Re: Mia's Mirror, Basement Cells and Node With a View IC Thread 12

[Warpmind]

((OOC: It should be visible, yes, but I kind of envisioned it more like a *really* fucked up-looking lightsaber blade - a straight, cylindrical shard of really disgusting energy. A vital key here, I suppose, is the exact phrasing he used - "gladius ex malomagia", literally "sword out of bad magic". I'm not sure how flame-like it will seem considering the intent behind the form. But if you think it will look flame-like, then Colin is in for one hell of a surprise...))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin nodded, "Avoid miss Alabaster, as a precaution... Got it."

"Avoiding her might be hard, but you are going to have to ask the good Miss Alabaster to leave or at least try to. You see often she is the voice of the Deaconess with Darnell whispering in her ear. Miss Darnell was ordered not to do anything to hide what she is, so she is not allowed to use synthetic skin or make her voice less...metallic, a cruel scarlet letter deviced by the Traditions out of fear as many look at her and see a Hit-Mark not an ally, anyway she often feel more comfortable having her assistant be her voice...you have to talk her into sending Alabaster away, I have nothing against the woman, but I could never trust her."

He shook his head at Kristina, "I meant the silver weakness of the Rokea, not the... other thing. Rip the Man Body sounds like something I would never want to hear of again."

Kristina looks at the Orphan for a while then she said calmly.
"A werewolf raised me Mr Wainwright, she changed my dirty diapers, held me when I skinned my knees, told me stories at night, I have nothing but the deepest respect for the changing folks and would never use their metal weaknesses against them unless I had to in order to defend my life, or the life of my loved ones or my Chantrymates...most of them are good people...and I would not treat them cruelly..."
The Verbena said half insulted by the implication.
"That being said, to poke the dragon as it where with a fera...that is likely to be the last mistake someone ever make, so do not worry."

He grinned at Joakim, "A man can have some ambitions, can't he? Besides, the Traditions might be in dire need of a Tradition-independent mediator... A diplomat corps, if you will, to help unify us all a little better. If I can convince one old Diedne to grudgingly accept that not all Flambeau are murderous scum, I might stand a chance at the larger task."

"Well perhaps we need such a House, we have Jerbiton but they are so small now, but darn are they good negotiators."
Joakim said then he gave Colin an impressed nod.
"Ah getting a Diedne not to hate the Flambeau...quite impressive, then again we have a old Diedne marries to a Tytalus at this Chantry."
He said and grinned.
"One he killed in her former life. Love and friendship can be fond in the oddest of places."

He nodded, "I don't think I was careless in giving her my name, under the circumstances. She and I both knew she's not going to get out of this, and offering her that little comfort helped persuade her to give me more information... including the very precious detail about her dagger."

"I agree with your actions, giving one's name to a prisoner is always a risk but I think you made the right call Mr Wainwright."
Joakim said.
"And the information you got out of the prisoner is quite valuable indeed and yes, Miss Jerkins are very little likely to get out of the trouble she now finds herself in so you should be safe, at least I hope you will be."

He grinned, "Raiding a Labyrinth, dangerous? Preposterous, they don't even have Jareth the Goblin King dancing around!"

The Security Chief gave Colin a odd look.
"Who?"
Kristina though gave a little giggle.
"Well they do have the fears bears at least and they have been doing pleany of dancing down a certain spiral the way I understand it."

He nodded to Kristina, "Oh, hell with it... if we're raiding the Labyrinth, I might be able to scrounge some more... allow me to demonstrate..."
He quickly drew up a circle on a page, and placed a pack of the tainted tass in the middle, then stepped back and aimed his ring at it, willing up a hanging shard of primal fire blooming from the little baggie, "Gladius ex malomagia!"

Kristina glanced at the page and your circle as you started your spell, she said nothing not wanting to disturb your concentration as your bit of corrupted Tass bloomed into a burning blade for a moment, it was not there for long, it bloomed into existence, a blinding light of filth as it burned away the Tass.
"Oh shit...end that rote...now!"
Kristina called out as she got up from her chair at some speed trying to block the flame sword that suddenly bloomed into existence born of a shard of corrupted primal energy, from Isabella's view but by the time she was up the effect was already mostly over and it was way to late.

After the shard flared up, he extended his arms to the side, "Please, if you wish, confirm that I didn't accumulate any resonance from that little trick. And my apologies for the rather... disgusting appearance of that shard."

You hear a guttural scream behind you, it was almost to animal like to spring forth from human lips, and yet it had come from the pale, blond Tremere woman. As you turn you see Isabella on the floor, her chair tossed to the side in her eagerness to get to her feet and it lay tossed halfway across the room, the vampiress herself had sprinted in the other direction and was now on the floor, up against the wall farthest from you and your effect, an animalistic terror in her blue eyes, her fangs was out as she gave that cry of alarm, her knees was pressed against her chest as she sat in a near fetal position with one arm thrown up to ward her face while the other where tossed out in front of her to protect herself from the flash of primal fire, a strange growl of fear and warning, like that of a scared cat coming from her throat and sounding completely out of place from this pretty, girl next door blonde with her long braid and frilly dress.

Kristina seamed to know exactly what was going on and she stepped between Colin and Isabella, but whatever it was to protect her from him or the other way around was unclear.
"End that effect and back away now..."
She ordered.
"I should have told you vampires have an extreme phobia of fire, or anything else that can destroy them...we spoke of the original Tremere, there is a reason why they have not taken their own lives...even at the face of such suffering as they endure they can not, the survival instinct of their kind is to great, now Isabella is my friend and I do not want to hurt her to protect any of you, so please back away until she regains her senses and realize that none of you want to harm her..."
The Verbena's voice was sure of herself and she seamed to know very well what was going on, she had dealt with this situation before, she had quickly grabbed a wooden ruler from a nearby desk and was holding it behind her back as she just stood there between the vampire and the other magic users, one hand held out towards the Tremere woman in a non threatening gesture.
"Izzy please, can you hear me...calm down, Colin here intend you no harm..."
She said in a soothing tone of voice, she sounded like if she was talking to a terrified tiger trying to calm the beast without having it tear her throat out.
"Easy..."

Joakim calmly backed away from Isabella to give the vampire space and motioned for the two other mages to do the same, though discreetly his hands begun to form the sigils of a spell, Rego...Auram...probably to make some sort of effect that would hold the vampire if she should panic completely.

(OOC: Close enough to fire...and fire and vampires do not go well together. Well at least Colin learned something new to day. Also for his last two questions, I think no one in the room are paying attention to those right now.)

[Adley]

"Hum...well the Chantry do have a post box at the local post office for mundane correspondences, if that is secure enough for you?" Joakim said. "He can deliver it there without to much risk of being seen or captured."

"I wonder if we could teleport it from a mailbox. From one of theirs, say...she wouldn't be foolish enough to use her own. So we shouldn't either. Let me see after I talk to my pater, I might have another idea."

"I see...thank you for telling me Sodalis." Joakim said then he was quiet for a moment again. "Not many can tell for sure without the use of magick that someone is a reincarnation of someone they knew...I do not know what part your former host had in this Elder's current existence...but from someone who..." The hedge wizard drew a deep breath and his iron control failed for just a moment and you saw bottomless pain in his eyes before he regained his stoic composure. "It is a hard thing to forgive...so yes it can complicate matters, but let us hope it do not."

"I felt you should know," he said, looking away after a moment.

"I agree, we should handle this ourselves and leave your contact out of this, she is an important resource." Joakim said. "So we focus on that first, a strike team to get this damned Tremere Elder out of this villa, let us first see if we can snatch him through the Umbra and if that do not work, let us see what we can do about either going through the sewers and taking him from right bellow their feet...or storming the place." He said and nodded. "Is there anyone in particular you would want on that strike team gentlemen?"

"We may need her help with Abigail. Then again, and I quote, this plan has pissed her off, she might want to come anyway. She seems a woman of her own mind. Still, she is open to more subtle plans as my cabalmate put it. It depends which plan we think we're going to use."

"Stakes I have, in some variations." Kristina said and Isabella shuddered again.
"I can get some rifles, I am not sure anyone at the Chantry have machine guns, but I will ask Theo the leader of my Sentinels he collects weapons so he might have one. We do not have much in the way of Primium ammunition though and it is hard to get." Joakim said then he added. "As for Prime enchanting things we will need some Tass but it can be done we are a big Chantry so getting someone to do the job should not be to hard." Kristina nodded.

"Rather not have to bust down the place...nor waste all our resources, unless we have to..." he said, thoughtfully.

"That sounds like Rubbing the Bones." Kristina said then she seamed to consider. "Werecreatures it should work on with no issue, that would be exactly like casting it on a human being as they are alive, I do not know if it will work on vampires. I do not know if you study Life Adley, nor your Paradigm but I do and when I look at a living person I see their life patterns in a constant ebb and flow, consent dynamic movement, but looking at a vampire is like looking at a talisman, there is no life there, yes there is Quintessence but it is cold, and dead and static." She said and gave Isabella an apologetic look and the vampire shrugged, it was what it was. "I do not know what Rubbing the Bones would do to a vampire to be quite honest."

"Yes, that is true...the form contains the energy, more like an object would than a living being does. No offense intended," he said to Isabella. "That is why I was wondering if interrupting it would make a difference but I see what you mean...perhaps it might not. The rest of the form might hold the function, at least until there was damage done..."

"The candidate where then given a short apprenticeship to learn House secrets and Hermetics laws and traditions but they would be allowed to keep their own Paradigm...the Order can be practical at times. I am sure the Prima of our House would be quite interested in Mr Wainwright here." Joakim said and nodded. "Quite interested indeed."

"I am too young to call 'dibs' plus he is my cabalmate..." he joked, then looked over at Colin. "Your own House? Well, that should prove interesting. Ex Miscellena grows..."

You feel a moment of anger from your Avatar, anger over what Abigail had done to it's former host, and you can see in your mind's eye a tall, shapely woman, with reddish long blond hair that would have been beautiful if it had not been for all the scars in her oval face, it looked like she had faced Freddy Kruger and lost, and one eye where dark, dark blue and the other was all but white as if it was blind...you also get a memory of this woman standing over you and using the same rote on you that you just had discussed with Kristina, the the flashback vanishes.

His expression changed from angered to troubled and then back as the memory washed through him but he tried to focus on it, now that he had been looking for something instead of it just happening out of the blue. Her voice, her hands...her body...standing over Dylan..."She may have been attractive, if you are so inclined to such, tall and curved...but her face is not burnt like Colin's. More as if it has been slashed and never healed. And slashed again and again. One eye has gone milky, perhaps blinded and the other blue. Her hair is light red or maybe reddish blonde, long...and that rote is not...it is not..." He shook his head and opened his eyes, glancing back at them. "She should be easy enough for us to pick out."

"Well if we can get a hold of Miss Cunningham that would be perfect, however then we need to know Steelhaven's status on extracting her as we need to make a plan and move on this fairly soon we do not have allot of time after all." The old linear mage said. "Mr Roth Hicks if you could ask your esteemed mentor about that when you speak with him later?" He asked Adley.

"I will ask about it, though I am not sure that is wise to actually use her. But first thing's first. See what is going on."

Colin pondered for a moment, "Actually, I think Master Harris might be perfect for the prisoner extraction. If that team is going underground, I'm sure he could establish a time bubble extending into the cells, allowing the party to take down the wall and fetching the vampire, and then make their escape pretty much before anyone in the villa would have the time to react... Or alternatively, portal the fellow out, if at all possible. As for the Labyrinth, I'm game... Freddie will probably give me a virtual flogging, in oh so many ways, but I'm up for it, despite a mild itch."

"It think it is hard to teleport something without a link, it seems to me that many of the technomancers have used something to establish a physical connection for a portal. I've seen used a cell phone, a camera-feed, a pre-established portal. At least line of sight...something. In this case, it would be a bit flying blind unless we figured that out beforehand. It rather depends what he thinks he would need to do such a thing, I suppose, so we could make a workaround if we decide to try that."

Isabella looked at the Chief and said."I volunteer for taking down the Labyrinth if you need me and if I can be of use, but for freeing the Elder...the problem is it might backlash on the Chantry if I a renegade vampire go against the Prince to much."

"The Tremere are already bound to be pissed off at us enough as it is," he said. "Avoiding a backlash attack would be sensible."

"Let me see...We need to enchant weapons and gather supplies for the run on the vampire's prison cells, Miss Knox have said she will take care of that. I will ask Theo about a machine gun...we need to pick people for that mission, we need to ask the incoming Orphans what happened and have them checked out and see if we can get anything out of the vampire I bought...I need to get to that meeting and discuss the Node...and you need to check in with your mentor...those are the first on the list, there are more but those needs to happen first...Mr Wainwright need to talk with Deaconess Darnell about securing her aid...anything else?"

"And check in on the rest of the parties as they arrive," he nodded.

"It would be considered Node raiding and carry the potential punishment of up until Branding, but censure, indentured servitude, lesser branding as in on the body not the Avatar or fines are more likely but I would pay any of those costs gladly to stop the Nephandi."
Joakim said then he sigh...

"Indentured servitude?" he frowned.

"Oh that have been suggested by our side, splitting what is in the Node 50/50 and then splitting what it generate from now evenly, the problem is that Lavender will not accept that, you see Morningstar used the Node for years before Lavender was founded so our dear rivals feel they deserve a greater cut and Martin our Deacon Primus will not agree to that." The hedge wizard said and made fists of his hands in frustration. "All the bloody politicians deserve a good kick in what they sit on when arguing if you ask me."

"Perhaps not before, but things have changed now."

"The question is how would an awakened Node help us?" Kristina asked and looked puzzled.

"An awakened node...what type of node is it? Is it dynamic?"

He frowned, "I have some spare tass, but that's pretty much a few drams of highly Entropic tass - the hideous stuff miss Jerkins had at her capture. I can weaponize it directly, and I could probably use it to help enchant ammunition, but I don't think that would be... healthy for the weapons."

"I don't like that material," he said with a frown. "I would not want to wield something enchanted with it, in fact I think it might work against us to do so."

He blinked slowly, "Vampires are full of quintessence... I can't be sure, but it might be possible for me to ignite that, too - it would be messy and, well, probably pretty damned flashy, but... it might work. If they aren't alive, then that quintessence might be just accessible enough for me to work with.

"Turning a vampire into a bomb seems like a bad idea. Especially in close quarters."

He grinned, "Raiding a Labyrinth, dangerous? Preposterous, they don't even have Jareth the Goblin King dancing around!"

The Security Chief gave Colin a odd look."Who?" Kristina though gave a little giggle.

"I truly hope there are no goblins in that labyrinth, that would be all we need at this point," he said.

He nodded to Kristina, "Oh, hell with it... if we're raiding the Labyrinth, I might be able to scrounge some more... allow me to demonstrate..." He quickly drew up a circle on a page, and placed a pack of the tainted tass in the middle, then stepped back and aimed his ring at it, willing up a hanging shard of primal fire blooming from the little baggie, "Gladius ex malomagia!"

"Amicus, what are you doing?"

"Oh shit...end that rote...now!" Kristina called out as she got up from her chair at some speed trying to block the flame sword that suddenly bloomed into existence born of a shard of corrupted primal energy, from Isabella's view but by the time she was up the effect was already mostly over and it was way to late.

"End that effect and back away now..." She ordered. "I should have told you vampires have an extreme phobia of fire, or anything else that can destroy them...we spoke of the original Tremere, there is a reason why they have not taken their own lives...even at the face of such suffering as they endure they can not, the survival instinct of their kind is to great, now Isabella is my friend and I do not want to hurt her to protect any of you, so please back away until she regains her senses and realize that none of you want to harm her...

"Shit..." He was on his feet quickly just in case he had to try to stop her from attacking out of instinct. But it seems instead she had curled herself as tight as she could into the corner instead. Next to him he could see Joakim's hands motion subtly and he waited to see how long it would take Isabella to find her control again, leaving Kristina to try to bring her friend's mind back to her.

// >. < Oh dear poor Isabella, whups!

Also I can't help but think of this regarding 'that is how you get jhor: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/3e/5f/2d/3e5f2de5067f4b43559e4d4783b9474c.jpg

[Tane Karyak]

Friday:
You won't have.

Saturday:

That's why we all are on the move to do that. Not alone. I'll wait here while i call coawa. Tane left her leave and called Coawa to sumon him to the place where they were going to make the collect.

[Warpmind]

Colin nodded, "The prohibition against covering up seems a really needless cruelty... But yes, duly noted; since what I'll be requesting will be quite... confidential in any case, convincing her to dismiss her public voice might work out quite well."
He nodded to Kristina, "No offense was intended, but pretty much all knowledge can be used beneficially or harmfully, depending on circumstances. Material sensitivity in particular. And even by accident..."
He gave a thoughtful nod, "Hence why I would suggest Master Harris join the rescue mission; I expect he would be able to bring the prisoner and the rest of the team out with him once they find the Elder's cell. It would make extrication far easier once they get there - of course, if he can provide the team with a device he can use remotely, that would probably be almost as good."
He grinned to Joakim, "Labyrinth. A thirty years old movie... Not important, but it's worth looking up. It's rather an excellent piece of movie magic."
He smiled at Adley, "Not Ex Miscellanea... I have an independent House in mind; not directly affiliated with any one Tradition... an Orphanage, if you will."
As the blade winked into and out of existence, and Isabella scampered back, he looked momentarily confused, "What do you mean, it doesn't look like... oh, fuck it does look like a flame. Oh, God, I never even saw that resemblance... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."
He made a bit of a show to step carefully behind a desk and, in Isabella's view, took off his ring and put it down on the table, "I knew vampires have a fear of fire, but I never saw those shards as looking like flame, I'm so sorry! I had no intent to scare or harm, I swear on my power!"
He gave the others an apologetic glance, then looked back to Isabella, looking ashamed.

((OOC: Yeah, that was... a lucky break, perhaps, that she didn't turn to aggression right away. >.< And Colin's going to be a little more mindful of how his manifestations appear in the future...))

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"I wonder if we could teleport it from a mailbox. From one of theirs, say...she wouldn't be foolish enough to use her own. So we shouldn't either. Let me see after I talk to my pater, I might have another idea."

"With the right coordinates I think that should be possible yes."
Joakim said and nodded.
"Very well we will revisit this once you have spoken to Master Morgan."

"I felt you should know," he said, looking away after a moment.

The old hedge wizard simply nodded at that but he did not say anything.

"We may need her help with Abigail. Then again, and I quote, this plan has pissed her off, she might want to come anyway. She seems a woman of her own mind. Still, she is open to more subtle plans as my cabalmate put it. It depends which plan we think we're going to use."

"Very well then, let us create a plan first and then speak with your contact about it. And I agree we might need her to move against Abigail therefore we should not have her anger her own kind before we have to, if she is dead or a prisoner, she will be no use to us, to put it very cruelly and bluntly."

"Rather not have to bust down the place...nor waste all our resources, unless we have to..." he said, thoughtfully.

"Agreed, but being prepared to do so if we should find that we have to might be a good idea."
Joakim said thoughtfully.
"But yes not risking lives and spending resources unless we absolutely have to is wise."

"Yes, that is true...the form contains the energy, more like an object would than a living being does. No offense intended," he said to Isabella.

"I know I am not alive, that I am an reanimated corpse, no matter how much I might wish that was not the case, or for that matter how much I look the part of a living woman."
Isabella said and sigh.
"So no offense taken Sir."

"That is why I was wondering if interrupting it would make a difference but I see what you mean...perhaps it might not. The rest of the form might hold the function, at least until there was damage done..."

"It might work, or it might not, it is hard to know. With a talisman draining it of Quintessence will do nothing but make it useless until refilled so fluctuating it is no more effective, however with a vampire, we know they experience allot of discomfort when hungry, you might cause them that pain with such a rote which might then piss them off. I doubt you can kill them with it though, their curse is old and powerful, it is not easily disturbed. If you ever capture a vampire you care little for the comfort of, then you might test such an idea out, or if you are in a pinch with no other resources, but then again I have a feeling your Mr Wainwright here might object to such tests being carried out on a prisoner."
Kristina said and she gave an apologetic look at Isabella for how calmly and down to earth she discussed how much damage a rote meant for torture would do to her kind. The vampiress looked a little uneasy but she just nodded, it was an important thing to discuss weapons again their enemies.
"I hope you will forgive me for not volunteering to be the test subject."
Isabella said and frowned.
"But that spell of your sounds rather horrible Mr Roth Hicks."

"I am too young to call 'dibs' plus he is my cabalmate..." he joked, then looked over at Colin. "Your own House? Well, that should prove interesting. Ex Miscellena grows..."

"Well as long as you get him into the Order I guess that will have to do, after all we need all the new talent we can get to keep our leg up on the other Traditions."
Joakim joked, something that earned him a scowl from Kristina.

"She may have been attractive, if you are so inclined to such, tall and curved...but her face is not burnt like Colin's. More as if it has been slashed and never healed. And slashed again and again. One eye has gone milky, perhaps blinded and the other blue. Her hair is light red or maybe reddish blonde, long...and that rote is not...it is not..." He shook his head and opened his eyes, glancing back at them. "She should be easy enough for us to pick out."

Joakim opened his notebook again and made quick notes of Adley's description of the Nephandi leader, once the other Hermetic was done painting the picture of the woman he nodded.
"Are you quite all right Sodalis?"
He asked sounding concerned then he sigh.
"Well that was useful thank you, that do sound like the kind of appearance that sticks out in a crowd to say it like that, meaning at least we will not miss her in the Labyrinth or if we manage to lure her out. Then again she might have changed her appearance with magick but at least we now know how she used to look and from the descriptions Mr Wainwright got of her, it do seam she looks pretty much the same."
He said and closed his notebook again.

"I will ask about it, though I am not sure that is wise to actually use her. But first thing's first. See what is going on."

"Very well talk with your mentor about it and we will see what options we have once we know what are available to us. Why by the way would it not be wise to use this Cunningham woman? A favored apprentice in trouble do sound like the perfect bait to me."
Joakim said and looked puzzled at Adley.

"It think it is hard to teleport something without a link, it seems to me that many of the technomancers have used something to establish a physical connection for a portal. I've seen used a cell phone, a camera-feed, a pre-established portal. At least line of sight...something. In this case, it would be a bit flying blind unless we figured that out beforehand. It rather depends what he thinks he would need to do such a thing, I suppose, so we could make a workaround if we decide to try that."

"We will have to talk to Master Harris about it, but you are right Sodalis most mages, technomancers or not need some sort of knowledge of where they are teleporting and where to, and some sort of link to make it happen, and yes such needs might unlike with my own magick only be in their minds, a belief that it is needed, but for a willworker, what one believe is reality."
The Security Chief cautioned.
"So when asking the good man to help we also have to ask him his way of doing this and what he will need to potentially do what we need, and also remember that if the Nephandi have warded their important future resource then the teleporting out plan might be...well somewhat more difficult to pull off."

"The Tremere are already bound to be pissed off at us enough as it is," he said. "Avoiding a backlash attack would be sensible."

Isabella just nodded at that and gave you a smile.

"And check in on the rest of the parties as they arrive," he nodded.

"Very well, would you mind just asking the Orphans to wait in the dining hall then until I can ask the good Lady Crexia to have a look at them? Mirri are sure to get them something to eat and drink to calm their nerves and see if they need any medical attention."
Joakim asked.

"Indentured servitude?" he frowned.

"Exactly what it sounds like Sodalis...a number of years where you are effectively a slave of a Chantry or a individual mage, though unlike more severe forms of servitude your "owner" have some limitations of what can be inflicted upon you...some...such a punishment is more likely to be given to a hedge wizard though, than a true mage..."
The Security Chief said and frowned.
"Still not a pleasant prospect."

"Perhaps not before, but things have changed now."

"Yes indeed they have."
Joakim said darkly.

"An awakened node...what type of node is it? Is it dynamic?"

"It is creatively dynamic I am told, I lack the ability to tell the difference for the most part, to me vis is vis, or rather mana as most modern linear mages call it but yes they say it is Dynamic."
Joakim confirmed.

"I don't like that material," he said with a frown. "I would not want to wield something enchanted with it, in fact I think it might work against us to do so."

"Well we know the Nephandi like such material."
Kristina said and frowned.
"But yes I do think it is wiser to dig into our Tass stores than use something corrupted, that shit is illegal to sell for a reason."

"Turning a vampire into a bomb seems like a bad idea. Especially in close quarters."

"Yes especially since if a vampire explodes their blood will fly everywhere and we do not want to risk getting it in our mouths or eyes, not that a small amount is that dangerous but still, it is best avoided I think."
Kristina said and Joakim gave a dark frown.
"Still if there is no other options...it is sure to give the companion of said vampire pause."
The Verbena said and gave a hint of a smile.

"Shit..." He was on his feet quickly just in case he had to try to stop her from attacking out of instinct. But it seems instead she had curled herself as tight as she could into the corner instead. Next to him he could see Joakim's hands motion subtly and he waited to see how long it would take Isabella to find her control again, leaving Kristina to try to bring her friend's mind back to her.

Kristina continued to speak to the terrified vampire, trying to calm her and convince her that she was safe, or perhaps what she was trying to soothe was that thing inside of her, the bit of predator spirit that now drove the pretty, blond woman's actions.
"Do not be afraid Isabella...no one here wish you any harm."
Kristina said softly. Joakim nodded to Adley as if to say that his spell was ready to hold the vampire if she should go berserk, but right now she looked far more like a deer caught in the headlights that some ravaging monster really.

Colin nodded, "The prohibition against covering up seems a really needless cruelty... But yes, duly noted; since what I'll be requesting will be quite... confidential in any case, convincing her to dismiss her public voice might work out quite well."

"I agree that prohibition is cruel and for no other reason that to serve the fears of our leader, and it rob a good woman of the chance to try to pick up the pieces of her life."
The Security Chief agreed with a frown.
"But yes you might get Miss Darnell to dismiss her friend given the nature of what is asked."

He nodded to Kristina, "No offense was intended, but pretty much all knowledge can be used beneficially or harmfully, depending on circumstances. Material sensitivity in particular. And even by accident..."

"I understand Mr Wainwright."
Kristina said and sigh.
"And you are indeed right, all knowledge have the potential for harm or gain and indeed such a weakness could even be harmful by accident, but I am quite used to the Fera and their particularities."
The Verbena said though she still did not look pleased at Colin's concerns for what she would do with the knowledge about the Rokea's silver weakness.

He gave a thoughtful nod, "Hence why I would suggest Master Harris join the rescue mission; I expect he would be able to bring the prisoner and the rest of the team out with him once they find the Elder's cell. It would make extrication far easier once they get there - of course, if he can provide the team with a device he can use remotely, that would probably be almost as good."

"Hum...having Master Harris as an exit strategy that might work."
Joakim said and nodded.
"He knows this Chantry well enough and should be able to teleport back but indeed he might be able to do so just as well remotely, again we will have to discuss it with him but the idea is sound Mr Wainwright."

He grinned to Joakim, "Labyrinth. A thirty years old movie... Not important, but it's worth looking up. It's rather an excellent piece of movie magic."

"I will have to check it out on your recommendation at some point when I have the time then my good man."
The hedge wizard said and nodded to Colin.

He smiled at Adley, "Not Ex Miscellanea... I have an independent House in mind; not directly affiliated with any one Tradition... an Orphanage, if you will."

"An Orphan group then, like the Hollow Ones? Not a House within the Order of Hermes?"
Joakim said then he gave Colin a look of mock disproval.
"Pity, we could have had good use of you."
Then he gave the Orphan a bright smile.
"I do wish you the best in your endeavor though Mr Wainwright, such a group might be, interesting."

As the blade winked into and out of existence, and Isabella scampered back, he looked momentarily confused, "What do you mean, it doesn't look like... oh, fuck it does look like a flame. Oh, God, I never even saw that resemblance... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

Isabella did not seam to be able to understand Colin's apology right now, she was busy trying to crawl up as much into a ball as she possibly could as far away from where the flame had been as possible without going though the wall.

He made a bit of a show to step carefully behind a desk and, in Isabella's view, took off his ring and put it down on the table, "I knew vampires have a fear of fire, but I never saw those shards as looking like flame, I'm so sorry! I had no intent to scare or harm, I swear on my power!"

"I understand you meant no harm Mr Wainwright...and the vampires...reactions to certain things can be quite surprising...just stay back there for now and let me try to calm her, most likely she will not become a danger, she is just scarred but just in case stay behind me."
Kristina urged.

He gave the others an apologetic glance, then looked back to Isabella, looking ashamed.

Kristina took a careful step closer towards Isabella though she did not get to close.
"There is no fire anymore Izzy, you are safe..."
She said and finally reason begun to return to the blond woman's eyes, for a moment she looked confused as if she was coming out of a daze, then a look of utter embarrassment and humiliation came over her.
"I...am sorry..."
Isabella muttered and Kristina shook her head ans she offered her friend her hand to help her get up though she was careful not to reach for her.
"No harm is done Izzy."
She said as the blond vampire accepted her friend's hand and slowly got to her feet.
"I am so sorry you all had to see that I...I am not a ravening beast I am not."
Isabella said looking horrified as she tried to smooth down her crumpled dress looking most distressed over anyone seeing her in such a state.
"I am so sorry for disturbing the meeting."
She continued as Kristina discretely got that wooden ruler back onto the desk it belonged to and got Isabella's chair that had been tossed across the room and helped her friend over to it.
"Oh we have all seen our own kind in Quiet my dear...I am sure all here understand how things are at times."
Kristina said though Isabella did not seam convinced, she did retract her fangs though and sat down, looking at the floor she looked completely humiliated by her own display something that also seamed to concern Kristina, such strong negative emotions where not safe for a vampire, not in the long run.

(OOC: Do you want ants indeed. )

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Friday:

Coawa nodded.
"Good."
He said. Henrietta rose after she was done with her meal.
"Well Tane, thank you for your hospitality, and the meal was delicious."
She said and Lily stood and smiled.
"It really was."
She added.
"Perhaps we should be going then my new friend so that you can assist Alessa here in her endeavors?"
The hedge wizard suggested.
"I do find I have to mirror your friend's concerns though, are you sure you will be alright alone Tane after you have dropped me and Lily of?"
She asked looking concerned.

Saturday:

"Very well I will be right back then."
Henrietta said and hurried down the corridor in direction of her own chambers.

You hear Coawa's gruff voice over the phone as he picks up.
"Yeah it is me."

[Warpmind]

Colin nodded, "I have rather... strong opinions on the treatment of prisoners. The Geneva Conventions and associated laws were quite firmly hammered into me during my RAF days..."
He smiled almost slyly, "I might be an asset to the Order, yes... but which would you prefer, one battlemage in-house, or an external diplomatic service between all the Traditions, gaining the trust of each without being beholden to any? If it were under the Order of Hermes, I'm fairly certain the other Traditions would assume all such work would be aimed toward strengthening Ordo Hermes, rather than the Traditions as a whole..."
He arched an eyebrow at Adley, "Old memories from last time you were in Chicago?"
He nodded, "Quite - I wouldn't trust anything 'enhanced' with this shit... I can use it for the equivalent of unholy hand grenades, but that's pretty much the gist of it. It's efficient, in its own way, so long as I don't try to take it into myself."
He pondered, "Using that spell on a vampire, though - it's only a hypothetical; it may not be possible at all, and it may be possible only when said vampire actively taps into the powers. Opening the wellspring, if you will. Recognizing when it does so, though... is not going to be something I can do easily."
When Isabella began to collect herself, he bowed and pocketed his ring, "My apologies, miss Jarden, that was my fault; I didn't realize how much that shard looks like a flame. I should have, but I didn't. Any blame for disrupting the meeting falls on me, not you. If there's any way I can make it up to you..."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin nodded, "I have rather... strong opinions on the treatment of prisoners. The Geneva Conventions and associated laws were quite firmly hammered into me during my RAF days..."

"The Geneva Convention? Ah yes off course those modern ideas about human rights."
Joakim said and looked confused for a moment.
"Hum..well be that as it may the Traditions hardly recognize such mundane laws, however I do tend to agree with you young man that treating prisoners humanely are the best course of action in most instances."
The old hedge wizard said.

He smiled almost slyly, "I might be an asset to the Order, yes... but which would you prefer, one battlemage in-house, or an external diplomatic service between all the Traditions, gaining the trust of each without being beholden to any? If it were under the Order of Hermes, I'm fairly certain the other Traditions would assume all such work would be aimed toward strengthening Ordo Hermes, rather than the Traditions as a whole..."

"You do have a point Mr Wainwright and in fact, I think such a group or Order of diplomats might very well find a purpose among our ranks."
Joakim said and nodded approvingly.
"Indeed it might be exactly what the Traditions need, and you are right if the group was a member of any one Tradition it would lower their trustworthiness among the others Orders, that is some good thinking there, if you do not take it as an insult young man I might go so far as to say perhaps a certain someone who sacrificed everything to bring unity to the fledgling Traditions might have approved as well."
The old hedge wizard said cautiously, not all mages would take that as a compliment and Kristina frowned at it.

He nodded, "Quite - I wouldn't trust anything 'enhanced' with this shit... I can use it for the equivalent of unholy hand grenades, but that's pretty much the gist of it. It's efficient, in its own way, so long as I don't try to take it into myself."

"Yes drawing that foul energy into your own patterns would indeed not be a wise cause of action, at the very least I would think it would be likely to make you spill your dinner."
Kristina said and frowned again.
"But as a weapon it might be a useful if...distasteful tool."

He pondered, "Using that spell on a vampire, though - it's only a hypothetical; it may not be possible at all, and it may be possible only when said vampire actively taps into the powers. Opening the wellspring, if you will. Recognizing when it does so, though... is not going to be something I can do easily."

"Hum...well untested it might then be just something to try in the most dire of circumstances when all other courses of action have run dry, a plan C or D if you will."
Joakim said and frowned.
"I do not like to take anything untested onto the battlefield myself, but that might just be my static nature speaking."

When Isabella began to collect herself, he bowed and pocketed his ring, "My apologies, miss Jarden, that was my fault; I didn't realize how much that shard looks like a flame. I should have, but I didn't. Any blame for disrupting the meeting falls on me, not you. If there's any way I can make it up to you..."

Isabella looked up at Colin, she still looked mortified, but she managed to give him a tired smile.
"Ah that is kind of you Sir but please do not apologize I am sure you meant no harm, it was I who lost control, and I hate for anyone to see me like that...like an animal without reason."
She said softly as if the thought of that terrified me.
"I...I am fine, and truly I am sorry."
She said and looked down again.
"I try to control that animal, every waking moment I fight with it, I...do not...well I do apologize for my undignified behavior."
She muttered darkly.
"It was not your fault Mr Wainwright."

[Warpmind]

Colin nodded, "I am quite aware that neither the Traditions not the Union are signatories to the Geneva Conventions... might have been better if we were. The protocols are... well, occasionally close to Tradition Law, too - in particular the part about protecting the Sleepers. Of course, I don't know of any incident in the Ascension War that can even remotely compare to the atrocities of Nazi Germany, so I suppose there hasn't been the same pressure for change here..."
He grinned, "Well, the fellow was a desperate genius whose actions did result in what he anticipated, so I'll take that as a compliment. And I hope I'll never be driven into the same desperate corner..."
He nodded, "It's rather resource-efficient, if you can stomach its proximity. But it rather needs to be handled with care - I would rather not have the crap touch my skin, even for a moment..."
He smiled thinly, "Bringing untested equipment to battle is a risky luggage... Trying out some theoretical work with the tools you are bringing anyway is... battlefield innovation, I suppose. If it were a weapon that might hypothetically have such an effect, I'd prefer to leave it at home until some preliminary tests had been conducted. As it is just an idea in my head, though... it takes up no space, eats no food; I'll keep it around as an option well into the alphabet."
He shook his head at Isabella, "No, it rather was my fault. I've used that spell a few times, and never recognized how it resembles fire... and I knew vampires have a fear of exactly that. It was my carelessness, my shortsightedness that momentarily deprived you of your self control; the blame is mine, and I should endeavour to make amends."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin nodded, "I am quite aware that neither the Traditions not the Union are signatories to the Geneva Conventions... might have been better if we were. The protocols are... well, occasionally close to Tradition Law, too - in particular the part about protecting the Sleepers. Of course, I don't know of any incident in the Ascension War that can even remotely compare to the atrocities of Nazi Germany, so I suppose there hasn't been the same pressure for change here..."

"Well not on the same scale in numbers perhaps Mr Wainwright, but what are MECHA other than a concentration camp for the Awakened, and some of the things we do to our own prisoners or even our own when we find them guilty of some crime, not to mention how the Verbena destroyed the Solificati or before that my own Tradition's treatment of House Diedne...well yes perhaps such rules would have been a boon...perhaps so indeed."
The old hedge wizard said and sigh.
"Well be that as it may for now."

He grinned, "Well, the fellow was a desperate genius whose actions did result in what he anticipated, so I'll take that as a compliment. And I hope I'll never be driven into the same desperate corner..."

"Yes indeed, I do wonder where the Traditions would have been today if not for Heylel Teomim's actions, but yes I do hope neither of us is ever faced with such a choice. I am not saying either that his actions where right, only that I do believe he had the best of the Traditions at heart when he betrayed his Cabal."

He nodded, "It's rather resource-efficient, if you can stomach its proximity. But it rather needs to be handled with care - I would rather not have the crap touch my skin, even for a moment..."

"It is quite disgusting."
Kristina said and frowned.
"But I guess that when the Union first have left us a resource it would be a shame not to use it to kick their corrupted asses with, I mean waste not, want not. But I would be careful with the stuff if I where you Mr Wainwright."

He smiled thinly, "Bringing untested equipment to battle is a risky luggage... Trying out some theoretical work with the tools you are bringing anyway is... battlefield innovation, I suppose. If it were a weapon that might hypothetically have such an effect, I'd prefer to leave it at home until some preliminary tests had been conducted. As it is just an idea in my head, though... it takes up no space, eats no food; I'll keep it around as an option well into the alphabet."

"Well having an option, even an untested one is better than nothing when one run out of choices on the battlefield Mr Wainwright, whatever one need to do to survive, or at least give one's friends and allies a better chance to make it, but one should not rely on it if one do not have to. Ideas though is good, there is always useful to come up with new tools."
Joakim said and nodded in agreement.

He shook his head at Isabella, "No, it rather was my fault. I've used that spell a few times, and never recognized how it resembles fire... and I knew vampires have a fear of exactly that. It was my carelessness, my shortsightedness that momentarily deprived you of your self control; the blame is mine, and I should endeavour to make amends."

"Well I...very well then Mr Wainwright through you do not need to make amends, I have made mages flee on a few occasions or draw away in disgust when I by my own carelessness have managed to cut my skin open so they catch sight of my blood, off course they still have more self control than me but I understand how bad it feels to scare someone unintentionally...I...would rather just try to forget the whole incident Sir."
Isabella said and looked down, she still looked shameful though, clearly for her the predator inside of her was a private matter and to have it on display in public was not something she had appreciated.

[Tane Karyak]

Friday:

I belive yes, or i wouldn't tell you to let me go alone. So, let's go, then.

Saturday:

Hey brother. I got a job for your abilities.

[Warpmind]

Colin smiled, "Teomim did a horrible thing for all the best reasons, and did so without regrets when he succeeded at the cost he was ready to pay. There are worse ways to become immortal, I suppose, though I would personally prefer a less... terminal route. Then again, unless I can find a way to escape a polyp in... oh, damn, that's right... the Labyrinth is partly fleshy - and apparently, there's some relation to the battlecruisers. There are sensory organs and other fleshy components around, as a major part of the internal security system - surveillance and presumably defenses. Someone skilled in distracting living creatures might be able to circumvent a lot of that, though."
He grimaced, "This tainted tass IS disgusting - but it makes for rather a poetically spiteful weapon against the Fallen in this manner; especially considering it has great potential for indirect attacks."
He smiled, "Very well, then. I saw nothing. And I promise, if I see you bleeding, the only reason why I'll step away will be to retrieve a bandaid for you."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Tane:

Friday:

Coawa nodded.
"Call me if you need me brother."
He said as Henrietta took their plates and put them in the sink and then gathered their coats and came with you.
"Ok then what if we take Lily home first and then we go to Steelhaven?"
Henrietta suggested as you and the two women walked into the cold, evening air.

Saturday:

"Very well, where do I meet you?"
Coawa said.
"At the mage's nest? Ehm Chantry was what they called it right?"

Colin:

Colin smiled, "Teomim did a horrible thing for all the best reasons, and did so without regrets when he succeeded at the cost he was ready to pay. There are worse ways to become immortal, I suppose, though I would personally prefer a less... terminal route.

"Teomim lived his life as he saw fit, he had a horrible end but at his own design, in many ways he saves the fledgling Traditions for back then many of us wanted to just go our own way again, or try to join up with the Order of Reson, the Alchemist traitor did not only teach the Traditions about what they could accomplish if we work together, he also showed us the danger of our enemies."
Joakim said and sigh.
"But yes the man's or well that is the wrong thing to call him, his path is not something to yearn for to be sure."

Then again, unless I can find a way to escape a polyp in... oh, damn, that's right... the Labyrinth is partly fleshy - and apparently, there's some relation to the battlecruisers. There are sensory organs and other fleshy components around, as a major part of the internal security system - surveillance and presumably defenses. Someone skilled in distracting living creatures might be able to circumvent a lot of that, though."

"Ah yes your visions yes you do seam to be in somewhat of a bind Mr Wainwright if your premonitions are true."
Joakim said then he nodded as you spoke.
"Hum...yes you are right, they say Labyrinths have walls of flesh, perhaps a Mage skilled in the art of Life can at least blind our enemies as we go in."
He said and looked at Kristina and the Verbena nodded.
"It should be possible, unless their life patterns are completely alien and in need of being studied before they can be affected."

He grimaced, "This tainted tass IS disgusting - but it makes for rather a poetically spiteful weapon against the Fallen in this manner; especially considering it has great potential for indirect attacks."

"Hum..."
Was all Kristina said but she did not look like she completely approved of using that corrupted Tass but nor did she protest it's use directly.

He smiled, "Very well, then. I saw nothing. And I promise, if I see you bleeding, the only reason why I'll step away will be to retrieve a bandaid for you."

Isabella gave you a very sweet smile.
"Thank you Mr Wainwright, you are most kind."
She said and finally looked up from the floor.

[Tane Karyak]

Friday:
Sure. She's had enough excitement for today.

Saturday:
No, it's a parking lot, here and here (give him the location)

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Friday:

Henrietta nodded. Lily griped at you.
"I am not fragile you know, anyway if you get me back to the beach you met me on then I live right around the corner, it is probably best if my mother do not see me arriving back home together with you, no offense but I doubt she would understand any of this."
Henrietta nodded to the young girl.
"Well I do not like to leave you alone, I look young enough, or at least my vanity tell me that I do, that I might pass for an upperclassman of you or the older sister of one of your friends who walked you home, what if we go to the beach and then I can take you the rest of the way home?"
The hedge wizard offered as the trio of magic users begun to move towards the nearby beach.
"I guess that would be alright, my mother might frown at your dress...no offense though I think it is cool but she can be real narrow minded at times, however she will not freak that a girl is walking me home like she would if she saw an adult dude do so."
Lily said and agreed.

Saturday:

"Mattapan? I hear that is a pretty through neighborhood, not as though as me though if anyone try anything I can literary bite their heads of, very well I will head over there now, take care until then brother."
The wereshark said and hung up. You see Henrietta come back up the stairs wearing a black coat over her black frilly dress and having a messenger bag with an anime print thrown over her shoulder.
"I am ready to go."
She told you with a smile.
"I got my tools and I got my gun."

[Adley]

"With the right coordinates I think that should be possible yes." Joakim said and nodded. "Very well we will revisit this once you have spoken to Master Morgan."

"That would be safer, it's something I would not want to leave in a mailbox for too long and it looks like we're going to be busy."

"Very well then, let us create a plan first and then speak with your contact about it. And I agree we might need her to move against Abigail therefore we should not have her anger her own kind before we have to, if she is dead or a prisoner, she will be no use to us, to put it very cruelly and bluntly."

"True. But if we need her help with it, then we should take it. The Labyrinth has a fire elemental...it would be hard to send her group in there, so unless we plan on drawing Abigail out, that will have to be considered later on."

"It might work, or it might not, it is hard to know. With a talisman draining it of Quintessence will do nothing but make it useless until refilled so fluctuating it is no more effective, however with a vampire, we know they experience allot of discomfort when hungry, you might cause them that pain with such a rote which might then piss them off. I doubt you can kill them with it though, their curse is old and powerful, it is not easily disturbed. If you ever capture a vampire you care little for the comfort of, then you might test such an idea out, or if you are in a pinch with no other resources, but then again I have a feeling your Mr Wainwright here might object to such tests being carried out on a prisoner." Kristina said and she gave an apologetic look at Isabella for how calmly and down to earth she discussed how much damage a rote meant for torture would do to her kind. The vampiress looked a little uneasy but she just nodded, it was an important thing to discuss weapons again their enemies.

"I hope you will forgive me for not volunteering to be the test subject." Isabella said and frowned. "But that spell of your sounds rather horrible Mr Roth Hicks."

"I was trying to think of something that would disable them long enough to get in and out, in lieu of fire...gunfire or spellfire. I have no interest in making test subjects out of others, not unwilling ones. And I would not ask such a thing of you," he added to Isabella. "You are a custos here and Kristina's friend.

He smiled at Adley, "Not Ex Miscellanea... I have an independent House in mind; not directly affiliated with any one Tradition... an Orphanage, if you will."

Adley gave Colin a grin at the turn of phrase. "An Orphanage, hrm?"

He arched an eyebrow at Adley, "Old memories from last time you were in Chicago?"

He gave Colin a small nod of his head and focused on him, where he was again and with whom. "The accommodations were atrocious...nor did I appreciate the personal touch given by its staff," he said dryly, waiting for his avatar to settle again.

"Are you quite all right Sodalis?" He asked sounding concerned then he sigh. "Well that was useful thank you..."

"Yes, I am fine. Rubbing the Bones is a very painful rote...apparently commonly used for torturing people," he said with a frown. "But I am fine. If she has changed some things cosmetically, I do wonder if she could not change her scars...perhaps temporarily, but..."

"Very well talk with your mentor about it and we will see what options we have once we know what are available to us. Why by the way would it not be wise to use this Cunningham woman? A favored apprentice in trouble do sound like the perfect bait to me."

"It would be hard to explain, save that to ask a simple question that remains unanswered so far: why was she in that hospital in the first place?"

"We will have to talk to Master Harris about it, but you are right Sodalis most mages, technomancers or not need some sort of knowledge of where they are teleporting and where to...also remember that if the Nephandi have warded their important future resource then the teleporting out plan might be...well somewhat more difficult to pull off."

"Quite...I imagine I have an understanding of how it might be done if I were skilled enough in the art. But in vague strokes only, nothing too..." He trailed off with a frown and glanced at Joakim. "Nothing too helpful," he finished. "I have a feeling like something is on the tip of my tongue. Maybe Mr Harris has found something of use on those items we took as well."

"Very well, would you mind just asking the Orphans to wait in the dining hall then until I can ask the good Lady Crexia to have a look at them? Mirri are sure to get them something to eat and drink to calm their nerves and see if they need any medical attention."
Joakim asked.

"I would like to make contact with those back home as soon as we can but yes, if you would like me or Colin to wait with the Orphans I shall do so, sir."

"Exactly what it sounds like Sodalis...a number of years where you are effectively a slave of a Chantry or a individual mage, though unlike more severe forms of servitude your "owner" have some limitations of what can be inflicted upon you...some...such a punishment is more likely to be given to a hedge wizard though, than a true mage..." The Security Chief said and frowned. "Still not a pleasant prospect."

He frowned thinking of the Etherite back home and his wife. "Yes, well...I can't help but give pause over some of the more archaic things that have yet to be removed from our legal system."

"It is creatively dynamic I am told, I lack the ability to tell the difference for the most part, to me vis is vis, or rather mana as most modern linear mages call it but yes they say it is Dynamic."

"Might make a very unpredictable, even fickle awakened being but one that might not appreciate being touched by Nephandi," he said with a shrug, and letting the matter drop for now.

"Yes especially since if a vampire explodes their blood will fly everywhere and we do not want to risk getting it in our mouths or eyes, not that a small amount is that dangerous but still, it is best avoided I think."

Adley frowned at that. "That would be...unpleasant."

He nodded, "Quite - I wouldn't trust anything 'enhanced' with this shit... I can use it for the equivalent of unholy hand grenades, but that's pretty much the gist of it. It's efficient, in its own way, so long as I don't try to take it into myself."

He nodded at that.

He grinned, "Well, the fellow was a desperate genius whose actions did result in what he anticipated, so I'll take that as a compliment. And I hope I'll never be driven into the same desperate corner..."

"Yes indeed, I do wonder where the Traditions would have been today if not for Heylel Teomim's actions, but yes I do hope neither of us is ever faced with such a choice. I am not saying either that his actions where right, only that I do believe he had the best of the Traditions at heart when he betrayed his Cabal...But yes the man's or well that is the wrong thing to call him, his path is not something to yearn for to be sure."

He remained quiet while they spoke of Heylel and various legal matters for a moment, especially considering what he had learned recently. But eventually he spoke up. "Forgive me, but we are on something of a time crunch."

As the blade winked into and out of existence, and Isabella scampered back, he looked momentarily confused, "What do you mean, it doesn't look like... oh, fuck it does look like a flame. Oh, God, I never even saw that resemblance... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." He gave the others an apologetic glance, then looked back to Isabella, looking ashamed...When Isabella began to collect herself, he bowed and pocketed his ring, "My apologies, miss Jarden, that was my fault; I didn't realize how much that shard looks like a flame. I should have, but I didn't. Any blame for disrupting the meeting falls on me, not you. If there's any way I can make it up to you..."

Isabella gave you a very sweet smile. "Thank you Mr Wainwright, you are most kind." She said and finally looked up from the floor.

When Isabella looked up he gave her a nod of his head, encouraging but didn't draw more attention to it. He saw how embarrassed she seemed to be and knew that if it were him so unravelled he would not want to dwell upon it in front of people he didn't know very well. Perhaps even in front of people he did know well. "Alright, so I believe we have enough to start working on this...?"

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"That would be safer, it's something I would not want to leave in a mailbox for too long and it looks like we're going to be busy."

"Agreed, I will speak with Master Harris about it, if we time it right then the documents would not have to be in the mailbox for long."
Joakim agreed.

"True. But if we need her help with it, then we should take it. The Labyrinth has a fire elemental...it would be hard to send her group in there, so unless we plan on drawing Abigail out, that will have to be considered later on."

"Hum...true enough, we will have to see where the good lady's help would be most useful, first we need to come up with an actual plan before we start discussing who to send where."

"I was trying to think of something that would disable them long enough to get in and out, in lieu of fire...gunfire or spellfire. I have no interest in making test subjects out of others, not unwilling ones. And I would not ask such a thing of you," he added to Isabella. "You are a custos here and Kristina's friend.

Isabella gave a bit of a smile at that.
"Well you could shoot them in the head, it will not kill, but on most of my kind it will knock them out for a little while. I do not know why, there is no electrical signals fierring, it is all dead up here."
The vampire and and touched her own head.
"Even so a powerful enough blow to the noggin and I will be out, though I heal quickly, though this is not true for all vampires...perhaps belief have something to do with it, or how close one is to being human, I mean I find myself drawing breath to calm myself, even if that air do nothing it still works...perhaps it is the same thing."

He gave Colin a small nod of his head and focused on him, where he was again and with whom. "The accommodations were atrocious...nor did I appreciate the personal touch given by its staff," he said dryly, waiting for his avatar to settle again.

Your Avatar did settle, eventually but it was angry, it was clear that the soul was protective of it's hosts and it did not appreciate one being captured and tortured by a sadistic Nephandus and it very much wanted to burn the woman in it's holy flame.

"Yes, I am fine. Rubbing the Bones is a very painful rote...apparently commonly used for torturing people," he said with a frown. "But I am fine. If she has changed some things cosmetically, I do wonder if she could not change her scars...perhaps temporarily, but..."

"Torture would be it's purpose, that or like you said, taking someone down without killing them."
Joakim said and frowned.
"Well it is not that uncommon for the results of a traumatic experience becoming so engraved onto a person's true form that healing or changing such scars become impossible, that or the scars might be Investment marks in which case she might not want to cover or remove them as they are a sign of what power her patrons own her as well as a slave mark to show which demonic creature own her soul."
He suggested.

"It would be hard to explain, save that to ask a simple question that remains unanswered so far: why was she in that hospital in the first place?"

"I guess we will only get an answer to that Sodalis when we get the Cunningham woman out of that hospital and can ask her or examine her."

"Quite...I imagine I have an understanding of how it might be done if I were skilled enough in the art. But in vague strokes only, nothing too..." He trailed off with a frown and glanced at Joakim. "Nothing too helpful," he finished. "I have a feeling like something is on the tip of my tongue. Maybe Mr Harris has found something of use on those items we took as well."

"Hum...let us hope so. I was thinking I would drop by the computer room and look for him if I have the time before the Deacon meeting."
Joakim said and checked his pocket watch.
"And I will ask him about those items recovered from the Nephandi invading the Post Office as well as how he might help in recovering this Tremere vampire."
He said and frowned.

"I would like to make contact with those back home as soon as we can but yes, if you would like me or Colin to wait with the Orphans I shall do so, sir."

"There is to much to do...find someone along the halls, there is always someone out heading this way or that and ask them to keep an eye on our new guests until Lady Crexia can check them out, or Mr Wainwright can ask someone to do so."

He frowned thinking of the Etherite back home and his wife. "Yes, well...I can't help but give pause over some of the more archaic things that have yet to be removed from our legal system."

"Yes well some of our leaders are rather archaic themselves, not that I should talk, but what do you expect? I...am having a hard time myself to wrap myself around modern justice systems, and slavery, I am used to that being a natural part of society. I have owned slaves, I treated them well and never hurt them but still I owned them, it is hard for me to see it as wrong, the same with executions, floggings...all of these things, I have lived most of my life with that being a natural part of a justice system, and so have most of the Council of Nine as most of them are centuries old...as long as our leaders are this ancient, getting new ideas into our justice system will be hard to change. I think that is part of the reason why Master Prthos have several times suggested we should replace several of the Primi with younger, less stagnant mages, but his will have not been heard in this so far."

"Might make a very unpredictable, even fickle awakened being but one that might not appreciate being touched by Nephandi," he said with a shrug, and letting the matter drop for now.

"It might indeed. The question is if such a spirit would be able to stop the Nephandi from using it's resources...well that is neither here nor there for the time being, let us first hear what the Deacons have to say about us getting to use the Node to stop Abigail and her crew."

Adley frowned at that. "That would be...unpleasant."

"Quite unpleasant indeed."
Kristina muttered.

He remained quiet while they spoke of Heylel and various legal matters for a moment, especially considering what he had learned recently. But eventually he spoke up. "Forgive me, but we are on something of a time crunch."

"Ah...yes off course, forgive me, my mind wandered for a moment."
Joakim said and looked a bit embarrassed for a moment.
"Well then I should take you to where my student is setting up a safe way for you to contact Steelhaven, as you said there is allot to do and little time in which do to it."
The Security Chief added hastily.

When Isabella looked up he gave her a nod of his head, encouraging but didn't draw more attention to it. He saw how embarrassed she seemed to be and knew that if it were him so unravelled he would not want to dwell upon it in front of people he didn't know very well. Perhaps even in front of people he did know well. "Alright, so I believe we have enough to start working on this...?"

Isabella gave you a bit of a grateful smile that you did not comment on her loss of control and she drew a deep breath and muttered.
"I can help out with keeping an eye on the visiting Orphans if you want, unless there is something else you want me to do."
Joakim nodded he looked at Isabella for a moment before he said.
"Yes we do, I have some people to talk to and a meeting to go to, let me take you to where you can call home Sodalis."
He said and bowed to the two women and nodded to Colin.
"Ladies, Mr Wainwright if there is nothing further let us get to our tasks."
He said before heading towards the door to lead Adley to his student.

(OOC: Hermetic call home. )

[Warpmind]

Colin frowned, "I believe we do know why Martha Cunningham was committed to that mental hospital - she was... gilguled and made it to the streets of Boston, where she was picked up by the police and... parked in a psychiatric ward for evaluation, since she was obviously not in a right state of mind, and not influenced by alcohol or narcotics... This detail is something Abigail doesn't know, though... she managed to place one phone call to her apprentice, who instead of bringing the message on tried to flee, and picked the wrong door, namely that of the rogue hit-mark whose aid we recruited... We managed to restore the conversation from an... echo in the telephone, I suppose; there's no reason to expect Cunningham made it to another telephone at the hospital since she made that call..."
He pondered, "The Technocrats believe the Avatar is in a part of the brain... Perhaps a part of the soul, or just the consciousness is inherently linked to the space of the brain, living or dead, in a way such that physical trauma to it carries a degree of mental or spiritual shock? Mind, I'm speculating from a lack of understanding, but that idea does seem to address all the questions..."
He nodded thoughtfully, tracing a finger across his face, "Quite; some scars just won't heal, however able the healer... It's a lucky person who only has such scars in the flesh... One might wonder what other scars Abigail might have, as such."
He nodded, "Sorry, interesting though Teomim is, you're right, we're under time constraints..."
He looked at Adley and Joakim again and gestured to the page with the faint remnants of plastic on top, "Ah, before we go, would anyone care to quickly see that my little lapse of judgment there didn't leave any unpleasant residue on me or the desk? I'm quite confident there should be none, or at least no more than will dissipate on its own. Hm, might actually want to compare to the steel bowl over there, too - I did age and disjoint some paper in that; a deliberately entropic effect."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Colin frowned, "I believe we do know why Martha Cunningham was committed to that mental hospital - she was... gilguled and made it to the streets of Boston, where she was picked up by the police and... parked in a psychiatric ward for evaluation, since she was obviously not in a right state of mind, and not influenced by alcohol or narcotics... This detail is something Abigail doesn't know, though... she managed to place one phone call to her apprentice, who instead of bringing the message on tried to flee, and picked the wrong door, namely that of the rogue hit-mark whose aid we recruited... We managed to restore the conversation from an... echo in the telephone, I suppose; there's no reason to expect Cunningham made it to another telephone at the hospital since she made that call..."

"That makes me almost feel sorry for this Nephandus, but who attacked her, Gilgul is not a simple rote, and who would do that to a woman in the middle of the street?"
Joakim said and his eyes darkened. Kristina shivered.
"I take it this Abigail will not be to pleased then if she learns about what have befallen her student, providing you are right in your assumption."
She said.
"Still that might make this Miss Cunningham good bait indeed, especially if her mentor think she can save her...hum...this cyborg of yours again Sir, well no I guess a young Fallen did not last long if he knocked on a Technocrat's door."
She said and grinned.

He pondered, "The Technocrats believe the Avatar is in a part of the brain... Perhaps a part of the soul, or just the consciousness is inherently linked to the space of the brain, living or dead, in a way such that physical trauma to it carries a degree of mental or spiritual shock? Mind, I'm speculating from a lack of understanding, but that idea does seem to address all the questions..."

"That would explain it, and it might also explain why decapitation kills my kind as it severs the contact between the heart and the brain."
Isabella said and nodded.
"A most interesting topic for research but perhaps one best left for when we have more time on our hands."

He nodded thoughtfully, tracing a finger across his face, "Quite; some scars just won't heal, however able the healer... It's a lucky person who only has such scars in the flesh... One might wonder what other scars Abigail might have, as such."

"Ah I hope you did not take any offense Mr Wainwright."
Joakim said then he sigh.
"But indeed, often when a person is rotten to the core there is a reason for how they have gotten that way, there is quite a possibility that this Abigail have a sad tale to tell, not that it makes it any less important to take her down and end her."
He said.

He nodded, "Sorry, interesting though Teomim is, you're right, we're under time constraints..."

Joakim nodded at that.

He looked at Adley and Joakim again and gestured to the page with the faint remnants of plastic on top, "Ah, before we go, would anyone care to quickly see that my little lapse of judgment there didn't leave any unpleasant residue on me or the desk? I'm quite confident there should be none, or at least no more than will dissipate on its own. Hm, might actually want to compare to the steel bowl over there, too - I did age and disjoint some paper in that; a deliberately entropic effect."

Kristina nodded she rose and walked over to Colin and handed him a small, very clear rock crystal piece.
"If you would not mind holding this for a moment Mr Wainwright and I will check on the bowl."
She said and walked over to the bowl and waved another crystal over it.
"Like with all destruction there are Entropic residue here, but not corrupted...there are no trace of the corrupted Tass that I can find, it have to be somewhere energy do not get destroyed but at least it do not seam to be a problem."
She announced and gave Colin and approving nod.

[Adley]

"Agreed, I will speak with Master Harris about it, if we time it right then the documents would not have to be in the mailbox for long."
Joakim agreed.

"Thank you."

Isabella gave a bit of a smile at that. "Well you could shoot them in the head, it will not kill, but on most of my kind it will knock them out for a little while. I do not know why...I mean I find myself drawing breath to calm myself, even if that air do nothing it still works...perhaps it is the same thing."

He nodded. "Probably easier than what I was thinking...so, take out the legs, or hit them in the head. Very well."

Your Avatar did settle, eventually but it was angry, it was clear that the soul was protective of it's hosts and it did not appreciate one being captured and tortured by a sadistic Nephandus and it very much wanted to burn the woman in it's holy flame.

'She is not my favorite person either,' he thought to it, agreeing with its sentiment. But too much anger wouldn't be helpful right now. Just enough on the other hand was a different matter.

"I guess we will only get an answer to that Sodalis when we get the Cunningham woman out of that hospital and can ask her or examine her."

Colin frowned, "I believe we do know why Martha Cunningham was committed to that mental hospital...there's no reason to expect Cunningham made it to another telephone at the hospital since she made that call..."

"That makes me almost feel sorry for this Nephandus, but who attacked her, Gilgul is not a simple rote, and who would do that to a woman in the middle of the street?" Joakim said and his eyes darkened. Kristina shivered. "I take it this Abigail will not be to pleased then if she learns about what have befallen her student, providing you are right in your assumption." She said. "Still that might make this Miss Cunningham good bait indeed, especially if her mentor think she can save her...hum...this cyborg of yours again Sir, well no I guess a young Fallen did not last long if he knocked on a Technocrat's door."

"That is what we think happened, but it is not the whole of the why of it, I am sure. However, let us find out more first and if we need to discuss more later..."

"Hum...let us hope so. I was thinking I would drop by the computer room and look for him if I have the time before the Deacon meeting." Joakim said and checked his pocket watch. "And I will ask him about those items recovered from the Nephandi invading the Post Office as well as how he might help in recovering this Tremere vampire."

"That sounds very good sir."

"There is to much to do...find someone along the halls, there is always someone out heading this way or that and ask them to keep an eye on our new guests until Lady Crexia can check them out, or Mr Wainwright can ask someone to do so."

Isabella gave you a bit of a grateful smile that you did not comment on her loss of control and she drew a deep breath and muttered.
"I can help out with keeping an eye on the visiting Orphans if you want, unless there is something else you want me to do."

"Thank you, perhaps you and Colin might do so, unless my cabalmate has other things to attend to at the moment," he said, looking over at him to see if he was agreeable.

"Yes well some of our leaders are rather archaic themselves, not that I should talk, but what do you expect?...I think that is part of the reason why Master Prthos have several times suggested we should replace several of the Primi with younger, less stagnant mages, but his will have not been heard in this so far."

"Master Porthos may have a valid point. At any rate, I digress. Excuse me."

He looked at Adley and Joakim again and gestured to the page with the faint remnants of plastic on top, "Ah, before we go, would anyone care to quickly see that my little lapse of judgment there didn't leave any unpleasant residue on me or the desk? I'm quite confident there should be none, or at least no more than will dissipate on its own. Hm, might actually want to compare to the steel bowl over there, too - I did age and disjoint some paper in that; a deliberately entropic effect."

Kristina nodded she rose and walked over to Colin and handed him a small, very clear rock crystal piece. "If you would not mind holding this for a moment Mr Wainwright and I will check on the bowl." She said and walked over to the bowl and waved another crystal over it. "Like with all destruction there are Entropic residue here, but not corrupted...there are no trace of the corrupted Tass that I can find, it have to be somewhere energy do not get destroyed but at least it do not seam to be a problem." She announced and gave Colin and approving nod.

"It looks like your impromptu object lesson did what it was supposed to do, if with some...unanticipated outcomes. I will be interested in trying to learn more about it when there is more time. Was there anything you needed to tell anyone at home?" he asked, before he left them.

[Warpmind]

Colin nodded, "We know what happened, and a few more details than that, but... for now, discretion is the better part of valor. It's a nasty little hornet's nest, and we don't have everything yet."
He smiled to Isabella, "It's a hypothesis to be weighed by more learned individuals than myself."
He nodded, "I would gladly attend the Orphans, however, if I am to visit Deaconess Darnell, I'd think I am rather in a hurry. Could I requisition a driver to get me there, since I don't know the address? I expect that if Lady Crexia and miss Mirri are keeping an eye on them, that would be more than adequate, actually - I know of few people who are quicker with a spell than a chef is with a knife."
He shook his head, "I took no offense. My scars are a badge of honour, in many ways; I saved three good people that day. Four if you count me. The mental injuries I suffered have been healed, and those scars remain with me, as well..."
He tapped his temple, "The scars on my face make my face less... flexible. The scars in my mind, well... I might have lost my ability to hate along with the trauma of the explosion. It... makes me perhaps less than human in some ways, though not necessarily in a bad way. I'd really not want to know what Abigail's scars took from her..."
He looked at the little crystal, and smiled approvingly, "Oh, this is beautiful... Very pure quartz? And I would hazard... that spell is highly Dynamic. It is pure creative power, not destructive; it would seem plausible to guess that the tass isn't destroyed so much as having its resonance forcibly shifted around. I... might confer with the Euthanatos about that hypothesis; they've got better insight into that aspect of magic, but I think the idea holds up."
He pondered, "Those at home... Let Master Nassa know we've found a few clues to his daughter, and that I'm bringing a gift back. I already let Master Telar know I... molted. Tell Chief Morgan that if I don't make it back, to ask Master Harris to provide my drainage rote to Steelhaven Hall. Just in case. I have no intention of shirking on the plaque he ordered me to make."

[Adley]

He nodded, "I would gladly attend the Orphans, however, if I am to visit Deaconess Darnell, I'd think I am rather in a hurry. Could I requisition a driver to get me there, since I don't know the address? I expect that if Lady Crexia and miss Mirri are keeping an eye on them, that would be more than adequate, actually - I know of few people who are quicker with a spell than a chef is with a knife."

"Oh that's right, I'm sorry, yes you are on your way out...well, if you think you are in a hurry than you likely are in a hurry. If you can manage it, perhaps take a car that's not been seen..."

He pondered, "Those at home... Let Master Nassa know we've found a few clues to his daughter, and that I'm bringing a gift back. I already let Master Telar know I... molted. Tell Chief Morgan that if I don't make it back, to ask Master Harris to provide my drainage rote to Steelhaven Hall. Just in case. I have no intention of shirking on the plaque he ordered me to make."

He raised an eyebrow. "Amicus, I intend to see you soon. Don't make us come and get you for staying out after curfew," he said, with a touch of humour. "I will let them know...as much as I think I can right now," he agreed. "Safe travels," he added.

[Warpmind]

Colin grinned wryly, "I meant back from Chicago, not back from visiting Deaconess Darnell."

[Tane Karyak]

Friday:
I should visit your mother. Oh, yes. he said, having that matter settled.

Saturday:
Better keep it at hand. We're going to a though naigbourhood, we'll meet Coawa there.

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