I would imagine you are right, destroying those victims will just be a way to remove any evidence of that weakness."
Adjan said as he glanced in the rear view mirror at Molly.
"Hum...if I where a Nephandus and if your theory where correct Adley I would be damned sure to either have agents on Horizon or bribe or threaten someone in high places there to make sure that those shards of weakness never regained their light, I would not want such a stain on my Caul which they see as the center of their society...not to mention what a way to cleanse these unfortunate souls would do to their morale..."
The Euthanatos said.
"What are the chances such agents would have made it to very high places of our society..."
He muttered ominously.

[Adley]

"It is a beautiful place..." Adjan muttered sounding eerily longing. "But no, there are more things to be done and it will not serve our purposes." He added as if that was the only reason not to drive into a lake and drown.

"We don't have time for a sightseeing tour," he said, concerned for his friend. "Though no doubt few would make a better Virgil. Still we've got too much on our plate as it is, don't you think?"

"We can if I make a rift in the Gauntlet like a portal, but it is much easier to just fold the layers of existence back over it to bring it back into physical reality." The Euthanatos commented.

"Ah of course..."

"A formless void..."Molly muttered softly from the back seat. "I have nightmares at times about that...but sometimes in those dreams I think I see a child, just a flicker of him or her, deep in the formless shadows, or no, shadows is not right, shadows have existence this place do not, deep in the nothingness...and then I wake, covered in sweat, afraid but still longing to go back to that dark place that is not a place..."

"Perhaps it is the memory of being in the caul...something your avatar has experienced."

"Hum...if I where a Nephandus and if your theory where correct Adley I would be damned sure to either have agents on Horizon or bribe or threaten someone in high places there to make sure that those shards of weakness never regained their light, I would not want such a stain on my Caul which they see as the center of their society...not to mention what a way to cleanse these unfortunate souls would do to their morale..." The Euthanatos said."What are the chances such agents would have made it to very high places of our society..."He muttered ominously.

"Yes...one would try to find out where things went wrong, see if you could make them as you 'expected' it to be..." he said, carefully not wanting to upset Molly further. "And that might be why -that woman- wants them, to put through again or sacrifice or whatever she means to do to strengthen it. And why she wants someone who knows the ars temporalis..." he frowned, raising a hand to scratch at his ear. The implications of that were starting to look exceptionally poor to him, though time ars still confounded him, even hearing them play out from Colin's experiences, he could begin to extrapolate some nasty theories. "If the caul was somehow part of the Void, literally -not part of anything,- the Ain, if the Nephandi managed to break through that which gives shape to our existences through their sacrifices, through the eternal light of the Ain Sof Aur, then all of those widderslainte who currently are in a state of flux...never mind the whole of creation...would be in great peril. Considering what we know is at risk, this is not exactly surprising, I suppose."  

Well if nothing else got the attention of the likes of an Aswadim...that woman thought she could control one. Wrong or right in that, it would be hell on earth. He retraced himself back to Adjan's words.

"Yet it must be -shown,- before it's too late...and it has to be the right one, the right way. If no one cares, if no one even bothers to look or search then they're helping them. We need the time and a way to show that there is another way that can be brought to light. To built up that kind of fight. I believe it has to be someone who understands and will fight...and who has enough external protections that will allow such a thing to even be brought to a place where there is a chance to make a difference...and to do that we need to make it through the next day or so."

[Warpmind]

Colin smiled to Adley, "It was intended as a compliment. It was a bit rough, perhaps, but it was tidy and straight to the point."
He frowned briefly as he pocketed his wand and fished out his phone to check the map, "Death would not be the ideal way to hide, no. I've seen a bright light once, that'll hold me for a long while yet. Best opt for... Hm, no signal. I think there was a regular map in the glove compartment..."
He rummaged in the glove box for a moment and produced the map there, quickly folding out the relevant segment, "Now, let's see..." He paused as Adley hypothesized, "An Avatar, even after being brought through a Caul again, can remember kindness from a previous incarnation... A Caul is made from a living human; presumably an Awakened one, if I understand the current problematic issue correctly... and the Avatars used for the Cauls like that remember things - KNOW things about their surroundings... Could it be that the Caul is keeping the child from which it was made alive in stasis somewhere inside? Might it be possible to turn back time on a Caul, make it... human again?"
He shook his head, "Er, right... I think there's a suitable alley over there somewhere... Let's hope it isn't populated by drunken hobos."

((OOC: Am I the only one to have the mental image of a really messed up version of the Star-Child thing from 2001: A Space Odyssey? ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"We don't have time for a sightseeing tour," he said, concerned for his friend. "Though no doubt few would make a better Virgil. Still we've got too much on our plate as it is, don't you think?"

"Yes...well the problem with sightseeing is getting back."
Adjan muttered still longingly then he seamed to snap out of it.
"Well yes, we have to much on our plate indeed, to much to do in this life...sorry...ehm Jhor...it happens."
He muttered and kept his eyes on the road.

"Perhaps it is the memory of being in the caul...something your avatar has experienced."

"Perhaps it is...a vivid dream at least. If my Avatar experienced this then shit that was not pleasant."
Molly muttered softly.
"Not pleasant at all."
She said and shuddered.

"Yes...one would try to find out where things went wrong, see if you could make them as you 'expected' it to be..." he said, carefully not wanting to upset Molly further.

Molly glanced over at Adley and shuddered but she nodded that she was ok, through she was very pale and again she looked down at her chained hands.
"Born wrong for both the Nephandi and the Traditions."
She muttered sadly.
"Though not fitting into the Nephandi is not a bad thing."

"And that might be why -that woman- wants them, to put through again or sacrifice or whatever she means to do to strengthen it. And why she wants someone who knows the ars temporalis..." he frowned, raising a hand to scratch at his ear. The implications of that were starting to look exceptionally poor to him, though time ars still confounded him, even hearing them play out from Colin's experiences, he could begin to extrapolate some nasty theories.

"Well that is a possibility...it so not explain why seemingly completely functional from the Fallen's perspective, evil bastard, high ranking widderslaintes seam to go missing like socks in a washer."
Adjan muttered.
"But yes that might be two separate things, your theory might explain why that woman as you call her need someone born Fallen for what she is planning."

"If the caul was somehow part of the Void, literally -not part of anything,- the Ain, if the Nephandi managed to break through that which gives shape to our existences through their sacrifices, through the eternal light of the Ain Sof Aur, then all of those widderslainte who currently are in a state of flux...never mind the whole of creation...would be in great peril. Considering what we know is at risk, this is not exactly surprising, I suppose."

"That is not a comforting thought..."
Adjan muttered sourly.
"And that idea do make a frightening kind of sense...I mean if you are right, then Larson could end up bringing the river of chaos...what you call nothingness right into creation...I do not know the effect of that but I doubt it would be good."
He muttered growing if possible even paler than he already was.

"Yet it must be -shown,- before it's too late...and it has to be the right one, the right way. If no one cares, if no one even bothers to look or search then they're helping them. We need the time and a way to show that there is another way that can be brought to light. To built up that kind of fight. I believe it has to be someone who understands and will fight...and who has enough external protections that will allow such a thing to even be brought to a place where there is a chance to make a difference...and to do that we need to make it through the next day or so."

"I hate to say it...for I have met the woman and she is interesting to say the least, but in this situation I almost hope they catch Amanda..."
Adjan said then he sigh.
"Well not not really I would never wish that upon anyone, her or anyone else, but she is high profile, the apprentice of an Archmage who is the Deacon Primus of one of the most influential Chantries of Horizon, such a trial would be one hell of a stage and if something could be exposed...it would be there, such a trial would also take quite a bit of time, no one is brushing the apprentice of Senex under a carpet..."
The Euthanatos said and sigh.
"Well anyway that is not happening Amanda have been able to live in the Traditions staying out of the hands of the Enforcers for over twenty years I am just thinking out loud...but yes for the corruption to be exposed there have to be noise, and there have to be a defendant able to and willing to make that noise..."
He said and glanced in the mirror at Molly.
"The question is if the terrified apprentice of an Adept is that someone."
He added in a whisper to Adley.

He frowned briefly as he pocketed his wand and fished out his phone to check the map, "Death would not be the ideal way to hide, no. I've seen a bright light once, that'll hold me for a long while yet. Best opt for... Hm, no signal. I think there was a regular map in the glove compartment..."

"Well death can certainly be impractical at times."
Adjan admitted.
"There is things to do and things one still want to experience in life."

He rummaged in the glove box for a moment and produced the map there, quickly folding out the relevant segment, "Now, let's see..." He paused as Adley hypothesized, "An Avatar, even after being brought through a Caul again, can remember kindness from a previous incarnation... A Caul is made from a living human; presumably an Awakened one, if I understand the current problematic issue correctly... and the Avatars used for the Cauls like that remember things - KNOW things about their surroundings... Could it be that the Caul is keeping the child from which it was made alive in stasis somewhere inside? Might it be possible to turn back time on a Caul, make it... human again?"

"Well while I would like to look upon the face of Lisa Larson and tell her, sorry we destroyed your portal to hell but here is a baby, I am not sure there would be any saving for such a child, such a darkness...I am not sure how anyone could return from it. However it is possible that whoever a Caul was made from, if all of them are made like that, and it do make sense if they are since they twist Avatars that they in effect ARE Avatars themselves...that such a creature if willing to might be able to give some small mercy to it's victims and let them keep some light, just a theory off course but possible."
Adjan commented as he drove around looking for a private spot to shift into another dimension.

He shook his head, "Er, right... I think there's a suitable alley over there somewhere... Let's hope it isn't populated by drunken hobos."

"Well if it is then I guess I will scare the crap out of them...and get quite a bit of Dox."
The Euthanatos said and drove in that direction.
"Down here to the left?"
He asked.

[Warpmind]

Colin nodded sagely, "I, for one, have the next two decades quite specifically lined up. I'm trying to figure out how to get past that point, but I've got some amount of time yet to worry about surviving an exploding polyp."
He scratched his cheek, "Certainly, if a Caul could be... reverted, it could well necessitate a full restoration of the Avatar in question, as well. Its affection for the, hm, host body, for lack of a better term, might be a solid incentive for that. If a concept like incentive really applies to a timeless, ageless Avatar."
He glanced at the map again, "Ah, ye... no, next one to the left. This one is behind a night club, according to the map."

((OOC: Oh, yes, I think it seems rather right that cell phones don't work in the car while the "scrambler" is running. Kind of difficult for the signal to find the phone, y'know... ))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin nodded sagely, "I, for one, have the next two decades quite specifically lined up. I'm trying to figure out how to get past that point, but I've got some amount of time yet to worry about surviving an exploding polyp."

"Polyp? Ah from your future vision...I have just heard some of the details though, still that do sound like quite a task."
Adjan said with a bit of a smile as he drove.
"Let us focus on surviving today first."

He scratched his cheek, "Certainly, if a Caul could be... reverted, it could well necessitate a full restoration of the Avatar in question, as well. Its affection for the, hm, host body, for lack of a better term, might be a solid incentive for that. If a concept like incentive really applies to a timeless, ageless Avatar."

"I do not know how they think when not connected to a host, when with us they are at least party understandable but how much of something like incentive might be part of the thinking pattern of a Avatar alone I have no idea...saving a Caul though might be a bit to ambitious, it might be destruction is the only mercy that can be offered there."
The Euthanatos said and you see that Molly shivers when he mentions destroying something that could be a, for a lack of a better term, mutated Avatar.

He glanced at the map again, "Ah, ye... no, next one to the left. This one is behind a night club, according to the map."

"Next one to the left...very well."
The death magus said as he drove past a nightclub called Bright, which was just opening for the evening and headed into the ally beyond, right now there where no one there, just trash cans and a cat that jumped out of the way of the car with an insulted expression on it's furry face.
"If you would keep an eye out for our friends in the BMW's while I work?"
The Euthanatos asked as he pulled out his dice and begun to roll them in his hands.
"This should not take long."

[Adley]

Colin smiled to Adley, "It was intended as a compliment. It was a bit rough, perhaps, but it was tidy and straight to the point."

"I will take it as such," he said, with a nod. "If I had half a chance to stop and clean them up I might be onto some interesting ideas."

"An Avatar, even after being brought through a Caul again, can remember kindness from a previous incarnation... A Caul is made from a living human; presumably an Awakened one, if I understand the current problematic issue correctly... and the Avatars used for the Cauls like that remember things - KNOW things about their surroundings... Could it be that the Caul is keeping the child from which it was made alive in stasis somewhere inside? Might it be possible to turn back time on a Caul, make it... human again?"

it do make sense if they are since they twist Avatars that they in effect ARE Avatars themselves...that such a creature if willing to might be able to give some small mercy to it's victims and let them keep some light, just a theory off course but possible."

"I know that's happened once, rejecting someone, when it was new and 'weak,'" he said to Adjan's comment. "But after time that it loses that ability. I had a thought that returning part of its name might serve, which might be easier than making it human again. Hard enough though and I am not entirely sure what effect it might have ultimately."

"Perhaps it is...a vivid dream at least. If my Avatar experienced this then shit that was not pleasant." Molly muttered softly. "Not pleasant at all."

"I imagine not," he agreed with a frown.

"That is not a comforting thought..." Adjan muttered sourly. "And that idea do make a frightening kind of sense...

"We already know some of what she's after...none of it is comforting but I think it's starting to sink in," he said. "The river of chaos...

"Well anyway that is not happening Amanda have been able to live in the Traditions staying out of the hands of the Enforcers for over twenty years I am just thinking out loud...but yes for the corruption to be exposed there have to be noise, and there have to be a defendant able to and willing to make that noise..." He said and glanced in the mirror at Molly. "The question is if the terrified apprentice of an Adept is that someone."

He nodded a little. That was part of the question, if not most of it. Someone was going in the red room and would be punished for something they did not deserve to be punished for, but if it just made another head roll on the floor without having done any good. With that he let the others find them a way to the umbra and became quiet again, pondering the question's ramifications and what his intuition told him was the right thing to do by whatever amount of wisdom he'd managed to grasp and try to understand. How strange that the sentencing room and the cauls both had one thing in common: the screams. And if one node can open up over time as vampires were burnt to a crisp, he saw no reason that the death and punishment of magii over centuries could not...looking over at Molly, he felt the ax brush his neck and saw the blood rushing down the front of his shirt. And the avid faces of the crowd as they absorbed it all as the cost and consequence of living in their society, one that would never touch them. As he'd thought, days ago.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"I know that's happened once, rejecting someone, when it was new and 'weak,'" he said to Adjan's comment. "But after time that it loses that ability. I had a thought that returning part of its name might serve, which might be easier than making it human again. Hard enough though and I am not entirely sure what effect it might have ultimately."

"Hum...well I do not work with names the way you do my friend, so I am not completely sure what you mean, but if you think it can help then giving it a shot might be wise, and if not if we get close to the Caul then we can burn it, the problem is getting that close."
Adjan said and sigh.

"I imagine not," he agreed with a frown.

Molly nodded she looks out the window.
"Like I said when Mr Wainwright told me what I am...that did explain a few things."
She muttered.

"We already know some of what she's after...none of it is comforting but I think it's starting to sink in," he said. "The river of chaos...

"Yes it is what many ancient societies, ancient Egypt among them saw the nothingness that came before creation as...Kepher left the river of chaos and by that action creation was created...well the Nephandi then will want to return the world to that primordial state."
The Euthanatos said.

Adjan begun rolling his dice, the little bones themselves just being reminders of the archetypes of death that he connected to. slowly before his eyes the physical world faded as he stepped over into a world where those archetypes where truth as clear as any building, or ground or warm body, where idea and consciousness ruled. He begun to breathe heavily with the effort of it as the place they where in changed, or not so much changed as became deeper, clearer, more conceptual, as the car and it's passengers shifted from the physical world and into the Umbra. Soon the group of mages could look out at something that vaguely was the same back ally but at the same time was not, a decadent palace made of blue crystal stood where the nightclub had been, and filth and oil ran out of the alleyway. Above the skies where a unnatural shade of blue as if trapped between night and day. Adjan leaned back and stopped rolling his dice, he groaned softly as Paradox from the rather vulgar rote hit him and his hands tightened on his dice.
"Well...we should be safe here for a while...welcome to the Near Umbra gentlemen and Miss Molly."
He said in a slightly strained tone of voice.

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